Clear majority for Congress in Karnataka forecasts Today’s Chanakya Exit Poll
Mangaluru: Alongside, India Today-Axis My India, Today's Chanakya has also predicted a substantial victory for the Congress in the Karnataka Assembly elections, as the exit poll results have been unveiled. Today's Chanakya's Exit Polls indicate a clear majority for the Congress with 120 seats, followed by 92 seats for the BJP and 12 seats for JD(S).
According to Today's Chanakya, the Congress is expected to attain a vote share of 42%, while the BJP is projected to receive a vote share of 39%. The JD(S) is anticipated to secure a vote share of 13%, while other parties are predicted to have a combined vote share of 6%.
In terms of seat distribution, Today's Chanakya's exit poll predicts 120 seats for the Congress, 92 seats for the BJP, 12 seats for the JD(S), and no seats for other parties.
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Furthermore, Today's Chanakya exit poll reveals that 40% of the voters cast their votes based on the issue of corruption. Meanwhile, 26% of the votes were influenced by the candidate or party, while 19% focused on development matters. Only 6% of the voters considered local issues in the state. The remaining 4% of the voters based their decision on other factors, as per Today's Chanakya.
The Karnataka assembly election was conducted on May 10 for the legislative assembly for 244 seats. According to the official announcement by the Election Commission, the state recorded a voter turnout of approximately 65.69 percent until 5pm.
A total of 2,615 candidates across different parties contested in the Karnataka assembly election, with the electoral fate of these candidates at stake. The election witnessed a high-decibel campaign as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress, and the Janata Dal (Secular) sparred with each other and deployed prominent leaders to appeal to the voters.
During the campaign, the Congress faced controversy over its manifesto, which included a promise to ban the Bajrang Dal. In response, the party attempted to shift its campaign focus back to bread-and-butter issues and highlighted alleged corruption under the incumbent BJP government.
On the other hand, the BJP, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, emphasized its commitment to banning the Bajrang Dal and highlighted perceived mistakes made by the Congress party's designated translator during a campaign rally addressed by Sonia Gandhi.
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Los Angeles county wildfires could be costliest in US history, early estimates say
Los Angeles, Jan 11: The wildfires that erupted this week across Los Angeles County are still raging, but already are projected to be among the costliest natural disasters in US history.
The devastating blazes have killed at least 11 people and incinerated more than 12,000 structures since Tuesday, laying waste to entire neighbourhoods once home to multimillion-dollar properties.
While it's still too early for an accurate tally of the financial toll, the losses so far likely make the wildfires the costliest ever in the US, according to various estimates.
A preliminary estimate by AccuWeather put the damage and economic losses so far between USD 135 billion and USD 150 billion. By comparison, AccuWeather estimated the damage and economic losses caused by Hurricane Helene, which tore across six southeastern states last fall, at USD 225 billion to USD 250 billion.
“This will be the costliest wildfire in California modern history and also very likely the costliest wildfire in US modern history, because of the fires occurring in the densely populated areas around Los Angeles with some of the highest-valued real estate in the country,” said Jonathan Porter, the private firm's chief meteorologist.
AccuWeather factors in a multitude of variables in its estimates, including damage to homes, businesses, infrastructure and vehicles, as well as immediate and long-term health care costs, lost wages and supply chain interruptions.
The insurance broker Aon PLC also said Friday that the LA County wildfires will likely end up being the costliest in US history, although it did not issue an estimate. Aon ranks a wildfire known as the Camp Fire in Paradise, California, in 2018 as the costliest in US history up to now at USD 12.5 billion, adjusted for inflation. The Camp Fire killed 85 people and destroyed about 11,000 homes.
The LA County wildfires, which were fuelled by hurricane-force Santa Ana winds and an extreme drought, remained largely uncontained Saturday. That means the final tally of losses from the blazes is likely to increase, perhaps substantially.
“To put this into perspective, the total damage and economic loss from this wildfire disaster could reach nearly 4 per cent of the annual GDP of the state of California,” AccuWeather's Porter said.
In a report Friday, Moody's also concluded that the wildfires would prove to be the costliest in US history, specifically because they have ripped through densely populated areas with higher-end properties.
While the state is no stranger to major wildfires, they have generally been concentrated in inland areas that are not densely populated. That's led to less destruction per acre, and in damage to less expensive homes, Moody's noted.
That's far from the case this time, with one of the largest conflagrations destroying thousands of properties across the Pacific Palisades and Malibu, home to many Hollywood stars and executives with multimillion-dollar properties. Already, numerous celebrities have lost homes to the fires.
“The scale and intensity of the blazes, combined with their geographic footprint, suggest a staggering price tag, both in terms of the human cost and the economic toll,” Moody's analysts wrote. The report did not include a preliminary cost estimate of the wildfire damage.
It could be several months before a concrete tally of the financial losses from the wildfires will be possible.
“We're in the very early stages of this disaster,” Porter said.
