A few decades ago ~
elections in Tamil Nadu were different. Before
you read further – Thiru : A Subbarayalu; Panagal Raja; Dr P Subbarayan; P
Munuswamy Naidu, Ramakrishna Ranga Rao(Raja
of Bobbili), PT Rajan, Kurma Venkata Reddy Naidu, C Rajagopalachari
[Rajaji], Tanguturi Prakasam & O P Ramaswamy Reddiyar – were the Chief
Ministers of Tamil Nadu prior to Indepedence and general elections in free
India.
Remember in my younger
days there would be public meetings at street corners, cycle rallies, candidate
canvassing in open jeeps and some orators reeling out statistics and qualities
of the candidate on the mike in auto rickshaw (I myself have spoken on that
mike traversing the electoral village consisting of many a streets). For every candidate, election manager,
campaigner, speakers – good oratorical skills, eloquence, knowledge of the
area, candidate, capabilities of the party and more were required .. ..
(perhaps not any longer !) – remember what could happen if the candidate makes
a guffaw in calling wrongly the name of Chief Minister himself ! – for sure, he
would become object of ridicule.
Miles away,
US elections are on the anvil. The
American presidential elections are always held on the Tuesday after the first
Monday in November. Americans vote for people called "electors" in
their state who are supporting the candidate they want to become president -
this process is called the electoral college. The more people who live in a
state, the more electors there are for that state. So California for example,
with a population of 38.8 million, has 55 votes - while Delaware, (population
936,000), has just three votes. There are currently 538 electors in total,
corresponding to the 435 Representatives (Congress men and women) and 100
Senators, plus the three additional electors from the District of Columbia. The
Constitution prohibits any federal official, elected or appointed, from being
an elector. The candidate with the most electors wins all the state's electoral
college votes and the first candidate to win enough states to get to 270
electoral votes is elected to that office.
The 2020 US
election is a week away. With the presidential debates over, we are into the
final days of campaigning. But the coronavirus pandemic has thrown many aspects
of the race into uncertainty. The virus has already dramatically affected the
running of the election, including the chaos caused by Donald Trump being
diagnosed with Covid-19. It is also unclear what election day itself will look
like, given the risk of catching the virus by voting in person. A record number
of people are expected to vote before November 3 by opting for postal votes.
Election experts suggest this could mean the result may not be declared on
election night, but may take several days - or even weeks - to emerge. With
the coronavirus pandemic expected to impact public life well into the autumn,
the 2020 election is likely to go down in history as one of the most unconventional
US presidential races ever held.
Media reports may not be
conclusive in saying whether it would be Joe Biden or Donald Trump in the national polls for the
presidential election. The leads as
shown in the Press any way doesn’t
guarantee the candidate’s victory.
Hillary Clinton also had a clear lead over Trump in the polls for almost the
entire 2016 campaign. She ended up losing in the electoral college. Because the
presidential voting system assigns each state a number of electoral college
votes, which go to the state’s victor regardless of the margin of victory, a
handful of swing states will probably decide the election and be targeted
heavily by campaigners.
In order to track how the
race is developing in the areas that could decide the election, six of the
eight states we focused on were those that flipped to Trump in 2016 after
backing Barack Obama in 2012. Arizona and North Carolina were also added due to
what they might tell us about a shifting electoral landscape – they could
emerge as vital new swing states this year.
Donald Trump
has mocked 'Sleepy' Joe Biden for apparently forgetting who was president after
the Democrat candidate said 'we need to stop four more years of George.' Biden was addressing a virtual concert when he
said: 'Four more years of George, er, George, er, he - we're going to find
ourselves in a position where, if Trump gets elected, we're going to be in a
different world.' The 77-year-old appeared to receive a
prompt from his wife Jill who was sitting beside him, muttering 'Trump' under
her breath.
Hours later
President Trump blasted Biden, tweeting: 'Joe Biden called me George yesterday.
Couldn't remember my name. Got some help from the anchor to get
him through the interview. The Fake News Cartel is working overtime to cover it
up!' Many speculated that Biden was thinking of George W. Bush, president from
2001-09, or perhaps George H.W. who was in office from 1989-93. Democrats however said
that Biden was speaking to George Lopez, one of the hosts of the rally. The blunder once again was used by Republicans
to raise questions about Biden's mental capacity - a topic Trump has repeatedly
referenced in the run-up to the election.
Interesting !
26.10.2020
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