Twitter saw over 30 lakh tweets related to Karnataka polls
New Delhi, May 16: The micro-blogging platform registered over 30 lakh tweets related to Karnataka assembly polls in the past three weeks, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) garnering 51 per cent of the share of voice, Twitter announced on Wednesday.
Congress registered 42 per cent and Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) seven per cent of mentions on Twitter in the April 25-May 15 period.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi emerged as the most mentioned personality on Twitter, while former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was the most mentioned candidate on Twitter, the company said in a statement.
"Over the past few weeks, our data shows more than three million Tweets related to the Karnataka elections, making it one of the most talked-about state elections on Twitter," said Mahima Kaul, Head of Public Policy and Government, Twitter India.
#KarnatakaVerdict emerged as the most talked about election-related topic in the past 24 hours since Tuesday.
The most used hashtag across the election was #KarnatakaElections2018.
"Twitter is where political conversations happen and where you can see all sides of a conversation when it comes to elections," Kaul added.
To make people aware about the importance of elections prior to Karnataka polls, Twitter had released an elections voting emoji and organised a special event called #ElectionsOnTwitter in partnership with civil society organisations and media partners.
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Who is Iran's first vice president, Mohammad Mokhber, appointed acting president after crash?
Dubai (AP/PTI): Iran's first Vice President Mohammad Mokhber was appointed as acting president of the Islamic Republic on Monday after the death of President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash in the country's northwest.
Raisi's death under the constitution thrust Mokhber into public view. He is expected to serve as caretaker president for some 50 days before mandatory presidential elections in Iran.
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made the announcement of Mokhber's appointment in a condolence message he shared for Raisi's death in the crash Sunday. The helicopter was found Monday in northwestern Iran.
Despite his low-key public profile, Mokhber has held prominent positions with in the country's power structure, particularly in its bonyads, or charitable foundations.
Mokhber oversaw a bonyad known in English as the Execution of Imam Khomeini's Order, or EIKO, referring to the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
The US Treasury said the organisation oversaw billions of dollars in assets as “a business juggernaut under the direct supervision of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei that has a stake in nearly every sector of the Iranian economy, including energy, telecommunications, and financial services”.
“EIKO has systematically violated the rights of dissidents by confiscating land and property from opponents of the regime, including political opponents, religious minorities, and exiled Iranians,” the Treasury said in 2021 in sanctioning Mokhber. The European Union also had sanctioned Mokhber for a time with others over concerns then about Iran's nuclear programme.
As the head of EIKO, Mokhber oversaw an effort to make a COVID-19 vaccine during the height of the pandemic, pledging to make tens of millions of doses.
Mokhber previously worked in banking and telecommunications. He also worked at the Mostazafan Foundation, another bonyad that's a major conglomerate that manages the country's mega-projects and businesses. While there, he found himself entangled in a bitter legal dispute between mobile phone service providers Turkcell and South Africa's MTN over potentially entering the Iranian market.
Iranian media reports suggest Mokhber, who holds a doctorate in international law, was crucial in Iranian efforts to bypass Western sanctions on its oil industry.
Mokhber has been a member of Iran's Expediency Council since 2022, which advises the supreme leader, as well as settles disputes between parliament and the Guardian Council, Iran's constitutional watchdog that also oversees the country's elections.
Mokhber was born Sept 1, 1955, in Dezful in Iran's southwestern Khuzestan province to a clerical family. He served as an officer in the Revolutionary Guard's medical corps during the 1980s Iran-Iraq war, according to the pressure group United Against Nuclear Iran.
“Mokhber used the vast wealth accumulated by EIKO — at the expense of the Iranian people—to reward regime insiders like himself,” UANI said. “Managing the patronage network endeared him to the supreme leader, but at a cost.”
