MANGALURU FRIDAY MAY 03, 2024 `9.00 PAGES 16 CITY EDITION SUPREME COURT ORDERS 33% QUOTA FOR WOMEN IN SC BAR ASSOCIATION The court said the order must be implemented from the 2024 election to the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) set to be held on May 16 FIVE SEATS IN THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE AT LEAST 1 OFFICE BEARER SHOULD BE WOMAN Apart from six office bearers, the SCBA has six senior executive members and nine executive members. As per the court order, at least two senior executive members and three executive members should be women. The order was passed by a bench comprising justices Surya Kant and K V Viswanathan while hearing a case involving SCBA against its former Secretary B D Kaushik | P9 ■ ■ One post of the office bearers of the SCBA should be reserved for women by turn and on rotation bases, the bench said in its order For the upcoming elections, the post of Treasurer shall be reserved for women, it said. However, this will not preclude eligible women members of SCBA from contesting for other office-bearer positions May 19 WHEN RESULTS OF THE SUPREME COURT BAR ASSOCIATION ELECTION WILL BE OUT CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOGGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI LOOKOUT NOTICE AGAINST NOMINATION DEADLINE FOR AMETHI, RAE BARELI SEATS IN UP ENDS TODAY ‘ABSCONDER’ PRAJWAL BJP drops tainted Brij Bhushan, to make preparations for Friday’s nomination. The party WITH barely hours left for fil- will also hold a rally today,” ing of nomination papers for said a leader. the Amethi and Rae Bareli According to sources, Conseats, the Congress is continu- g ress chief Mallikar jun ing to keep the suspense on Kharge has conveyed to the whether Rahul Gandhi Gandhis that not conand his sister Priyanka testing from Uttar will contest from the Pradesh would not auprestigious seats. gur well for the parThough there was no ty’s prospects in the official word, sources Hindi heartland. Rasaid that Rahul is likely hul represented Amto enter the fray from ethi for three straight Amethi. That decision terms from 2004 to was taken after much Rae Bareli 2019 before he was dedeliberations within feated by Union minfactor the party leadership. ister Smriti Irani by Though it was However, the call on over 50,000 votes in speculated Priyanka contesting 2019. that Rahul from Rae Bareli is yet to Smriti Irani, who is Gandhi may be taken, said sources. seeking a second term contest from On Wednesday, Confrom Amethi, has the Rae Bareli gress leader Jairam challenged Rahul to constituency, Ramesh said the decicontest from the seat. he decided sion would be anA section of the leadagainst it at nounced by Thursday ers believe that if Rathe last evening. Yet, there hul does not take up moment was no of ficial anthe challenge, it will nouncement till going only vindicate the to the press. BJP’s charges of him running Sources said the local lead- away from the seat. ership is gearing up for the According to sources, Rafiling of nomination papers hul was not keen on Priyanby Rahul from Amethi since ka’s electoral debut from Rae Thursday evening. “We re- Bareli as he did not want all ceived a message from the the three members of the famhigh command in the evening ily in Parliament. P R E E T H A N A I R @ New Delhi His father Revanna seeks anticipatory bail as rape charges invoked Prajwal flew to Germany on diplomatic passport: MEA EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Bengaluru/Kalaburagi MORE trouble seems to be brewing for Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna and his MLA father HD Revanna in the alleged sex videos case as the Special Investigation Team (SIT) issued a lookout notice against Prajwal while a Hassan court allowed SIT to invoke rape charges against Revanna, who has moved a special court seeking anticipatory bail. Further, another woman has filed a complaint of sexual harassment against Prajwal. As Prajwal failed to appear before the investigation officer despite being served a notice, the SIT issued a lookout notice against him on Thursday term, ing him an ‘absconder’. As per the lookout notice, law enforcement agencies have been requested to arrest him wherever he is sighted. The notice has been issued to all immigration points at airports, sea ports and also border checkposts. Prajwal, who is said to be in Europe, on Wednesday sought a week’s time to appear before the SIT through his advocate. It is said Prajwal has booked a return ticket to Bengaluru from Munich on May 15 and will be landing in the city in the wee hours of May 16. However, the MP is said to have flown to Dubai from Munich on Wednesday . Continuing the probe, the SIT on Thursday recorded the statement of one of the victims before a magistrate under Section 164 of CrPC. The SIT has managed to identify some of the victims. But the investigators are not getting much cooperation from them. It is said that some victims have threatened to commit suicide if they are forced to give statements. Besides, the investigation agency has also issued a notice to Naveen Gowda from Belur in Hassan district, who is accused of distributing pen drives containing videos and photographs of the MP with the victims. Poornachandra Tejaswi MG, a supporter of Prajwal, has filed a complaint against Gowda, who is said to be a close aide of a minister, in the Hassan CEN police station for circulating the videos on April 23. P4 MODI SOUGHT VOTES FOR ‘MASS RAPIST’, SAYS RAHUL Shivamogga: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi apologise to every woman of the country for seeking votes for NDA candidate Prajwal Revanna, whom he referred to as a “mass rapist”. Rahul said, “It is not a sex scandal, but mass rape. On the stage, Modi supported the mass rapist. Modi told Karnataka that if the people vote for the mass rapist, it will help him.” | P4 Y E S H I S E L I @ New Delhi SUSPENDED Janata Dal (Secular) MP Prajwal Revanna, who is in the eye of a storm over his alleged sexual harassment of women, travelled to Germany on a diplomatic passport without political clearance, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Thursday . “No political clearance was either sought from or issued by MEA in respect to his travel to Germany… Obviously, no visa note was issued either,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on Thursday . Diplomatic passport holders can travel to over 100 countries, including Germany, without visa. “The ministry has not issued visa note for Revanna for travel to any other country,” the MEA spokesperson said, adding that parliamentarians are entitled to have diplomatic passports. Prajwal is the sitting MP from Hassan, from where he is seeking re-election. Diplomatic passports are issued to diplomats, government officials and individuals who are authorised to undertake official travel on behalf of the government. Under international law, diplomatic passport holders enjoy certain privileges and immunities, including immunity from arrest in the host country . Stop registering voters for schemes, says ECI Pak eager for ‘shehzada’ to be India’s PM: Modi CBI not under control of Union: Centre tells SC New Delhi: India on Thursday came down hard on the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) and said it continues to publish its propaganda on the country “masquerading” as part of an annual report. The MEA said the organisation is known to have a political agenda. New Delhi: The Election Commission on Thursday issued an advisory to all national and state political parties to immediately cease and desist from any activities that involve registering people for postelection beneficiary-oriented schemes through advertisement, survey or mobile application. Anand (Gujarat): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said Pakistan is eager to make the Congress ‘shehzada’ the next PM of India. His comments came amid reports that Chaudhry Fawad Hussain, a former minister in Pakistan, shared a video featuring Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on his social media. New Delhi: The CBI is not under the “control” of the Union and the government can’t supervise either the registration of offence by the agency or its investigation, the Centre told the Supreme Court on Thursday. This came as opposition parties have been accusing the government of misusing central probe agencies. FOR the first time in 123 years, Bengaluru experienced a dry spell in April. But now after a gap of 159 days, parts of the city received light to moderate rain on Thursday . According to India Meteorological Department (IMD) Bengaluru director N Puviarasan, from 1901 to 2024, it was the first time that the city IMD observatory recorded no rain in April. There were reports of light to moderate rain in parts of the city on Thursday evening. But IMD’s observatories did not record any rain. However, cloud formation and sudden change in weather conditions in the evening gave hope to Bengalureans of a respite from the scorching summer. Puviarasan said some places in the city will receive rain due to local convection. However, thundershowers will occur after five days. Formation of Clumino-nimbus clouds and thundershowers happen due to local convection. He said while there will be a respite from rising temperatures for south interior Karnataka, the heat wave alert will continue for north interior Karnataka. BJP rushes to save Sikri fort from Kargil veteran’s Hand KNOWN for being the seat of the famous Sufi saint Salim Chishti and the fort of Mughal Emperor Akbar, Fatehpur Sikri is the youngest parliamentary constituency in Uttar Pradesh. It was carved out of Agra in 2008. BJP’s Rajkumar Chahar had won it in 2019 with a thumping five lakh-plus vote margin. But this time around, the contest seems to be evenly poised between the BJP and the Congress. Sikri goes to polls on May 7. Congress candidate Ram Nath Sikarwar — popularly known as Fauji Baba — is giving a tough fight to Chahar, who is reeling under anti-incumbency besides intra-party rebellion. In 2019, Chahar was a giant killer, having defeated Raj Babbar, the THE BJP on Thursday dropped Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who faces criminal charges of sexually harassing women wrestlers during his stint as the president of Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), and instead fielded his younger son Karan Bhushan Singh from Uttar Pradesh’s Kaiserganj Lok Sabha constituency . The saffron party also named Dinesh Pratap Singh as its candidate from Rae Bareli, a Gandhi family bastion that elected Congress leader Sonia Gandhi five consecutive times. Dinesh Pratap Singh, currently serving as a minister in the Yogi Adityanath cabinet, was the BJP’s candidate from the Rae Bareli parliamentary seat in 2019 as well. Even though he lost to Sonia Gandhi last time, he managed to bring her victory margin down to 1.67 lakh votes from 3.52 lakh in 2014. He was earlier with the Congress and he joined the BJP in 2018. Brij Bhushan, the sitting MP in Kaiserganj, was forced to resign as WFI president over the sexual harassment scandal after the wrestlers launched a protest. By denying ticket to Brij Bhushan, the BJP has sought to send out a message of distancing itself from tainted leaders. With Brij Bhushan, the total number of MPs benched by the BJP in UP in the ensuing election has touched 15. A six-time MP , Brij Bhushan has won not only from Kaiserganj but also neighbouring constituencies like Gonda and Balrampur. An influential regional leader, he has sway over half-a-dozen Lok Sabha seats in and around Gonda in central UP . Brij Bhushan has formidable clout in Kaiserganj and adjoining districts as he owns over 50 educational institutions in the region. He had been pitching hard for a seat for himself while the BJP reportedly gave him two options — to field his wife Ketaki Singh or elder son Prateek, an MLA from Gonda Sadar. Ketaki Singh was BJP’s Gonda MP in 1996. India rebukes report on religious freedom B O S K Y K H A N N A @ Bengaluru N A M I TA B A J PA I @ Lucknow N A M I TA B A J PA I @ Lucknow EXPRESS READ B’luru sees dry April for first time in 123 years Light to moderate rainfall brought some temporary relief from the scorching heat for residents of Bengaluru on Thursday evening | NAGARAJA GADEKAL fields his son Karan in Kaiserganj then state president of the ConTo save the seat, senior BJP gress. But now Chahar, the nation- leaders like Rajnath Singh, a al chairman of the BJP’s Kisan prominent Thakur face, and Chief Morcha, is caught in a double Minister Yogi Adityanath are whammy . holding multiple rallies in Sikri Apart from Sikarwar, Chahar is a n d A g r a t o p l a c a t e t h e also facing a tough challenge from Kshatriyas. Rameshwar Chaudhury son of sit, The BJP has also roped in reting BJP MLA Babulal Chaudhury tired Air Chief Marshal R K S . Rameshwar has raised Bhadoria, another Thakur from the flag of revolt and is Bah who recently joined the party , contesting as an inde- to pacify the Thakurs. Bhadoria pendent. He is believed held a roadshow for the BJP canto have better clout than d i Chahar among the Jat voters. The BJP recently expelled Rameshwar after all efforts to pacify him failed. Chahar also has to deal with grumpy Kashtriyas because of a perceived slight against the community by the BJP’s candidate in Gujarat’s Rajkot, Parshottam Rupala. Since Sikarwar is a Kshatriya, he is getting resonance Rajkumar Ram Nath Sikarwar from the community . Chahar ILLUSTRATION: MANDAR PARDIKAR date. Chahar is mainly relying on the Modi-Yogi factor to stay afloat. As for the Congress, its leadership is trying to put in more effort to wrest the seat. Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi is scheduled to hold a roadshow in Fatehpur Sikri on Friday . Besides, Sikarwar has his own following. He resides in the Kheragarh village, often stays in a village temple and travels in a four-wheeler. A Kargil war hero, he retired from the Army in 2004. His popularity especially among the deprived , sections, is giving Chahar more worries. The BSP has fielded Ram Niwas Sharma, a Brahmin, making it a quadrangular contest. Sikri has 1.75 lakh Jats, 3.5 lakh Thakurs, 3 lakh Brahmins, 1.4 lakh Kushwahas, 1.25 lakh Nishads, and Muslims and Vaishyas at 1 lakh each.
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