23052024-TTC-01.qxd 5/23/2024 SUNAK CALLS UK ELECTION ON JULY 4 WORLD /thetribunechd 12:41 AM Page 1 13 CHANDIGARH | GURUGRAM | JALANDHAR | BATHINDA | VOL. 144 NO. 142 | 14 PAGES | ~5.00 | REGD. NO. CHD/0006/2024-2026 ESTABLISHED IN 1881 thursday | 23 may 2024 /thetribunechd www.tribuneindia.com Exercise restraint: EC ticks off BJP, Cong over divisive agenda Nadda draws ire for communal barbs, Kharge over ‘threat to Constitution’ Tribune News Service New Delhi, May 22 The Election Commission today came down heavily on both the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress over poll speeches by their star campaigners, saying “precious heritage of national election and electoral democracy should not be allowed to be weakened by anyone”. Without directly naming Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi — complaints were filed against both — the EC, in separate directions, conveyed the message to BJP president JP Nadda and his Congress counterpart Mallikarjun Kharge, rejecting their response to the notices served on them on April 25 over the violation of the poll code by their star campaigners. The EC directed Nadda, as party president, to convey to all BJP star campaigners not to make “speeches and state- Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar with ECs Gyanesh Kumar and SS Sandhu in New Delhi. FILE NO DELAY IN TURNOUT DATA, EC TELLS SC Lamenting that continuous attempts were being made to create doubts about the electoral process, the EC urged the Supreme Court to dismiss an application filed by ADR seeking voter turnout data ments that may divide the society”. The poll panel directed the BJP and its star campaigners “to refrain from any campaigning methods or utterances along religious or communal lines”. It said that under Form 17C as “such attempts demotivate voters”. “There is neither delay nor difference in percentage of voter turnout data, more than what is inbuilt into the process, scale and magnitude in play.” BACK PAGE it expected the BJP “as the , ruling party at the Centre, to fully align with the campaign methods to the practical aspects of the composite and sensitive fabric of India”. “Direct all your star cam- paigners to refrain from making any statement that is prohibited in Clause (1) of general conduct of the model code of conduct, which provides continued on page 9 edit: mind your tongue SC pulls up Soren for ‘suppressing facts’ Jharkhand ex-CM withdraws plea against his arrest | Can’t campaign now Satya Prakash Tribune News Service New Delhi, May 22 Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren will miss the 2024 Lok Sabha poll campaign as the Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to entertain his plea against arrest in a money laundering case linked to a land scam for “suppressing facts” regarding filing of a regular bail plea in the trial court. “Your conduct tells a lot. We expected your client to come up with candour but you sup- CONDUCT NOT WITHOUT BLEMISH Your conduct tells a lot. We expected your client to come up with candour but you (counsel Kapil Sibal) suppressed material facts… Your conduct is not without blemish. Vacation Bench ❝ pressed material facts… Your conduct is not without blemish,” a Vacation Bench of Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma told senior counsel Kapil Sibal, who represented Soren. As Sibal said the JMM leader was in custody and did not have any knowledge EXPECT FAIR PROBE IN MALIWAL CASE: KEJRIWAL BACK PAGE about the petitions being filed in courts, the Bench said, “He is not a layman”. Sibal chose to withdraw Soren’s petition challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) after the top court said it would dismiss his petition against arrest without going into the merits of the case. The Bench cautioned him that if it went into the details of the case, it would be “damaging” for the JMM leader. Polling for 14 Lok Sabha seats in Jharkhand is scheduled to be held in four phases — May 13 (four seats), May 20 (three seats), May 25 (four seats) and June 1 (three seats). Arrested on January 31 in the case by the ED, Soren is currently lodged in judicial custody in Ranchi’s Birsa Munda Central Jail. He had continued on page 9 4 Indians held in Nijjar case appear in Canadian court Ottawa, May 22 Four Indian nationals accused of killing Khalistan separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar last year in Surrey were ordered by a Canadian court to have no contact with several people in the community, as they made their first joint appearance before it in the case that has severely strained ties between India and Canada. Told not to make contact with community members Three of the four suspects — Karan Brar (22), Kamalpreet Singh (22) and 28-year-old Karanpreet Singh — appeared in person for the first time in the BC Provincial Court in Surrey. The fourth suspect — Amandeep Singh (22) — appeared by video link. Amandeep remains in custody in Ontario where he was facing unrelated weapons offences before being arrested on May 10 for Nijjar’s killing. Judge Mark Jette spoke to the men through an interpreter as he placed them under a no-contact order, before adjourning until the suspects’ next appearance on June 25, CBC News reported. Prosecutor Marcel Daigle said the time until the next hearing would allow the Crown to fulfil its evidentiary disclosure obligations to the suspects’ lawyers. Nijjar (45) was killed outside Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia, on June 18, 2023. — PTI c m y b