Trump wins New Hampshire GOP primary; strong showing by Indian American Nikki Haley
Washington (PTI): Former US President Donald Trump is projected to win the New Hampshire primary, despite a stronger than expected performance by Indian American Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor, thus making the former White House occupant all but certain of earning the party's nominee for the November presidential elections against the Democratic incumbent Joe Biden.
Major American media outlets called the Republican primary race in favour of Trump with one-fourth of the votes being counted. Trump was leading with 52.5 per cent of the votes counted and Haley 46.6 per cent. Haley, political pundits said performed much better than expected. She is the only Republican left in the race standing against the mighty Trump.
By winning the New Hampshire primary after the Iowa Caucus, Trump has made the strongest ever case to be the Republican party's nominee for the November presidential elections. Notably, Trump is the first non-incumbent Republican presidential candidate to win both the Iowa Caucus and the New Hampshire primary back-to-back.
Trump is the only Republican candidate to have won the New Hampshire primary thrice. "This is a decisive win for Donald Trump tonight," former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy told Fox News in an interview with 20 per cent of the votes being called. He said that Haley withdrawing from the race in favour of Trump would be the right thing for the former South Carolina Governor.
In a statement, the Trump campaign asked Haley to drop out of the race. Haley does not have a path to victory. Instead, if Haley stays in the race, she will play an active role in advancing the re-election of Harris-Biden, it said.
"Nikki Haley said she's running to stop the re-election of Harris-Biden. Yet, without a viable path to victory, every day she stays in this race is another day she delivers to the Harris-Biden campaign," said Taylor Budowich, CEO of Make America Great Again Inc. "It's time for unity, it's time to take the fight to the Democrats, and for Nikki Haley: it's time to drop out," Budowich said.
But Haley appeared to be determined to be in the race. "What a great night, God is so good," she told her supporters at Concord in New Hampshire. "I want to congratulate Donald Trump on his victory tonight. He earned it. And I want to acknowledge that. Now you've all heard the chatter among the political class they're falling all over themselves saying this race is over," she said.
"Well, I have news for New Hampshire is first in the nation. It is not the last. This race is far from over. There are dozens of states left," Haley said asserting that in New Hampshire she got almost half of the votes.
Haley said when she started, there were 14 of them in the race and she was polling at two per cent in the polls. "Well, I'm a fighter. And now we're the last one standing next to Donald Trump," Haley said. "A Trump nomination is a Biden win, and a Kamala Harris presidency," she said.
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Sanjay Raut demands re-election, alleges irregularities in EVMs during Maharashtra polls
Mumbai, Nov 25: Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut on Monday demanded a re-election in Maharashtra using ballot papers, claiming there were irregularities with the electronic voting machines (EVMs).
Talking to reporters, Raut alleged several complaints about EVMs malfunctioning and questioned the integrity of the recently held elections.
The BJP-led Mahayuti won 230 out of 288 seats in the assembly elections, while the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi managed 46 seats, with Shiv Sena (UBT) winning just 20 out of 95 seats it contested.
"We have received nearly 450 complaints regarding EVMs. Despite raising objections repeatedly, no action has been taken on these issues. How can we say these elections were conducted fairly? Hence, I demand that the results be set aside and elections be held again using ballot papers," Raut said.
Citing some instances, he said a candidate in Nashik reportedly received only four votes despite having 65 votes from his family, while in Dombivli, discrepancies were found in EVM tallies, and election officials refused to acknowledge the objections.
The Sena (UBT) leader also questioned the credibility of the landslide victories of some candidates, saying, "What revolutionary work have they done to receive more than 1.5 lakh votes? Even leaders who recently switched parties have become MLAs. This raises suspicions. For the first time, a senior leader like Sharad Pawar has expressed doubts about EVMs, which cannot be ignored."
Asked about the MVA's poor performance in the elections, Raut rejected the idea of blaming a single individual.
"We fought as a united MVA. Even a leader like Sharad Pawar, who commands immense respect in Maharashtra, faced defeat. This shows that we need to analyse the reasons behind the failure. One of the reasons is EVM irregularities and the misuse of the system, unconstitutional practices, and even judicial decisions left unresolved by Justice Chandrachud," he said.
Raut stressed that though internal differences might have existed within the MVA, the failure was collective.
He also accused the Mahayuti of conducting the elections in an unfair manner.
"I cannot call the elections fair given the numerous reports of discrepancies in EVMs, mismatched numbers, and vote irregularities across the state," Raut said.
