DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE SATURDAY, APRIL 27, 2024, AHMEDABAD, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES NOCOMPLAINTOFVIOLENCE, say poll panel officials `6.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 PHASE2HASBEENTOOGOOD, says PM, confident of NDA win HIGHESTTURNOUTOF79.59% for lone Tripura seat Phase 2: Another dip, 64% NOMINATION REJECTED BY EC Congress suspends its Surat nominee, he accuses party leaders of not supporting him EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE AHMEDABAD, SURAT APRIL 26 THE GUJARAT Congress on Fridaysuspendedfromtheparty for six years its Surat Lok Sabha candidate Nilesh Kumbhani, whose nomination form was rejected by the Election Commission of India over discrepancies, leading to BJP's Mukesh Dalal getting elected unopposed on Monday. Thepartymaintainedthateither Kumbhani had "mixed up withtheBJP"orwas“completely careless” while filing his form. Kumbhani, meanwhile, on Friday released a video on social media, where he is heard accusing Congress leaders of not supporting him. Theparty'sdisciplinarycommittee, in the suspension notice to Kumbhani, stated: "Given the issue of the rejection of your nomination form, it is now very clear that either you were mixed up with the BJP or you were completely careless. Yet, as per the course of natural justice, the disciplinarycommitteegaveyou ample time to put your version Voters on their way to a polling station in Darrang, Assam, during the second phase of Lok Sabha elections on Friday. ANI Turnout sluggish in Maharashtra, Bihar, UP; voting ends in Kerala & Rajasthan VOTER TURNOUT IN PHASE 2 Overall turnout 2019 (88 seats) 2024 69.64% 60.7% NO INDICATION OF ARTIFICE, DECEIT: BENCH SC says no return to ballot papers, backs ‘secure, user-friendly’ EVMs Rejects plea for 100% verification of votes polled in EVMs with slips from VVPATs EXPLAINED PAGE 14 States where polling is complete after Phase 2 2024 77.84% 67.15% Rajasthan (13seats) 68.42% 64.07% Tripura (1seat) 82.90% 79.59% Manipur (1seat) 84.14% 77.95% Note: Overall turnout figure until 7 pm, state figures until 11.30 pm Source: Election Commission of India THIRD PHASE: MAY 7 EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, APRIL 26 THE SECOND phase of the Lok Sabha elections concluded Friday, with the voter turnout data for 88 constituencies until 10 pm showing a dip — just like in the first phase — as compared to the 2019 elections. According to the Election Commission, provisional turnout was recorded at 64.2%, which was expected to rise, albeit marginally, as electors were still lined upto cast their votesin parts of Rajasthan, West Bengal, Kerala, Karnataka and Maharashtra close to 6 pm. Those who queue up until the last minute before the official polling hours are over are allowed to cast their votes even beyond the polling hours. In 2019, the turnout in 85 of the88seatsthatwenttopollson Friday was 69.64%. Voting com- PAGE 1 ANCHOR parison for five seats of Assam has rendered difficult since seat boundaries have changed after delimitation last year. During the first phase of voting for 102 seats on April 19, the provisional turnout stood at roughly 63% by the end of day and the final figure, the day after, was 66%. Speaking to The Indian Express, senior officers of the EC pointed that sluggish voting in mainly three states — Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar — was what pulled the overall polling numbers down. Till Friday night, Maharashtra registered a turnout of 59.6%, Bihar 57% and Uttar Pradesh 54.8%, as opposed to 63%, 63% and 62%, respectively, in 2019. A total of 16 crore electors were eligible to cast their votes in these 88 seats. With the second phase, voting for a third of the total 543 seats is over. The CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ANANTHAKRISHNAN G NEW DELHI, APRIL 26 REAFFIRMING ITS faith in the working of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), the Supreme Court Friday rejected prayers for 100 per cent verification of the votes polled in them with slips printed by the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machinesor,inthealternate,areturn At a polling booth in Mathura on Friday. Gajendra Yadav to the system of ballot papers. In separate but concurring judgements, the two-judge bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna andDipankarDatta,which“conductedanin-detailreviewof the administrative and technical safeguards of the EVM mechanism” said, “To us, it is apparent thata number of safeguards and protocols with stringent checks have been put in place.” It said “data and figures” placed before it “do not indicate artifice and deceit”. Thebenchgavecandidatesat No. 2 and No. 3 positions the optiontogettheburntmemory/microcontroller of 5 per cent of EVMs per Assembly segment “checked and verified by a team ofengineersfromEVMmanufacturersposttheannouncementof results” on a written request for CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Nothing changes for voter, How ‘400 paar’ got new runners-up get option to twist: Reward for work to seek EVM chip verification ‘shield’ for OBC, SC, ST DAMINI NATH NEW DELHI, APRIL 26 WHILE THE voting process for electors remains the same, the Supreme Court’'s judgement Friday in the EVM-VVPAT casehas,forthefirsttime, given runners-up in an election the opportunity to have the voting machines checked for tampering. Although the court rejected the plea that sought a return to ballot papers or 100% tallying of VVPATslipswiththeEVMcount, it issued two directions to the Election Commission (EC) that would change the way the poll panel conducts elections. First, the court mandated that the Symbol Loading Units (SLUs), which are used to load symbols onto the VVPAT machines, be sealed, secured and ● stored for 45 days after the poll results. “The sealed containers, containingthesymbolloadingunits, shall be kept in the strong room E EXPLAINED 2019 Kerala (all20seats) CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 VIKAS PATHAK & HARIKISHAN SHARMA NEW DELHI, APRIL 26 BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY ONApril24inMadhyaPradesh’s Sagar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said: “They ask me why 400 paar? I reply — because of your stratagems in the states. Dalitonke,Advisaiyonke,OBCske aarakshan chori karne ka jo khel khel rahe ho. Use lootne ka khel khel rahe ho. Aapke ye khel band karnekeliye,hameshakeliyeband karnekeliye,aapkemansoobonko before it. Without giving any explanation to the party, you have disappeared in a dramatic way, because of which the party is suspending you for six years.” The notice also said that the Congress had given Kumbhani the ticket assuming he "would raise the voice as a representative of the many Patidars from Saurashtra who are settled in Surat". "Your form being rejected is very unfortunate. After that the BJP used its entire machinery and got other candidates to withdraw their forms using allurements,fear and harassment, thus murdering democracy. The BJP has snatched away the right to vote from the Surat voter, especially the 18-year-old CONTINUEDONPAGE2 DECISION 2024 ● One person, one party trying to destroy Constitution: Rahul ●PMhitsoutatTMC: ‘Nothingworks inBengal withoutcut,commission’ ● Eye on Assembly polls, eager not to blunt Art 370 narrative, wary BJP keeps out of Kashmir ● SP names, changes candidates in 10 seats PAGES 4, 10, 11 LAW SYMBOL LOADING UNIT: FEEDING CANDIDATE INFORMATION TO EVM BJP’s Mukesh Dalal; Cong’s Nilesh Kumbhani (right) J&K HC orders Rs 5-lakh relief for man ‘illegally detained’ under PSA BASHAARAT MASOOD SRINAGAR, APRIL 26 QUASHINGTHEdetentionof the former spokesperson of the banned Jamaat-e-Islami under the Public Safety Act (PSA), the Jammu and Kashmir High Court has directed the state to compensate him for the “illegal detention”. Thisisthefirsttime thecourt haspenalisedthestatefordetentionunderthePSA,whichallows theauthoritiestodetainaperson without trial for up to two years. “This court cannot resist but to hold that the preventive detention of the petitioner is mala fide and illegal, ab origine and ab intra. The petitioner has been made to suffer loss of his liberty for a cumulative period of more than 1,080 days of preventive custody, covered under the span of four detention orders in a row from 2019 to March 2024,” Justice Rahul Bharti said in his judgement. The judgement, pronounced on April 3, was uploaded on Friday. "(The) latest preventive detention of the petitioner is compounding the illegality, attendingthebreach andviolation of the petitioner’s fundamental righttopersonallibertywithimpunity, and that entitles him to compensation. Therefore, this court, drawing support from the judgement of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India... reckons this to be a fit case for this court to exercise its constitutionaljurisdictiontoextendconstitutional remedy for grant of compensation in favour of the petitioner for illegal infringementof hisfundamentalrightto personal liberty,” it stated. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 EXPRESS NETWORK HUGE CACHE OF ARMS RECOVERED IN SANDESHKHALI: CBI AFTER SEARCHES PAGE 7 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Why gangrape that shook Hathras is no longer a poll issue for parties LALMANI VERMA HATHRAS, APRIL 26 MORE THAN three years after a 19-year-oldDalitwomanwasallegedly gangraped by four upper-caste men in Hathras, and died 11 days later in Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital in September 2020, the voters in her village are divided along caste lines. While the four families related to the victim are silent on their candidate preference, the others in her village — mostly upper caste — have declared their intention to vote for the BJP in the third phase of polling on May 7 for the SC-re- after the incident. served Hathras Lok Sabha seat. ButwiththeelectionsunderIn March last year, a special way, no candidate is openly court in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras speaking about the incident. district had convicted WhiletheBJPhasfielded the main accused — state Revenue Minister SandeepSingh—andacAnoop Pradhan Valmiki, quitted the three others. the other candidates inThe Uttar Pradesh govclude the Samajwadi ernment had ordered a Party’s (SP’s) Jasveer DECISION Valmiki and the Bahujan CBI probe after the inci2024 dent caused nationwide Samaj Party’s (BSP’s) outrage. Hembaboo Dhangar. In Hathras, locals refer to the TheDalitsand Thakursnumincident as “bitiya kand” and ber an even 3 lakh each in the people say the district that was HathrasLokSabhaseat,followed earlier known for its production by 2 lakh Brahmins, 2 lakh of heeng (asafoetida), Holi Vaishyas and 80,000 Muslims. colours and gulal, shot to infamy The upper caste votes, apart The 19-year-old Dalit woman died at Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital, 11 days after she was gangraped in 2020. File from the support for it by nonJatav Dalits, mean the seat has long been a BJP bastion. The party has won Hathras consecutively since 1991 — in 2009, the RLD won here as a BJP ally. The BSP finished runner-up in each poll between 1996 and 2014. In 2019, when the SP and BSP were allies, the SP’s candidate here was placed second. Living under the security of CRPF personnel and CCTV cameras still, the victim’s family avoids venturing out into their village. The first house in the village belongs to the family of the accused, who are Thakurs. Separated by a single-lane road, the next house belongs to the victim’s family. Though the victim’s family does not disclose the party they support, there are two blue flags with slogan “Jai Bheem” at their home’smainentrance,putupon April 14, the birth anniversary of DaliticonBRAmbedkar.Thevictim’scastegroupgenerallybacks the BJP. “So many leaders had come to meet at that time for their own political interest. But now no one enquires about my family. We got a compensation of Rs 25 lakh from the Uttar Pradesh governmentthatweusefordaily expenses and to pay the fees of lawyers. Other assurances of a house and a government job have not been met yet,” says the victim’s brother, adding that the nexthearingof theirappealchallenging the acquittals will be heard in the Allahabad High Court in May. Thethreeother Dalitfamilies in the village are all relatives of the victim. The rest of the village comprises upper-caste Thakurs and Brahmins, and Other BackwardClass(OBC)Prajapatis. Thakurs, who are the dominant community in the village, continuetostandbytheaccused. Guddu Singh, the father of the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Ahmedabad
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