FRIDAY 26 APRIL 2024 www.thestatesman.com Pages 12 |` 5.00|LC Twitter.com/thestatesman Facebook.com/thestatesman INDIA’S NATIONAL NEWSPAPER SINCE 1818 KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR KHARGE SEEKS TIME FROM MODI TO EXPLAIN ‘NYAY PATRA’ MALDIVES ELECTION P6 SENSEX 74,339.44486.50 WEATHER PARTLY CLOUDY SKY. VERY LIGHT RAIN/THUNDERSHOWER ACCOMPANIED WITH GUSTY WINDS (SPEED 30-40 KMPH) AT A FEW PLACES TOWARDS EVENING/NIGHT. TOMORROW\'S MAXIMUM AND MINIMUM TEMPERATURES WOULD BE AROUND 40 AND 24 DEGREE CELSIUS RESPECTIVELY. RAINFALL: nill RELATIVE HUMIDITY Max. 75 % P5 NIFTY 22,570.35167.95 P9 ` vs $ 83.32PAISE GOLD 72,270380 Min. 16 % Min: 20.0 °C (-3) SUN SETS 18:54 hrs MOON SETS 07:38 hrs THUMBNAILS Polling staff carrying EVMs and other polling materials leave for their respective polling stations on the eve of 2nd Phase of voting for the General Elections 2024, in Morigaon on Thursday.  ANI IndiGo enters wide-body space with order b for 30 Airbus A350-900 aircraft: IndiGo has 9 placed an order for 30 A350-900 aircraft, a decision that will enable the airline to connect Indian metros to destinations around the world. Powered by Rolls Royce's Trent XWB engine, these aircraft promise unparalleled mission capability and efficiency, offering IndiGo unprecedented options as it enters the next phase of its growth.The airline ordering for wide-body aircraft will strengthen its fleet. P rime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said the Congress party has been committing a “dacoity” on OBCs’ reservation rights to introduce reservation on the basis of religion for Muslims against Constitutional provisions and despite rejection of their moves by courts. Addressing a BJP election rally in Agra, he said the Constituent Assembly drafting the Constitution had rejected reservation on the basis of religion, but the Congress has a record of insulting the document and its chief architect Babasaheb Ambedkar. The party has tried to push reservation on religion basis in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, and its manifestoes mention the proposal, he said. In Uttar Pradesh too, the Samajwadi Party-Congress INDI alliance, pursuing the politics of appeasement, wants to bring in reservation on the basis of religion. “Wherever it can do it, it will try to loot the claims of the SCs, STs and NEW DELHI, 25 APRIL The report is deeply biased and reflects poor understanding of India. We attach no value to it and urge you also to ignore it. RANDHIR JAISWAL MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS SPOKESPERSON blocked telecommunications, surveillance of civil society activists and journalists, intimidation and Internet trolling of human rights defenders, punishment of family members for alleged offences by a relative, and “crimes involving violence or threats of violence targeting members of ethnic and caste minorities”, among others. Apex court integrates its IT services with WhatsAppfor access to court cases, info NEW DELHI, 25 APRIL In another significant initiative to provide automated access to information by the Advocates-on-Record (AORs) and parties involved in cases, the Supreme Court on Thursday announced linking of the WhatsApp messaging services with its IT services. Making the announcement, the Chief Justice of India, D Y Chandrachud said: “This small initiative will have a big-bang impact.” “In the 75th year of its existence, the Supreme Court of India launches a small initiative. It has the potential to have a big-bang impact. WhatsApp messenger has been a ubiquitous service in our daily lives and has taken the role of a powerful com- BRENT CRUDE (IN $) 88.000.020 Cong wants to steal from OBCs’ quota to provide reservation on basis of religion, says PM STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE P12 SILVER 82,500400 PM Narendra Modi being felicitated during a public meeting in Agra on Thursday.  ANI OBCs and give them to others,” he said. Mr Modi said since the courts rejected the Congress moves to introduce reservation on the basis of religion, it is now trying to do so through the back door. The party wants to steal from the OBCs’ 27 per cent quota quietly to pursue its objective. “Will you accept this, will you tolerate this?” the PM asked the crowd. The Karnataka Congress government, in one night, included all Muslim castes within the OBC coverage and allowed them to benefit from the quota. “Is this not dacoity on the OBCs’ claims,” he said. Charmed by the policy of appeasement, the Samajwadi Party and the Congress think alike, he said. “The two boys (Akhilesh Yadav and Rahul Gandhi) in Uttar Pradesh talk of OBCs, but really want to transfer their share to their favourite vote bank. Will you allow them to do this dishonesty?” he asked. The Congress government at the Centre, before the 2012 UP Assembly elections, too decided to give a part of the OBC quota to minorities. But they could not succeed in their objective. The OBCs in UP must understand this game of the SP-Congress, he said. The Prime Minister said a new plan of the Congress-INDI alliance has come to light. This plan says “Congress ki loot, zindagi ke saath bhi,zindagi ke baad bhi.(Congress loot, during life and after).” Congress leaders are quite excited about this plan, he said. Mr Modi said he was not saying this on his own; the party’s top leaders, including the Congress prince (Rahul Gandhi) are talking about this. “The party wants your property investigated. The X-ray machine of the Congress prince will reach your kitchens, your mangal-sutras, whatever gold jewellery you have, the SP-Congress alliance will take that away,” he said. The Congress-INDI scheme does not stop here, but wants to take your inheritance also, he said, referring to the inheritance tax proposal attributed to Indian Overseas Congress chairman Sam Pitroda. “Your parents have saved something for you. The alliance has proposed the government will take away 55 per cent of your inheritance,” he said. “Will you allow them to loot your inheritance? More than half as tax will be taken. Out of a four room flat, you will get only two rooms. Out of 10 bighas of land, only five will go to your children. Will you allow your property to go in the hands of the corrupt Hand (election symbol) of the Congress. Are you not angry yet?” he asked. “Before setting their eyes on the SCs’, STs’, OBCs’ claims and mangalsutras of sisters, they should read the writing on the wall, and hear it carefully. As long as Modi is around, you will have to face Modi before attempting this,” he said. ‘Deeply biased’: India rejects US ED opposes Kejriwal’s plea, report on human rights violations claims evidence of his role India on Thursday rejected the US State Department's Human Rights Report (HRR) which voiced concerns over alleged human rights violations in this country. “The report is deeply biased and reflects poor understanding of India. We attach no value to it and urge you also to ignore it,” Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said when asked for his comment on the report. The Human Rights Report (HRR), a country-wise compilation of human rights practices, flagged “credible reports” of more than a dozen different kinds of human rights abuses in India, including extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrest or detention, torture to coerce confessions, repeated imposition of Internet shutdowns and PUNJAB KINGS LOOK TO PUT A DENT IN KKR’S CAMPAIGN ‘Cong committing dacoity on rights of OBCs, SCs, STs’ STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 25 APRIL TEMPERATURE Max: 39.4 °C+2) SUN RISES 5:44 hrs MOON RISES 21:22 hrs APPEALS COURT OVERTURNS WEINSTEIN’S 2020 RAPE CONVICTION munication tool. To strengthen the right to access to Justice and enhance transparency in the judicial system, the Supreme Court announces integration of Whatsapp messaging services with its IT services”, the Chief Justice said. Appreciating the step, Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President, Adish Aggarwala termed the move a great step that would help not only the AORs and the members of the bar, but everyone to have access to the cause list, information relating to cases and others at their fingertips. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta also termed the step “one more revolutionary" initiative by the Supreme Court. The court has seen a steady stream of promising reforms in the last one year. Iran provides consular access to Indian crew members:Iran has provided to India consular access to the 17 crew members of an Israeliaffiliated container ship that was recently seized by Iranian commandos following the escalation of hostilities between Iran and Israel, the government confirmed on Thursday. “We had sought consular access which was given to us. One Indian crew member, Ann Tesa Joseph from Kerala, has already returned home. The other 16 Indian crew members are in good health,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said. He said these crew members have already contacted their families too. Asked when the other 16 crew members are likely to return home, the spokesperson said there are certain technicalities involved since they have to meet their contractual obligations. PARMOD KUMAR NEW DELHI, 25 APRIL The Directorate of Enforcement has opposed Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's plea against his arrest and subsequent remand, stating that the arrest was based on material in possession of the agency, repeated avoidance of summons, non-cooperation with the investigation, destruction of evidence. The agency also contended that as a politician, the Chief Minister could not claim different treatment merely because the Lok Sabha elections are going on. In an affidavit it filed in response to the notice issued by the top court on 15 April on Mr Kejriwal’s plea against his arrest and subsequent remand, the anti-money laundering agency said the Delhi Chief Minister avoided interrogation by not appearing before the investigating offi- cer despite being summoned nine times and this alone necessitated his arrest. This was in addition to the material in possession of the investigating officer on the involvement of Mr Kejriwal in the alleged scam, it said. Stating that Mr Kejriwal has been “arrested bonafide” and not for any malafide or extraneous reasons, the Enforcement Directorate has said “It is categorically denied that the arrest was mala fide.” On Mr Kejriwal’s contention that his arrest was an assault on the ‘tenets of democracy” based on “free and fair elections” and “fed- eralism”, and was intended to disable him from campaigning in the ongoing general election to Lok Sabha, the ED in its affidavit says: “The arrest of a person, however high he may be, for commission of offence based on material, can never violate the concept of free and fair elections... Treating a politician differently from an ordinary criminal in a matter of arrest would amount to arbitrary and irrational exercise of power of arrest which would violate the principle of equality enshrined under Article 14 of the Constitution.” The agency in its affidavit said that the investigation of this liquor scam has to be seen against the background of “large scale destruction of evidence”. However, ED claims that it has been able to “recover key evidence” which “directly reveals” the role of Mr Kejriwal in the process and activities relating to proceeds of crime. Poll panel takes note of alleged MCC violations by Modi, Rahul Gandhi STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 25 APRIL The Election Commission of India (ECI) has taken note of the complaints of alleged violation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. The poll panel forwarded the complaints to BJP President JP Nadda and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge seeking their response by 11 a.m. on 29 April. The elections commission has directed the presidents of both the parties to convince their star campaigners to set high standards of political discourse and observe provisions of the MCC in letter and spirit. Stating that the status of a ‘star campaigner’ statutorily lies entirely within the realm of the political parties under Section 77 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, it said political parties would have to take the primary responsibility for the conduct of their candidates in general and star campaigners in particular. In its notice to the BJP President Nadda, Senior Principal Secretary of the ECI Narendra N Butolia said: “I am directed to forward a copy of the representation dated 21 April made by Indian National Congress, representation dated 23 April made by Communist Party of India and representation dated 21 April made by Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation with the direction to send comments to the Commission latest by 11 am on 29 April.” The Congress, in its complaint against the PM, wrote: “On Sunday, the PM addressed a public rally of elec- Prime Minister Narendra Modi being felicitated by Madhya Pradesh BJP chief VD Sharma at a public meeting in Morena on Thursday.  ANI tors at Banswara, Rajasthan. We have objections to the entire tone and tenor of the PM's speech. We wish to highlight the completely unprecedented and malicious allegations as well statements which are clearly aimed at creating enmity between groups, far worse than any ever made by a sitting PM in the history of India. This cannot go unchecked, unanswered and unpunished.” The PM, while addressing the rally, had alleged that "the Congress manifesto says they will calculate the gold with mothers and sisters, get information about it, and then distribute that property. They will distribute it to whom – Manmohan Singh's government had said Muslims have the first right on the country's assets." In the notice to Congress President Kharge, the senior principal secretary said: “I am directed to forward a copy of the representation dated April 19 made by the BJP with the direction to send comments to the Commission latest by 11 am on 29 April.’’ The BJP, in its complaint filed with the poll panel, accused Rahul Gandhi and Kharge of violation of the MCC. Stage set for another face-off between ruling NDA & Opposition INDIA NIKHIL VYAS NEW DELHI, 25 APRIL Another round of the highvoltage electoral battle between the ruling NDA and the Opposition INDIA bloc will be witnessed on Friday in the second phase of voting in the 18th Lok Sabha elections. Polling in the second phase will be held in 88 parliamentary constituencies spread over 13 states and Union Territories including the remaining part of the Outer Manipur Lok Sabha constituency. The voting is scheduled to start at 7 a.m. across 1.67 lakh polling stations, manned by more than16 lakh polling officials, amidst tight security to avert any untoward incident. It will end at 6 p.m. The Election Commission of India (ECI) said the polling time has been extended to 6 p.m. in many polling stations in Banka, Madhepura, Khagaria and Munger con- stituencies in Bihar so that voters can avoid hot weather conditions. An electorate of more than 15.88 crore will cast their votes to decide the fate of 1,202 candidates, including 102 women candidates. The eligible voters include 8.08 crore men, 7.8 crore women, and 5,929 third-gender electors. The number of first-time voters is 34.8 lakh. In the second phase of voting in the 18th Lok Sabha elections, prominent candidates like Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Shashi Tharoor are in the fray. Mr Chandrasekhar is the BJP’s nominee from Thiruvananthapuram seat while Mr Tharoor is Congress’ candidate from the same seat. Rahul Gandhi is contesting from Wayanad, which he currently represents in the House. Meerut, in Uttar Pradesh, is likely to see a triangular contest among the BJP, the Opposition INDIA bloc and the Bahujan Samaj Party. The BJP has replaced three-term MP Rajendra Agarwal and pitted Ramayana actor Arun Govil against Samajwadi Party's Sunita Verma and BSP's Devratt Kumar. Mathura Lok Sabha constituency in Uttar Pradesh is one of the high-profile seats up for grabs in the second phase of the Lok Sabha Elections from where actor Hema Malini is eyeing her third victory. The Lok Sabha elections in Mathura will see a triangular contest among the BJP, Congress and the BSP. Of the 88 Lok Sabha seats to go to polls tomorrow in the second phase of voting, 20 are in Kerala, 14 in Karnataka, 13 in Rajasthan, eight each in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, six in Madhya Pradesh, five each in Bihar and Assam, three each in Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, and one each in Tripura, Jammu and Kashmir and Manipur. Polling in 15 Assembly segments in the Outer Manipur parliamentary seat was held in the first phase on 19 April, and 13 Assembly seats will witness voting in the second phase. The high-octane campaigning for the second phase of the Lok Sabha elections came to an end on Wednesday evening. with top leaders of the BJPled NDA and the opposition INDIA bloc making a last-gasp effort to woo voters. The campaign in the second phase was marked by a war of words between the BJP and the Congress over the Prime Minister's remarks on the grand old party at a rally in Rajasthan’s Banswara on Sunday. The Congress called it objectionable and filed a complaint with the poll panel.