26042024-TTB-01.qxd 4/26/2024 12:33 AM Page 1 13 CHANDIGARH | GURUGRAM | JALANDHAR | BATHINDA | VOL. 144 NO. 115 | 26 PAGES | ~5.00 | REGD. NO. CHD/0006/2024-2026 ESTABLISHED IN 1881 HARYANA IN 2-WAY FIGHT, CONG AIMS AT TOPPLING TWO-TERM BJP MP J&K TWO ARRESTED FOR FIRING OUTSIDE SALMAN’S HOUSE PUNJAB /thetribunechd INDIGO PLACES ORDER #MeToo: NEW YORK COURT FOR 30 ‘WIDE-BODY’ OVERTURNS HARVEY’S A350 PLANES BUSINESS RAPE CONVICTION WORLD friday | 26 april 2024 /thetribunechd www.tribuneindia.com Voting in 88 seats today EC notice to BJP on PM’s Rajasthan Ph-2 1,202 nominees in fray across 13 states 15.88 CR VOTERS MALE: 8.08 CRORE FEMALE: 7.8 CRORE THIRD GENDER: 5,929 35 LAKH FIRST-TIMERS 1.67 LAKH 16 LAKH POLLING STATIONS POLLING STAFF KEY CONTESTANTS BJP: Om Birla, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Hema Malini, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Arun Govil, Sukanta Majumdar, V Somanna, Tejasvi Surya JD-S: HD Kumaraswamy Congress: Rahul Gandhi, KC Venugopal, Shashi Tharoor, Bhupesh Bhagel, Vaibhav Gehlot, Mansoor Ali Khan Independent: Rajesh Ranjan, alias Pappu Yadav Security personnel leave for poll duty in Jammu on Thursday. PTI 0F 15 CR VOTERS, 20% IN 20-29 AGE GROUP ■ Of the over 15 crore voters, 3.28 crore are in the age group of 20-29 years ■ 42,226 voters are aged above 100 years and 14.7 lakh are differently abled ■ 14.78 lakh voters are aged above 85 years ■ Of the 88 seats, 73 are for general category candidates, 9 for SC and 6 ST POLL TO BE OVER IN 4 MORE STATES ■ After Friday's phase, polling will be over in Rajasthan, Kerala, Tripura and Manipur ■ In first phase on April 19, polling was completed in all seats of Tamil Nadu (39), Uttarakhand (5), Arunachal (2), Meghalaya (2), Andaman (1), Mizoram (1), Nagaland (1), Puducherry (1), Sikkim (1), Lakshadweep (1) Deeply biased: India junks US report on Manipur rights ‘abuse’ Ajay Banerjee Tribune News Service New Delhi, April 25 India on Thursday rejected as “deeply biased” and of “no value” a US State Department report on alleged human rights violations while also taking a jibe at the ongoing pro-Palestine protests across university campuses in the US. The annual report of the State Department three days ago had highlighted instances of human rights abuses. At his weekly media briefing here, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said: “This report is deeply biased and reflects a poor understanding of India. We attach no value to it and urge you to do the same.” Asked about the pro-Palestine protests in US universi- rally; Rahul puts Cong in trouble too remarks, alleging violation of the MCC guidelines. In its letter to the BJP president, the EC said star campaigners were expected to contribute to a “higher quality of discourse”. The EC directed Nadda to inform all star campaigners in his party to set high standards of political discourse and observe provisions of model code of conduct in letter and spirit. It asked him to respond by 11 am on April 29 to the complaints raised by the Congress, CPI and the CPI (ML). Considering that the Prime Minister as well as Rahul Gandhi are star campaigners of their respective parties, the notices were not issued to them directly. The opposition parties’ complaints had referred to Modi’s allegations that the Congress wanted to redistribute the wealth of the people to Muslims and that the opposition party wouldn’t spare even the ‘mangalsutra’ of women. The speech led to a major political slugfest with the continued on page 8 Modi cites Rajiv to up ante on inheritance tax, Rahul seeks votes to ‘save Constitution’ Ex-CM Soren’s wife to contest bypoll Tribune News Service Both party presidents asked to respond by April 29 New Delhi, April 25 Days after the Congress and Left parties complained to the Election Commission that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech at Rajasthan’s Banswara on April 21 had “violated” the model code of conduct (MCC), the poll body sent a notice to BJP president JP Nadda, seeking the party’s response on the issue by April 29. Separately, the poll panel also sent a notice to Congress Aditi Tandon Tribune News Service New Delhi, April 25 Tempers and temperatures both ran high on the eve of the second phase elections for 88 Lok Sabha segments across 13 states and UTs with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi leading the charge for their parties. Narendra Modi Rahul Gandhi president Mallikarjun Kharge, seeking the party’s response within the same deadline over its leader Rahul Gandhi’s purported remarks during a rally in Kerala. The BJP had complained against Rahul’s TEMPERS RUN HIGH ON PH-2 POLL EVE Ex-PM Rajiv Gandhi BJP and RSS trying to abolished the estate tax destroy democracy and to himself avoid paying it Constitution… Congress after inheriting mother’s and INDIA bloc trying to wealth. Narendra Modi, PM save these. Rahul Gandhi, CONG ❝ While the PM upped the ante on the inheritance tax issue saying his late prede- TAKES JIBE OVER GAZA PROTESTS IN US VARSITIES ■ ‘We are all judged by what we do at home, not what we say abroad,’ says MEA on US measures to counter pro-Palestine protests on its varsity campuses ■ Remarks are being seen as a jibe at the US over its comments following the arrest of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal by the Enforcement Directorate ■ On 16 Indian crew of ship seized by Iran, the ministry said certain ‘technicalities’ were involved & all will return once their contractual obligations are accomplished ANOTHER REPORT FLAGS RISE IN ‘SCALE OF ABUSES’ Washington: An independent US Congressional research report has alleged the scope and scale of human rights abuses in India has increased under PM Modi. “The Biden Administration requests $103 mn in foreign assistance to India for FY2025… on improvements in human rights and civil liberties in India,” said a report released by the Congressional Research Service on Wednesday. PTI ties, Jaiswal said: “In every democracy, there has to be the right balance between freedom of expression, sense of responsibility and public safety and order. Democracies in particular should display this understanding in regard to other fellow democracies. After all, we are all judged by what we do at home and not what we see abroad.” Jaiswal said the ministry was in touch with Indian students and would look into continued on page 8 IN BRIEF Lawyer withdraws suit against Mahua Moitra NEW DELHI: Lawyer Jai Anant Dehadrai withdrew from the Delhi HC his defamation suit against TMC’s Mahua Moitra as a “peace offering”. He had accused her of taking bribes to ask questions in Parliament. PTI Unmanned IAF aircraft crashes in Jaisalmer JAISALMER: A remotely piloted aircraft of the IAF crashed at Pithala village in Jaisalmer. No damage to any personnel or property has been reported. A Court of Inquiry has been constituted to probe the crash. PTI NIA arrests UK man for Punjab man stabbed to High Commission attack death in Canadian city Tribune News Service New Delhi, April 25 In a major breakthrough, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday arrested a UK resident, Inderpal Singh Gaba, an accused in the 2023 violent attack on the Indian High Commission in London. Gaba, a resident of Hounslow, UK, was arrested for carrying out unlawful activities during the protests that took place on March 22, 2023. NIA investigations in the case so far have revealed the Mahesh Sharma Gaba accused of carrying out unlawful activities incidents in London on March 19 and 22, 2023, were part of a larger conspiracy to unleash vicious attacks on the Indian missions and its officials. The attacks in London in March 2023 were found to be in retaliation to the action taken by Punjab Police against proKhalistani separatist Amritpal Singh on March 18, 2023. More than 10 Look Out Circulars (LOCs) were issued by the continued on page 8 Malerkotla, April 25 A 27-year-old man from Tollewal village in Malerkotla was allegedly stabbed to death at White Rock city in Canada’s British Columbia province. The victim, Kulwinder Singh Sohi, had gone to Canada on a student visa in 2018 and was recently granted permanent residency. Investigations revealed Sohi was allegedly stabbed by unknown assailants, who had called him to a waterfront at White Rock late on Had gone to BC on student visa in 2018, got PR recently Kulwinder Singh Sohi Tuesday night. A pall of gloom descended on Tollewal village when Sohi’s parents, Gurpreet Singh and Manpreet Kaur, continued on page 8 Selja picked for Sirsa, Deepender Rohtak Cong’s Haryana list of 8 out | Birender’s son denied Hisar ticket Geetanjali Gayatri Tribune NewService THE TRIBUNE GUIDE TO BEST COLLEGES 14-page Education Special features top colleges of the region Chandigarh, April 25 After weeks of deliberation, the Congress today released its list of candidates for eight of the nine Lok Sabha seats it’s contesting in Haryana. No name has been announced for the Gurugram seat so far. Kumari Selja Ambala (SC): Varun Choudhary Hisar: Jai Prakash Karnal: Divyanshu Budhiraja Sonepat: Satpal Brahmachari Bhiwani-M’garh: Rao Dan Singh Deepender Hooda Faridabad: Mahendra Pratap Haryana has 10 Lok Sabha constituencies. The tenth seat, Kurukshetra, has been allocated to INDIA bloc ally AAP The list released by the . continued on page 8 c m y b ❝ cessor Rajiv Gandhi of the Congress abolished the practice in 1985 “only to avoid paying duty on massive inheritance from his mother Indira Gandhi”, Wayanad MP Rahul, in a video message, urged the voters to “save the Constitution and democracy by supporting the INDIA bloc on Friday”. He defended the Congress manifesto, which the BJP has called a “Muslim League document”. continued on page 8 NEW DELHI: The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) on Thursday said Kalpana Soren, wife of jailed former CM Hemant Soren, would contest the Gandey Assembly bypoll. The seat fell vacant following the resignation of JMM MLA Sarfaraz Ahmad. The bypoll is scheduled on May 20 along with the Lok Sabha poll in the state. —TNS
The Tribune, now published from Chandigarh, started publication on February 2, 1881, in Lahore (now in Pakistan). It was started by Sardar Dyal Singh Majithia, a public-spirited philanthropist, and is run by a trust comprising four eminent persons as trustees.
The Tribune, the largest selling daily in North India, publishes news and views without any bias or prejudice of any kind. Restraint and moderation, rather than agitational language and partisanship, are the hallmarks of the paper. It is an independent newspaper in the real sense of the term.
The English edition apart, the 133-year-old Tribune has two sister publications, Punjabi Tribune (in Punjabi) and Dainik Tribune (in Hindi).