SATURDAY 25 MAY 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 FREE, OPEN INDO-PACIFIC NECESSARY FOR GLOBAL PEACE: EAM ‘INDIA DID BEST UNDER COALITIONS’ P7 SENSEX 75,410.397.65 WEATHER Partly cloudy sky. Rain/thundershower likely to occur in some areas. Maximum and minimum temperatures likely to be around 36°C and 28 °C respectively. RAINFALL: NIL RELATIVE HUMIDITY P5 NIFTY 22,957.1010.55 P11 ` vs $ 83.1118 PAISE GOLD 72,440980 Penultimate phase of Lok Sabha polls today Voting for 42 seats of the Odisha Assembly will also be held STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 24 MAY Max. 89 % Min. 46 % Max: 36.7°C (+1.3) SUN RISES 04:53 hrs MOON RISES 19:12 hrs Min: 27.6°C (+0.7) SUN SETS 18:14 hrs MOON SETS 05:5 hrs TEMPERATURE BRIDGERTON: IDEALISING THE WALLFLOWERS OF SOCIETY New Moon on 6 June THUMBNAILS Polling officials leave for their respective polling stations on the eve of the sixth phase of LS polls in Prayagraj on Friday. ANI Step father sentenced to death for killing actress Laila Khan, 5 others in 2011: A Mumbai Sessions Court on Friday awarded death sentence to Parvez Tak for the sensational killing of his step-daughter and actress Laila Khan, her mother, three siblings, and a cousin sister in 2011. Additional Sessions Judge S.B. Pawar pronounced Tak guilty of the multiple murders on 9 May, and the verdict on the quantum of punishment was delivered on Friday. oting for the sixth and penultimate phase of the Lok Sabha elections, covering 58 constituencies in eight states and Union territories will be held on Saturday. More than 11.13 crore voters will decide the fates of 889 candidates who are in the fray. The polling is scheduled to commence at 7 a.m. in 1.14 lakh polling stations, manned by around 11.4 lakh polling officials amid tight security. Of the 58 Lok Sabha seats going to the polls in the sixth phase, 14 are in Uttar Pradesh, 10 in Haryana, eight each in Bihar and West Bengal, seven in Delhi, six in Odisha, four in Jharkhand and one in Jammu and Kashmir. Voting for 42 seats of the Odisha Assembly will also be held in the state's third phase of simultaneous polling. Key candidates from the BJP are Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan (Sambalpur, Odisha), former Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal V Of the 58 seats going to the polls in the 6th phase, 14 are in Uttar Pradesh, 10 in Haryana, eight each in Bihar and Bengal, seven in Delhi, six in Odisha, four in Jharkhand and one in Jammu & Kashmir. Khattar (Karnal), Manoj Tiwari (North East Delhi) and Bansuri Swaraj (New Delhi); prominent candidates from Congress include Kumari Selja (Sirsa, Haryana), Deep- ender Singh Hooda (Rohtak, Haryana), JP Agarwal (Chandni Chowk) and Kanhaiya Kumar (North East Delhi). Other prominent candidates include senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Somnath Bharti (New Delhi), PDP President and former J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti (AnantnagRajouri) and the Trinamul Congress’ Lalitesh Pati Tripathi from UP's Bhadohi. Meanwhile, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has called upon voters to turn out in greater numbers at polling stations and vote with responsibility and pride. It reminded voters of parliamentary seats in urban centres like Delhi, Gurgaon and Faridabad about their right and duty to vote and break the trend of urban apathy. The poll panel also said the concerned CEOs and State machineries have been directed to take adequate measures to manage the adverse impact of hot weather or rainfall wherever predicted. Assured Minimum Facilities like water, shed, toilets, ramps, volunteers, wheelchairs, and electricity are in place to ensure that every voter, including elderly and persons with disabilities, can cast their vote with ease, it said. BJP has turned entire country into jail, says Mamata STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE KOLKATA, 24 MAY Trinamul Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee said that the BJP has turned the entire country into a jail and has taken away rights and freedom of people. She was addressing an election meeting at Canning Stadium on Friday afternoon. Trinamul Congress has fielded sitting MP Pratima Mondol again from Mathurapur Lok Sabha seat. The election in this seat will be held on 1 June. “We live in a country where there is no freedom of speech or expression. People have been coerced and the voice of the opposition stifled. Unless we change the situation now, be OBC ruling: CM says will move SC We live in a country where there is no freedom of speech or expression. People have been coerced and the voice of the opposition stifled.... AGENCIES Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Friday that her government will approach the Supreme Court challenging the Calcutta High Court order that cancelled the OBC status of several class- MAMATA BANERJEE BENGAL CHIEF MINISTER sure that in future BJP will change the Constitution and the rights of the SC, ST and minorities will be taken away. We will have to defeat the saffron party to save the country,” she said. Miss Banerjee said: “For quite some time the Prime Min- es in the state granted since 2010. Addressing an election rally in Sagar in South 24 Parganas district, she said the state government would appeal to the higher court against the order after summer vacation. “We do not accept the order that scrapped OBC certificates”, she said. photo of Kazi Nazrul Islam whose birth anniversary will be observed tomorrow. Coming down heavily on PM Modi, she said: “After trying all his experiments, he is now calling himself a divinely commissioned being and has a mission to fulfil. In older days the kings used to call them representatives of god on earth. What does he think of himself? His mission is to sell the PSUs, sell everything in the country. Sometimes I think what sort of person he is. He is saying that he is not a biological person,” she remarked. KOLKATA, 24 MAY ister is making a narrative that the Muslims will take away the rights of the SC people. This is their Constitutional right and no one can take it away. Modi has said this just to defame the Muslims and this has been deliberately done. Miss Banerjee garlanded the Patnaik says he is in good health STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE BHUBANESWAR, 24 MAY With the BJP constantly raising questions over the health of CM Naveen Patnaik and alleging use of AI , and deepfake videos, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday said he is in good health and campaigning in the State in the polls. “As you can see I am in very good health and have been campaigning all over the state for over a month. There is a limit to the amount of lies BJP can tell”, Mr Patnaik said. Kartik Pandian (Mr Patnaik’s second-in-command) who has been BJP’s principal target, reacted today saying “I only hope that BJP comes up with innovative ideas instead of talking about something which is non-existent. You are all watching the Chief Minister. It is very unfortunate, below the belt.” “People of Odisha will not appreciate this kind of demeaning Chief Minister who is hugely popular among the people of the state . I only suggest letting them come up with something innovative. It is so substandard” he added. Mr Patnaik has come under scathing attack from BJP during the poll campaign. Right from BJP’s top heavyweights to state level leaders, none has spared Mr Patnaik, saying that it is high time he retires, as Mr Pandian has taken advantage and hijacked governance in the state. Mr Patnaik is a hostage, he has been held captive, they have alleged. Union Home Minister Amit Shah during a poll rally on 21 May targeted Mr Patnaik insinuating towards his falling health by saying that Naveen Patnaik, who is 77 years old, should retire due to his "advanced age and health issues". Even PM Modi has made subtle references to the ‘slow’ moving Mr Patnaik and the ‘Tamil Babu’ taking control, which he characterised as an affront to Odia Pride. CMYK ‘AUSTRALIANS NOT APPROACHED FOR HEAD COACH SLOT’ P12 SILVER 92,000500 BRENT CRUDE (IN $) 81.190.17 SC declines NGO’s plea for publication of booth-wise voter turnout data PARMOD KUMAR NEW DELHI, 24 MAY The Supreme Court on Friday declined to pass any direction to the Election Commission on a plea by the Association for Democratic Reforms seeking publication of polling booth-wise voter turnout data. Adopting a “hands-off” approach in the midst of the ongoing general election, the court noted that polling for the five phases is already over, and the sixth one takes place on Saturday. Refusing to pass order as sought by the NGO Association for Democratic Reforms by its 9 May application, a vacation bench of Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma adjourned the hearing (on the application), noting that the “hands-off” approach is needed in the middle of the election process. Adjourning the hearing on the application, the vacation bench said: “Prima facie we are not inclined to grant any interim relief since prayer B of the 2019 petition [filed by ADR] is similar to prayer A of the 2024 application. List the both main petition and application before an appropriate bench after (summer) vacation.” At the outset of the hearing, the Election Commission questioned the maintainability of the application by the NGO, stating that it has been filed after the court’s judgment of 26 April where in all the issues including form 17 C data were dealt with. The Commission said that NGO approached the top court without referring to the 26 April 2024 judgment. There is no confusion; BJP’s next government is certainty, says Modi STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 24 MAY Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said 90 per cent of people anywhere in the country say his next government is a certainty; there is no “confusion” this time, people want to vote for the BJP, and no citizen wants his vote to go “waste.” Addressing a BJP election rally in Gurdaspur, Punjab, he said the 2024 election will give leadership to the country. On one side is BJP and NDA, with a clear vision of Viksit Bharat, a Nation First resolve, track record of 10 years and assault on corruption. On the other side, there is INDI alliance which is severely communal, casteist and follows dynasty politics. INDI alliance partners Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) act like friends in Delhi and protect the corrupt, while abusing each other in Punjab. What do they think; they can befool people like this? “People know these two shops have a common shutter,” Mr Modi said. “To defeat the INDI alliance and to realize your dreams, you should press the lotus button of the BJP,” he said. “Who knows the real face of the INDI alliance better than Punjab,” the Prime Minister said. The INDI alliance gave maximum wounds to Punjab. First, the Partition after Independence, then instability due to self-interest, followed by a long phase of unrest, attack on brotherhood and on faith, he said.
The Statesman is one of India's oldest English newspapers. It was founded in Kolkata in 1875 and is directly descended from The Friend of India (founded 1818). The Englishman (founded 1821) was merged with The Statesman in 1934. The Delhi edition of The Statesman began publication in 1931. The Statesman Weekly is a compendium of news and views from the Kolkata and Delhi editions. Printed on airmail paper, it is popular with readers outside India. The Statesman (average weekday circulation approximately 180,000) is a leading English newspaper in West Bengal. The Sunday Statesman has a circulation of 230,000.
