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Influence of Indian Secular Front (ISF), the "one legislator party" in the West Bengal Assembly is not to be judged by its representation. It contested on its own in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and cut into the support bases of Congress and several Left Front partners triggering them to slide below the ISF in some of the constituencies after votes were counted.

Forty-four seat and 19.3% of the votes in 2014; 52 seat and 19.49% of the votes in 2019; and 99 seats and 21.26% of the vote in 2024. One of the stories of these elections has been turnaround of the Indian National Congress, one made all the more remarkable by its improved overall strike rate (defined as seats won to seats contested expressed in percentage) of 30 per cent compared to 8.3 per cent in 2019 and 9.4% in 2014. Further, as against the BJP in head on head fight, the Congress strike rate was 29 per cent in 2024 as against 8 per cent in 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

PARIS: As the European Parliament elections are on from June 6 to June 9, the bourgeois party Les Republicains, founded by Nicolas Sarkozy, the former president and adviser to current President Emmanuel Macron, is plummeting, as is the latter’s Renaissance formation. So far, Le Penʼs Rassemblement National, with its top candidate and new leader Jordan Bardella, is far ahead in all polls, with more than 31%.

Unprecedented unemployment crisis under PM Narendra Modi’s first two terms since 2014, is most likely to continue in his third term , unless the jobless growth model is changed. Out of about one billion working age population, the number of people in employment has been hovering around 40 crore for the last few years.

Nothing odd, but reports speak of unrest in the ranks of the Shinde Shiv Sena. The Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray Sena looks the better bet. Amidst this, the crowning of Narendra Damodardas Modi as the leader of the NDA parliamentary party. Were the Shinde Sena MPs present in the Central Hall of the Old Parliament when Prime Minister-elect Narendra Modi held forth on what the prospects of an NDA government at the Centre holds for the states?

It was shocking to see incarnation of Lord Vishnu, who is even followed and revered by Lord Jagannath of Puri, prostrating before two mortal politicians Nitish Kumar and Chandrababu Naidu for their support to satiate his desire for becoming prime minister for third consecutive term. During a phase when the saints and religious gurus nurse earthly craving for enjoying political power, a politician certainly cannot be expected to perform a reverse role and behave like a saint.

A distinction is drawn in economics between demand-constrained systems and resource-constrained systems (which for simplicity and symmetry we shall call supply-constrained systems). In the former, an increase in output can occur if there is a rise in aggregate demand without causing any scarcity-induced inflation; in the latter, output is constrained either by capacity being fully used up, or by the scarcity of some critical input or of foodgrains or of the labour force, so that a rise in aggregate demand, instead of raising output, simply causes scarcity-induced inflation. Capitalism normally, that is, except in war times, is a demand-constrained system, while socialism that existed in the Soviet Union and in Eastern Europe was supply-constrained. In a demand-constrained system, employment too will rise if there is an increase in aggregate demand.

KOLKATA: The debacle of the Congress in the Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal was not at all unexpected. With only Malda (South) Lok Sabha constituency in Congress kitty out of 42 seats in the state, the Grand Old Party is a faint shadow of its former self in West Bengal. The reasons behind the retreat of Congress turning almost into a rout needs to be laid at the doors of its state and national leadership whose vacillation helped Trinamool Congress widen its support base at the expense of the Congress party.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, is currently in China for a five-day visit which kicked off on Tuesday (June 4). China is Pakistan’s closest and most significant partner. This is the prime minister’s first trip to China after the general elections held on February 8. The trip has caused a delay in the annual federal budget, which is typically presented in the first week of June. Now, it is expected to be presented next week after PM Sharif approves it upon his return, according to sources.

During the peak of election campaigning, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks about Mahatma Gandhi created quite a buzz, with many criticizing his take that nobody in the world knew about Gandhi until the Richard Attenborough-directed film Gandhi came out in 1982. Many people think Gandhi is well-known and deeply revered across the world so, PM’s comments were off the mark.