MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

FRESH from its electoral 'success' in the recently concluded parliamentary elections, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi launched an attack on the BJP and its leaders for facilitating 'manipulation' of the stock market in the run-up to the election results day.

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The stock markets in the country, taking cue from the exit polls on June 1 (Saturday), swung 3.7% to hit new peaks on the following Monday (June 3) when the market opened for trading. All exit polls had predicted a massive mandate to the BJP, with some claiming that NDA-led by the former would go on to win over 400 seats.

However, the very next day, markets collapsed 5.7% after all exit polls were proven wrong. The BJP could manage to win 240 seats, way short of the majority mark. And the NDA could win only 293 seats, much below the projected 350-400 seats.

Markets were expecting a 'strong' government under Modi, with the BJP on its own winning more than 272 seats - the majority mark. But it was not to be. Equity markets do not like policy 'uncertainties' often ascribed to coalition governments, and therefore, on the results day, markets went down like ninepins. The market cap on Tuesday fell from ₹425 lakh crore to ₹396 crore, shaving off ₹30 lakh crore of investors' money.

Congress claims

The Congress accused the top deck of the government, including the prime minister and home minister, of giving unsolicited advice to investors to put money in the market ahead of June 4-the vote counting day.

Hinting at a possible stock market scam, where FIIs benefitted at the cost of retail investors, Rahul demanded a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) investigation into the matter. The Congress wondered if there was a connection between the BJP, the 'dubious' foreign investors and 'fake' exit pollsters.

The party also claimed that the equity markets saw huge build up one day before the exit polls that is on May 31 (Friday) - with investors taking positions with huge volumes.