Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party will form the government in Indian capital Delhi after 27 years as it scripted an impressive election victory.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has won or is leading in 47 seats in the 70-member legislative assembly, while the incumbent Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is ahead in 23 seats, according to data from the Election Commission of India (EC).

A party that wins more than the halfway mark of 35 seats can form the government.

“Development wins, good governance triumphs,” Modi wrote on X, adding that his party would leave “no stone unturned” in developing Delhi .

The election was a battle of prestige for both the BJP and AAP, given Delhi’s symbolic importance as the country’s capital.

The city, a federally-administered territory, was governed by the AAP since 2013, with voters backing its strong record of welfarism. But the party and its leaders have faced several challenges recently, with leaders embroiled in corruption allegations which they have denied.

For the BJP, securing Delhi represents more than just electoral success – it marks a crucial foothold in the nation’s capital after being out of power there since 1998.

The party, which has had recent election successes in other states, such as Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh, threw resources at the Delhi campaign, with Modi as well as Home Minister Amit Shah attending events.

Congress, the main opposition party at the national level, was also in the race, but is unlikely to win even one seat.

The party governed Delhi from 1998 to 2013, but was ousted over allegations of corruption that saw voters turn to AAP instead. It has failed to make a mark since.

Experts say that the win in politically crucial Delhi will reinforce Modi’s popularity among Indian voters after his party lost its outright majority in last year’s general election.

The defeat is a big blow to the AAP, a much smaller party which was praised in its early years in power for focusing on improving education and health facilities in the city. It also governs Punjab state, but retaining Delhi would have been a triumph for the beleaguered party which now faces questions about its future.

On Saturday, the biggest upsets for AAP included top leaders Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia losing in the New Delhi and Jangpura constituencies, respectively.

Incumbent Chief Minister Atishi managed only a narrow victory from the Kalkaji constituency.

In a video message on X, Kejriwal said he and his party “humbly accepted” the verdict of the people and congratulated the BJP on its win.

“I hope they live up to the expectations of the people who voted for them,” he said.

More than 60% of eligible voters cast their ballot in the election on Wednesday. Most exit polls had predicted an absolute majority for the BJP, although such predictions have gone wrong in the past.

Much of the BJP campaign targeted Kejriwal, an anti-graft activist, who – along with Sisodia – had been jailed over the past two years in a corruption case relating to a now-scrapped alcohol sales policy. Both leaders, who deny all the charges, separately got bail last year after spending months in jail.

Kejriwal has accused Modi’s party of carrying out a “political vendetta” against him and the AAP, which the BJP denies.

The Supreme Court’s bail conditions banned him from entering the chief minister’s office or signing files. Kejriwal resigned from the role days after his release from prison.

Source: BBC

Protesters in Bangladesh have vandalised and set fire to the former family home of deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina, as well as those of other members of her party.

The unrest was sparked by news that Hasina would address the country via social media from India, where she has been in exile since a student-led revolt ousted her last year.

The 77-year-old Hasina, who was in charge of Bangladesh for 20 years, was seen as an autocrat whose government ruthlessly clamped down on dissent.

On Wednesday evening, an excavator smashed down the house of Hasina’s late father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who is also Bangladesh’s founding president. The structure had been repurposed into a museum.

Hasina’s father is widely viewed as an independence hero, but anger at his daughter has tarnished his legacy among Hasina’s critics.

In a Facebook livestream, Hasina condemned the attack on her father’s former home and demanded “justice”.

“They can demolish a building, but they can’t erase history,” she said.

While Hasina fled to India last August, anger has not dissipated against her and members of her party Awami League. More than 200 people were killed last year when Hasina’s government attempted to crack down on the protests.

On Wednesday, protesters also vandalised and torched the houses and businesses of senior Awami League leaders. There have been calls on social media to rid the country of “pilgrimage sites of fascism”.

Police told the BBC’s Bengali service that around 700 protesters showed up at the residence on Wednesday night, and dozens of police officers were deployed.

Since Hasina’s ouster, a caretaker government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has kept the country running.

Yunus has pledged to hold elections in late 2025 or early 2026.

(BBC)

USAID personnel posted overseas will be recalled from their postings within 30 days, the agency said in a statement on its website.

The aid agency said it would consider case-by-case exceptions and extensions based on “personal or family hardship, mobility or safety concerns, or other reasons”.

“For example, the Agency will consider exceptions based on the timing of dependents’ school term, personal or familial medical needs, pregnancy, and other reasons. Further guidance on how to request an exception will be forthcoming,” the statement said.

USAID’s announcement comes as the Trump administration is considering abolishing the agency and subsuming its functions into the US Department of State.

Asked by a reporter on Tuesday if he was preparing to “wind down” the agency, Trump said, “I think so.”

On Monday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed that he was serving as acting administrator of USAID.

USAID, which disbursed more than half of Washington’s $72bn foreign aid budget in 2023, has become a prime target of the cost-cutting drive spearheaded by tech billionaire Elon Musk and his so-called Department of Government Efficiency.

Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has called USAID a “criminal organisation“, without substantiation, and claimed the agency is a “viper’s nest of radical-left Marxists who hate America”.

Critics have accused Trump and Musk of acting beyond their authority, arguing that dismantling USAID through executive action is unconstitutional as the agency’s status was established by an act of Congress.

(aljazeera.com)