US Polls 2024: Trump To Be The Next US President, Claims Media

by Shambhu Datta Mishra

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

Trump who lost the state in the 2020 elections to President Biden is projected to return to the White House after four years with Fox News projecting Trump winning 277 electoral votes while Kamala Harris has 226 votes

Trump is expected to address supporters West Palm Beach Convention Center after US media polls predicted a return to the White House for him after a tightly contested election against Vice President Kamala Harris

Washington DC, Nov 6: Republican candidate and former US President Donald Trump has won state of Pennsylvania that gives him 19 electoral votes, together with wins in two of the other battleground states- Georgia (16 votes) and North Carolina (16 votes) according to projection by Decision Desk HQ.

A candidate needs at least 270 electoral votes out of 538 to win the presidency.

As per CBS news projections the Republicans are also poised to take control of the Senate, with wins in Ohio and West Virginia. Results of House results are yet too close to call.

With this Trump who is 78 years old is set to become the oldest president to be elected to the White House. President Joe Biden was previously the oldest president to be elected at 77. It marks a comeback for Trump who is facing multiple federal convictions and scandals.

Meanwhile, polls closed at 1 a.m. Eastern in Alaska, the last state where they remained open.

Harris, who entered the poll fray in July this year was clutching on to a narrow hope even after US news outlets projected victory for her Republican rival in North Carolina and Georgia after elections closed on Tuesday night. Her campaign said she was not out of the race yet.

She has projected wins in Democratic strongholds like California. Trump managed to flip Georgia back to the Republican side, held North Carolina and shattered the so called "blue wall" of the Democrats.

The Republican candidate has won Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Alaska, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Wyoming, Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, West Virginia, Montana, Idaho and Utah.

As per an analysis in The Hill news daily, Trump is only the second president in U.S. history to win two nonconsecutive terms as president, with a loss sandwiched between the victories.

The first to do so was Grover Cleveland, who served as the 22nd and 24th president, from 1885-1889 and 1893-1897. He was unsuccessful in his first attempt at re-election in 1888, losing to Republican Benjamin Harrison, before coming back to beat Harrison four years later, as per the US news outlet.

(ANI)

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LMV Licence Holders Can Drive Light Transport Vehicles, Reiterates SC

by Hemanta Pande

New Delhi, Nov 6: The Supreme Court on Wednesday reiterated that Light Motor Vehicle (LMV) licence holders do not require any separate endorsement to drive a transport vehicle of the LMV class.

A five-judge Constitution Bench headed by the Chief Justice of India (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud said that the licensing regime under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 and the rules framed thereunder, when read as a whole, does not provide for a separate endorsement for operating a transport vehicle, if a driver already holds a LMV licence.

The CJI Chandrachud-led Bench clarified that the exceptions carved out by the legislature for special vehicles like e-carts and e-rickshaws, or vehicles carrying hazardous goods, will remain unaffected by its decision.

It said that the additional eligibility criteria as specified in the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 and rules framed thereunder will apply only to medium/heavy goods and passenger vehicles having gross weight above 7,500 Kg, adding that transport vehicle in the licensing scheme has to be understood only in the context of the medium/heavy vehicles.

In substance, the Constitution Bench, also comprising Justices Hrishikesh Roy, P.S. Narasimha, Pankaj Mithal, and Manoj Misra, held that a driver holding a LMV licence can operate a transport vehicle without needing additional authorisation.

“For licensing purposes, LMVs and Transport Vehicles are not entirely separate classes. An overlap exists between the two. The special eligibility requirements will however continue to apply for, inter alia, e-carts, e- rickshaws, and vehicles carrying hazardous goods,” it said.

The five-judge Constitution Bench was seized of the reference where the correctness of the decision of a three-judge Bench in the Mukund Dewangan judgment has been doubted.

The 2017 Mukund Dewangan judgment had held that the need for a transport licence would arise in the case of medium/heavy goods and passenger vehicles only, adding that no other vehicle will require any separate endorsement, even if they are used for commercial purposes.

In other words, a holder of an LMV licence would not require any separate endorsement for commercial usage of LMVs like cars, vans, etc.

The Centre issued notifications and brought amendments to the Motor Vehicles Rules to bring them in conformity with the above judgment of the Supreme Court.

The 2017 judgment gave rise to various disputes over payment of claims by insurance companies in accident cases involving transport vehicles being driven by those having licences to drive LMVs and the matter was re-agitated at their instance.

In March 2022, a Bench headed by Justice U.U. Lalit (now retired) held that certain provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act were not noticed by the top court in its 2017 Mukund Dewangan decision and the issue needs to be re-visited by a five-judge Constitution Bench.

Now, the Constitution upheld the 2017 Mukund Dewangan judgment and refused to term the previous ruling “per incuriam” even if certain provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act and rules were not considered.

In the course of the oral hearing, CJI Chandrachud had remarked that the issue in question was not plainly "about interpreting law" but involved the "social impact of law" as well.

The Constitution Bench had asked the Union government to consider the impact on lakhs of people across the country who are engaged in driving commercial vehicles on the basis of the judgment in the Dewangan case as they will be "completely put out of their livelihood".

It had made repeated emphasis that the Union government should review the entirety of the position and then take an appropriate call.

--IANS

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We Made History, This Will Be Golden Age For America: Trump After Declaring Victory

by Hemanta Pande

New York, Nov 6: “We made history”, Donald Trump said on Wednesday declaring victory in the presidential election, staging a comeback against all odds.

"This will truly be the golden age of America. That's why this is a magnificent victory for the American people that will allow us to make America great again”, he said at his West Palm Beach campaign headquarters.

Fox News Decision Desk, which analyses incoming counting data, had declared Trump the winner, while the other media were waiting to formally declare the victory and their data showed him on the brink of winning.

Trump said that he would carry at least 315 electoral college votes, having won four swing states and leading in three others.

He said that he was also winning the popular votes.

The Senate had flipped back to Republican control, he said, and the party was heading to retaining the House of Representatives.

Media has given 51 seats in the 100-member Senate, with seven results due.

A beaming Trump flanked by his family and running mate JD Vance and his wife, took the stage to chants of “USA, USA” from his supporters.

Meanwhile, the venue for Vice President Kamala Harris’s victory celebration at Howard University in Washington shut down by 1:30 am and her campaign announced that she had gone home and would speak later in the morning.

“America has given us an unprecedented and powerful mandate”, Trump said.

After an intense election campaign, Trump said, "We're going to help our country heal”.

He did not mention Harris or President Joe Biden or any Democrat, whom he had been verbally thrashing in his speech, either extending an olive branch or continuing the attacks.

Trump told his supporters, "I will fight for you, for your family, and your future. Every single day I will be fighting for you with every breath in my body"...

Listing his victories, Trump said, "We also have won the popular vote. That was great. Winning the popular vote was very nice, very nice. I will tell you a great feeling of love".

"We have taken back control of the Senate", he said. "It also looks like we'll be keeping control of the House of Representatives".

"We have a country that needs help, and it needs help very badly. We're going to fix our borders. We're going to fix everything about our country," he said.

Illegal migration was a major issue in the election and Trump threatened mass deportations of illegal migrants when he is elected.

"We're going to have to seal up those borders," he said, adding, "We want people to come back again… we have to let them come back in, but they have to come in legally".

Trump praised J D Vance, his running mate and his wife and family.

"He's turned out to be a good choice. I took a little heat at the beginning, but he was, I knew the brain was a good one, about as good as it gets," he said. "And we love the family... We're going to have a great four years”, he said.