Will easily win election if only 'legal votes' are counted: Trump
Washington: US President Donald Trump has claimed that he would easily win the election if only the "legal votes" are counted in the closely-fought presidential polls.
Addressing a news conference at the White House on Thursday, Trump indicated that the election results would finally end up on the doors of the Supreme Court as he plans to file a large number of litigations against alleged electoral malpractices.
Trump, who did not take any questions from reporters, alleged that the Democrats are trying to win and rig the 2020 presidential elections. However, he did not offer any evidence to back his claim.
As of Thursday night, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden was on the cusp of an electoral victory with 253 electoral college votes.
The magical number is 270 of the 538 electoral college votes. Trump has 213 electoral votes in his kitty.
"If you count the legal votes I easily win," Trump said, providing no evidence for his claim. "If you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the election from us."
His message came as new tallies showed his lead dwindling in Georgia and Pennsylvania.
Trump said he was advocating for a halt in counting of "votes that came in late," and went on to tout races that had already been called for him.
"I've already decisively won many critical states, including massive victories," he claimed.
Democratic officials believe that they can never win this election honesty. there is tremendous corruption and fraud going on, Trump said, adding that he has a lot of evidence for this claim.
That's why they mailed out tens of millions of unsolicited ballots without any verification measures whatsoever, he alleged.
Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Americans have rushed to vote early, already casting nearly 92 million mail-in ballots that could take days or weeks to be counted in some crucial battleground states.
Trump has raised concerns over the use of mail-in ballots, saying there are high chances of the process getting manipulated.
Trump challenged Biden and the Democrats to clarify that they want only legal votes, that they are open and transparent, no secret count rooms, no mystery ballots, no illegal votes being cast after election day.
We want an honest election, We want an honest counting, he said.
The legitimate mail-in ballots are being counted last because that is standard procedure in certain American states. Asserting that the US cannot have an election stolen , Trump said that he thinks he will win the election very soon.
There is going to be a lot of litigation, he said, adding that there is so much evidence of electoral malpractice.
We cannot let that happen to the United States of America. It is not a question of who wins, Republican or Democrat. We cannot let that happen to our country, he said.
The President also decried on the pollsters, media and big tech companies for siding with the Democrats and accused them of suppression of voters.
Commenting on the performance of the Republican Party in the elections, Trump said that the party retained majority in the Senate and won many seats in the House of Representatives.
This was also the year of the Republican women, more Republican women were elected to Congress than ever before, he said.
After the elections, Trump asserted that the Republicans have emerged as a party of American workers.
We grew our party by four million voters, the greatest turnout in Republican Party history. Democrats are the party, the big donors, the big media, the big tech, it seems. Republicans have become the party of the American worker and that's what's happened, he said.
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Rupee rises 6 paise to 89.92 against US dollar in early trade
Mumbai (PTI): The rupee witnessed range-bound trade in the morning session on Friday, appreciating by 6 paise to 89.92 against the US dollar as thin liquidity conditions accentuated everyday demand-supply imbalances, keeping the rupee tilted toward weakness.
Forex traders said the USD/INR pair is expected to trade in a narrow range as the 90 level is being protected by the Reserve Bank of India.
Moreover, the support from positive domestic equities was offset by sustained foreign fund outflows.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 89.95 against the US dollar, then gained some ground and touched 89.92, rising by six paise from its previous close.
On Thursday, the rupee depreciated 10 paise to close at 89.98 against the US dollar.
"Unless RBI comes and sells dollars heavily, the movement is going to be in small ranges as seen in the last three sessions. The pair is seen in a holding pattern between 89.80 and 90, considering the narrow range," said Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury and Executive Director at Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP.
Bhansali further noted that corporate demand, FPI demand, and government demand have been the salient features of the rupee over the past year, during which it fell by more than 5 per cent and became the worst-performing Asian currency, though partly protected by the RBI.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading marginally down by 0.15 per cent at 98.17.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading 0.38 per cent higher at USD 61.08 per barrel in futures trade.
"With early-year liquidity still thin and domestic fundamentals offering a mixed but stable backdrop, the rupee appears set to remain range-bound in the near term. As long as USD/INR stays below the 90 handle, the balance of risks tilts mildly in favour of the rupee," CR Forex Advisors MD Amit Pabari said, adding that against this backdrop, USD/INR is expected to trade in a 89.30–90.20 range.
On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share benchmark index Sensex climbed 158.19 points to 85,346.79 in early trade, while the Nifty was up 55.8 points to 26,202.35.
Foreign institutional investors offloaded equities worth Rs 3,268.60 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.
On the domestic macroeconomic front, gross GST collections rose 6.1 per cent to over Rs 1.74 lakh crore in December 2025, on slow growth in revenues from domestic sales following the sweeping tax cuts, according to government data released on Thursday.
Gross Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenue in December 2024 was over Rs 1.64 lakh crore.
