Biden Wins 10 States, Trump 8 ; Close Fight In Florida
President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden are battling it out for the White House, with polls gradually closing across the United States Tuesday and a long night of waiting for results ahead.
The first results are trickling in, with US media projecting wins for the Republican incumbent so far in Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee and West Virginia -- all states he won in 2016.
Biden has captured Connecticut, his home state of Delaware, Maryland, Illinois, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and New Jersey, as well as the three electoral votes given to the US capital Washington (District of Columbia). All were won by Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016.
Trump's campaign claimed victory Tuesday in the must-win state of Florida, though US media said that race was still too close to call. The president's campaign made the claim in a tweet as ballots were still being counted in the state that holds 29 state-by-state Electoral College votes.
The New York Times put the president's chances of winning Florida at over 95 percent.
So far, that gives Biden 88 electoral votes and Trump 63. The magic number is 270. Observers expect the hotly contested race for the White House to come down to a handful of key battleground states.
Counting this year has been slowed by the unprecedented use of mail-in ballots in response to fears of the coronavirus. More than 100 million Americans had already cast votes before Election Day.
Trump, 74, expressed confidence as the evening approached, tweeting in all his characteristic all-caps "WE ARE LOOKING REALLY GOOD ALL OVER THE COUNTRY. THANK YOU!"
He was watching the results come in at the White House, surrounded by staff. It was not clear whether he'd speak to the public at some point but he said earlier Tuesday that he wasn't yet "thinking about a concession speech or acceptance speech."
"Winning is easy," he said. "Losing is never easy -- not for me."
Biden, hunkered down with family at home in Delaware, likewise said that voter patterns during the day seemed to favor his side.
"What I'm hearing is that there's overwhelming turnout. And overwhelming turnout particularly of young people, of women, and an overwhelming turnout of African American voters, particularly in Georgia and Florida, over the age of 65," he told reporters.
"The things that are happening bode well for the base that has been supporting me."
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SC to hear today NGO's plea for release of voter turnout data for LS polls within 48 hours
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to grant an urgent hearing on a plea by an NGO seeking a direction to the Election Commission to upload polling station-wise voter turnout data on its website within 48 hours of conclusion of polling for each phase of the Lok Sabha elections.
A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra asked the counsel appearing for the Election Commission (EC) to take instructions and said it will hear the matter at the end of the board.
The matter was mentioned by advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for NGO Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), seeking urgent listing of the petition.
Last week, the NGO filed an interim application in its 2019 PIL seeking directions to the poll panel that "scanned legible copies of Form 17C Part-I (Account of Votes Recorded)" of all polling stations be uploaded immediately after the polls.
"Direct the Election Commission to provide tabulated polling station-wise data in absolute figures of the number of votes polled as recorded in Form 17C Part- I after each phase of polling in the ongoing 2024 Lok Sabha elections and also a tabulation of constituency-wise figures of voter turnout in absolute numbers in the ongoing 2024 Lok Sabha elections," the NGO said.
It said the plea was filed to ensure that the democratic process is not subverted by electoral irregularities.
"The voter turnout data for the first two phases of the ongoing 2024 Lok Sabha elections published by ECI on April 30 has been published after 11 days of the first phase of polling... on April 19 and four days after second phase of polling... on April 26.
"The data, as published by the ECI in its press release dated April 30, 2024 shows a sharp increase (by about 5-6 per cent) as compared to the initial percentages announced by ECI as of 7 pm on the day of polling," the plea said.
The petition said the "inordinate" delay in the release of final voter turnout data, coupled with the unusually high revision of over 5 per cent in the poll panel's press note of April 30, 2024 has raised concerns and public suspicion regarding the correctness of the said data.
The non-release of the absolute number of votes polled coupled with the "unreasonable delay" in the release of votes polled data has led to apprehensions in the mind of the electorate about the sharp increase between initial data and data released on April 30, it said.
"These apprehensions must be addressed and put to rest. That in order to uphold the voter's confidence it is necessary that the ECI be directed to disclose on its website scanned legible copies of Form 17C Part- I (Account of Votes Recorded) of all polling stations which contains the authenticated figures for votes polled, within 48 hours of the close of polling," it said.
