Donald Trump wins North Dakota Republican caucuses, adding to victories going into Super Tuesday
Bismarck (US), Mar 5 (AP): Donald Trump won the North Dakota Republican presidential caucuses on Monday, adding to his string of victories heading into Super Tuesday.
The former president finished first in voting conducted at 12 caucus sites, ahead of former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley. The result puts Trump back on the winning track, which was briefly interrupted on Sunday when Haley notched her first victory of the campaign in the District of Columbia's primary.
The White House hopefuls now turn their attention to Super Tuesday, when results will pour in from 16 states in contests that amount to the single biggest delegate haul of any day in the presidential primary. Trump and President Joe Biden, a Democrat, are dominating their races and are on track to winning their nominations later this month.
Under North Dakota's rules, candidates are eligible to win delegates if they finish with at least 20 per cent of the vote. However, a candidate who wins at least 60 per cent of the vote receives all of the state's 29 delegates.
Four candidates were on the ballot, including Trump and Nikki Haley. The other candidates, who have received little attention, were Florida businessman David Stuckenberg and Texas businessman and pastor Ryan Binkley, who recently ended his campaign.
ALSO READ: Nikki Haley beats Donald Trump in Washington DC for first primary victory
Retired music teacher and librarian Karen Groninger, of Almont, said Monday that she voted for Trump, calling him the best choice. The 76-year-old cited Trump's 2020 speech at the annual March for Life anti-abortion event in Washington, DC. the first by a sitting president and his border policies.
Longtime Republican state Sen. Dick Dever, of Bismarck, said he voted for Haley, but added she's unlikely to win. The retired factory representative, 72, said, "I hear an awful lot of people say that they really liked Trump's policies but they don't like the way he conducts himself, and I think he's gone overboard a bit."
Caucus voters were encouraged to be paying party members, but those who wouldn't pay USD 50 for annual membership were asked to sign a pledge to affiliate with the party, caucus Chair Robert Harms said.
North Dakota is the only state without voter registration. The caucuses followed official state voter identification protocols, such as providing a driver's license. Voting was done only in person and on printed ballots, which will be hand-counted.
In 2016, it was a North Dakota delegate who helped Trump secure the number needed for the Republican presidential nomination.
He swept North Dakota's three electoral college votes in 2016 and 2020, winning about 63 per cent and 65 per cent of those votes, respectively.
As president, Trump visited Bismarck and Mandan in 2017 to talk about tax cuts, and he campaigned twice in Fargo in 2018 for Kevin Cramer in the then-congressman's successful Senate bid against Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp.
North Dakota's Democratic-NPL Party is holding a presidential primary almost entirely by mail, with mail-in voting from Feb. 20 to March 30, and limited in-person voting for residents of Indian reservations. President Joe Biden, Rep. Dean Phillips and six others are on the ballot.
A third party will count ballots in Fargo on March 30, with results available on the party's website afterward.
Sen. Bernie Sanders won the Democratic caucuses in 2016 and 2020. (AP)
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LPG crisis triggers migrant worker exodus from Kerala ahead of Ramzan, polls
Kochi (PTI): The ongoing LPG crisis, which has led to the mass closure of restaurants and hotels across Kerala, has triggered an exodus of migrant workers returning to their native places, as Ramzan approaches and elections are to be held in West Bengal and Assam.
Restaurant and hotel operators are trying to retain their staff from other states, fearing that if migrant workers leave now, they may not return until after the election.
G Jayapal, state president of the Kerala Hotel and Restaurant Association (KHRA), told PTI that migrant workers from West Bengal and Assam were expected to return home a week before the elections in their respective states.
“However, with the LPG crisis forcing hotels and restaurants to shut down, migrant workers will start returning to their native places early. They will return only after the elections. Also, Ramzan will be celebrated next week, and people who were working in restaurants will start returning to their states due to the lack of jobs here,” he said.
Jayapal said that, in addition to exploring alternative cooking fuels, restaurant operators are also trying to prevent workers from leaving early, expecting that the LPG crisis will be resolved soon.
“A majority of the workforce in hotels and restaurants are migrant workers. Restaurants are desperate to keep them here. However, small-scale restaurant operators find it hard to maintain staff when their shops are closed,” he said.
Binoy Peter of the Centre for Migration and Inclusive Development (CMID), which closely monitors migrant worker movements, told PTI that around 50 per cent of Kerala's migrant workforce comes from the poll-bound states of Assam and West Bengal.
“With hotels closed, migrant workers in the hospitality sector have started moving to their native places. Apart from restaurant closures, the movement is also triggered by Ramzan and the elections in West Bengal and Assam. Reserved tickets in trains to these states are already in the waiting list,” he said.
Usually, migrant workers from Kerala return home mainly during the local body polls in their state.
However, this time, due to the SIR procedure, workers are anxious and want to cast their votes in the Assembly elections in West Bengal and Assam, Peter said.
“Usually, once migrant workers return to their native places, they come back only after one or two months. This will put all sectors in Kerala that depend on them in a crisis,” he said.
Shibin, owner of KLR Facility, which supplies workers, especially housekeeping staff, to major malls and hotels, said that after the LPG crisis, migrants have already started returning home.
“The LPG crisis is only one factor for their movement. The major factor is the elections in West Bengal and Assam. We have already started facing the heat as a number of workers have moved back to their native places,” he said.
Shibin said he used to provide 25 migrant workers for housekeeping at a major mall in Thiruvananthapuram.
“Now we have only five workers from other states there. We are managing the situation by recruiting local women for the work. We have already informed the companies to which we supply manpower and requested their cooperation until the elections in West Bengal and Assam are over,” he said.
