Reports from the widely trusted betting markets say the BJP would get a comfortable 330 seats on its own, a majority not different from those forecast persistently by TV channels before the polls began.
In Odisha during campaigning, PM Narendra Modi said : "In the six months after June 4, country will catch a new pace of development. Six months to bring a big storm in politics. Disappointment is at its peak in family parties. People are questioning leaders who have failed. we will see disintegration in the family parties."
Of course, PM Narendra Modi's target has been 370 for BJP and 400 plus for the ruling coalition.
Neither Mr Modi nor his ministers have minced words about a landslide victory they foresee, crossing even Rajiv Gandhi’s 400 plus, but opposition parties and well-regarded pollsters claim the outcome is likely to spell serious loss of seats for the BJP, which had a tally of 303 in the last polls -- says 'Dawn', Pakistani newspaper.
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav asked his party workers and candidates to remain vigilant. In an appeal on X, Mr Yadav wrote, “All of you should remain fully alert, vigilant, and cautious during the voting on Saturday and also in the days after the voting, till the counting of votes is over and you receive the certificate of victory. Do not get misled by the BJP.”
PM Narendra Modi has also been lampooned by Rahul's sister and Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi and others for alleging that the Congress would steal one of two buffaloes and the Mangalsutra of Hindu women to give them to Muslims. He has described the Congress manifesto as a Muslim League document.
The fact of the matter is though a sure losing side, the Congress manifesto was discussed probably as one of the most hyper-sensitive issues.
In his last outing in Hoshiarpur in Punjab, where all 13 seats are to be decided in the last phase, PM Modi threatened to expose the opposition leaders if they didn’t stop targeting him. “Don’t mess with Modi,” he shouted, hours before flying off to Kanyakumari.
Earlier, in Bihar, he openly threatened to jail 24-year-old challenger Tejashvi Yadav, who has been drawing massive crowds without troubling his father Lalu Yadav to campaign in the searing heat.
On the last day of voting BJP candidate from Mandi Lok Sabha segment in Himachal Pradesh, actress Kangana Ranaut contesting as BJP nominee says "I have cast my vote right now. I want to appeal to the people to take part in the festival of democracy and exercise their right to vote.
"PM Modi's wave is there in Himachal Pradesh...I am hopeful that the people of Mandi will bless me and we will get all 4 seats of the state... Himachal Pradesh's 4 seats will contribute to '400 paar'..."
"The biggest failure of India's opposition parties in the last 10 years is that they could not pose a formidable competition to Narendra Modi in Varanasi. They could not prepare one among themselves or even a celebrity to take on Narendra Modi. I am surprised," says one foreign journalist Christine Robinson.
Priyanka Gandhi – who plays an organisational role in the party but is often described as a more natural politician than her older brother – has described Rahul as the “ideological centre of the party today”. “Our family is one of the things that holds the Congress together,” she said. “But primarily it is our ideology: that there is a place for every religion, every caste, every creed in this country.”
She hit back at Modi’s criticisms of Congress being a party of nepotism and privilege. “I can give you a long list of so-called dynastic politicians who are flourishing in the BJP and nobody is saying anything about it.”
Achhey din to 'Golden era' literally ..... RBI moves 1 lakh kg of gold from UK to its vaults in India
"For those of my generation, the shipping out of gold in 1990-91 was moment of failure that we will never forget. This is why this shipping back of gold has a special meaning," economist Sanjeev Sanyal said.
This is the first time since 1991 that India has undertaken such a large-scale transfer of gold reserves.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has moved approximately 100 tonnes (1 lakh kilograms) of gold from the United Kingdom to its vaults in India. More than half of the RBI’s gold reserves are held overseas in secure custody with the Bank of England and the Bank of International Settlements, while approximately a third is stored domestically.
It may be noted that the move is expected to help the RBI save on storage costs currently paid to the Bank of England.
The central bank held 822.10 tonnes of gold as part of its foreign exchange reserves as of March 31, 2024, an increase from the 794.63 tonnes held at the same time last year, according to the annual data released by the RBI.
Prominent economist Sanjeev Sanyal said, "While no one was watching, RBI has shifted 100 tonnes of its gold reserves back to India from UK."
"Most countries keep their gold in the vaults of the Bank of England or some such location (and pay a fee for the privilege). India will now hold most of its gold in its own vaults. We have come a long way since we had to ship out gold overnight in 1991 in the midst of a crisis," he added.
Domestically, gold is stored in vaults located in the RBI's buildings on Mumbai's Mint Road and in Nagpur.
According to a World Gold Council report, global central banks hold about 17% of all the gold ever mined, with reserves reaching 36,699 metric tons by the end of 2023.
It is worth mentioning that the majority of these acquisitions occurred over the last 14 years, as central banks became net buyers of gold starting in 2010.
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