DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA ● POSTAL REGN. NO. JAIPUR CITY/001/2024-26 JOURNALISM OF COURAGE TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2024, JAIPUR, LATE CITY, 14 PAGES `6.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 ALLOFGUJARATVOTESTODAY; 283LSCONSTITUENCIES Karnataka, Chhattisgarh end polling ALLEYESONTURNOUT will have voted at end of Phase 3 after dip in first two phases Phase 3: 93 seats vote today DECISION 2024 PHASE3 Totalseats 93 Candidates 1,332 Electors in Phase 3 17.24 cr (17.81%) Share ( %) of voters in total Female 8.85cr 8.39 cr VOTESHARE (Phase3) NDA 51.8% INDIA 31.9% Others 16.3% 2019 SEATSGOINGTOPOLLS AND2019TURNOUT(%) A local train with voter awareness messages in Vadodara on Monday, a day before the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections. Bhupendra Rana Poll panel likely to ask X to take A little reversal: Where down Karnataka BJP’s video post labharthis cite Didi, Cong replies on notice to Rahul, BJP seeks more time to respond challenge is Modi — and anti-incumbency AN EXPRESS SERIES PART-5 DAMINI NATH & RITIKA CHOPRA NEW DELHI, MAY 6 Opp’s INDIA is interrupted: Cong-Left accuse TMC of splitting anti-BJP vote VANDITA MISHRA & SWEETY KUMARI MURSHIDABAD, KOLKATA, MAY 6 COME TO West Bengal to see how roles have been rejigged. Here, Mamata Banerjee, once the face of “poriborton”, is the long-playingandentrenchedestablishment. The ruler with a designatedsuccessor,she shares election posters with a freshfaced nephew, or “bhaipo” as he is known here, Abhishek Banerjee. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, campaigning to retain his dominance elsewhere after two terms at the Centre, is casting himself in the role of challenger, who is trying to capture the space for change Mamatawasoncecreditedwith. If the BJP pitch in states like neighbouring Bihar is “there is MUMBAI TO MURSHIDABAD WEST BENGAL no alternative (to Modi)”, here it is saying the alternative is Modi. ThattheBJPdriveneedstorecastitself inWestBengal,isillustratedbythefactthat“schemes” here mean Mamata, not Modi. “LakshmirBhandar”,acashtransfer to women is the undisputed centrepiece. Under thisscheme, all women of age 25-60, if they apply,getRs1200amonthif they are SC/ST and Rs 1000 if they are from the General category. TMC’s opponents also have topromisethattheywillnotdiscontinue it. At the CPM office in Ranaghat, stacked with stained CONTINUED ON PAGE 3 THEELECTIONCommission(EC) is likely to ask X (formerly Twitter)to take down an animation video posted by the BJP’s Karnataka unit on May 4, that seeks to underline the party’s allegation of Muslim appeasementbytheCongress,TheIndian VOTE SHARE (%) Gulbarga KARNATAKA Express has learnt. The a similar notice was sent Congress had filed a to BJP chief J P Nadda for complaint with the state MCC violations by Prime chief electoral officer on Minister Narendra Modi, Sunday. thepartyislearnttohave Meanwhile, the DECISION soughtaseconddeadline 2024 Congressislearnttohave extension. submitteditsresponseto Departing from its theEC’snoticesenttopartychief practice of issuing notices diMallikarjun Kharge on April 25, rectly to the leaders concerned, forallegedviolationsoftheModel theEChadaskedthepartychiefs Code of Conduct (MCC) by star to respond instead. Both Nadda campaignerRahulGandhi.While CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 In the last lap of prestige battle, caste tension threatens to trip Kharge JOHNSON T A KALABURAGI, MAY 6 Party 2014 BJP 43.35 52.14 2019 Congress 50.84 44.12 JD(S) 1.57 - Note: Congress and JD(S) were allies in 2019 Source: Election Commission TWO RECENT incidents of caste violence over successive days, leaving voters in the Gulbarga Lok Sabha constituency polarised, could hit Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s effortsto wrest back the seat, from where he lost to the BJP in 2019. Thestakesareevenhigherasthe Congress candidate this time from the Scheduled Caste-reserved constituency, won by Kharge in 2009 and 2014, is Radhakrishna Doddamani, who is both Kharge’s brother-in-law (his wife’s brother) and son-inlaw (his daughter’s husband). The contest marks the electoral debut of 60-year-old Doddamani, who used to manageKharge’serstwhileAssembly CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 FULLSTATES Gujarat 25* 64.51 Goa 2 75.14 Dadra&Nagar 2 77.05 Haveli,Daman&Diu STATESTHATWILL COMPLETEPOLLING Assam 4 85.15 Chhattisgarh 7 70.87 Karnataka 14 71.7 OTHERS Maharashtra UP MP Bihar WestBengal 11 10 9 5 4 63.86 60.01 66.71 61.26 81.69 TURNOUTIN2019IN PHASE3SEATS:67.3% TURNOUT(%)IN2024 Phase1 Phase2 66.14 66.71 *The BJP candidate won Surat uncontested; Source:EC Data compiled by Anjishnu Das BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY RECOMMENDATION TO HOME MINISTRY Kejriwalbailin SC;LGseeksNIA probe,AAPsays ‘BJPagent’plot Saxena flags complaint on funding of AAP by the banned Sikhs for Justice MALLICA JOSHI & JATIN ANAND NEW DELHI, MAY 6 DELHI LIEUTENANT Governor V K Saxena Monday recommended a probe by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for allegedly receiving political funding for the AAP from the banned extremist organisation Sikhs for Justice (SFJ). The AAP hit back, calling it a “conspiracy” and Saxena an “agent” of the BJP “which is in panic” because “it is losing all seven seats in Delhi”. Acting on a complaint from Ashoo Mongia of the World Hindu Federation, Saxena wrote to the Union Home Secretary, seeking an NIA probe, a day beforetheSupremeCourtisscheduledtoconsidergrantinginterim bailtoKejriwalinviewof theongoing Lok Sabha elections. The Chief Minister is currently in judicialcustody followinghisarrestbytheEnforcement E EXPLAINED Male Arrested by the ED on March 21 in the excise policy case Deepening divide in ● Delhi THE AAP and the Raj Niwas have had tense relations, more so after the arrest of the Chief Minister. The AAP has voiced apprehension that its elected government may be dismissed. The L-G has repeatedly said that the government cannot function from jail. Directorate on March 21 in connection with the Delhi excise policy case. Reacting to the Lt Governor’s CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 INSIDE FULL COVERAGE PAGE 6 HAMAS ACCEPTS EGYPT-QATAR TRUCE, ISRAEL SAYS NO PAGE 10 WHAT IS SIKHS FOR JUSTICE, THE OUTFIT BANNED IN INDIA PAGE 7 ED seizes Rs 34.5 cr from domestic ‘Pannun killing plot’: Top Truth buried forever: Gujarat HC help of Jharkhand minister’s secy Czech court halts moves slams RTI activist’s murder probe to extradite Gupta to US FORMER BJP MP DINU SOLANKI AMONG 7 ACQUITTED SOHINI GHOSH AHMEDABAD, MAY 6 UNDERLINING THAT the investigation into the July 2010 murder of RTI activist Amit Jethwa appeared to be an “eyewash” and “all efforts” were made to ensure that the “truth is buried forever”, the Gujarat High Court Monday acquitted former BJP PAGE 1 ANCHOR Amit Jethwa was shot dead on July 20, 2010 MP Dinu Solanki and six others who had been sentenced to life imprisonment in July 2019. Jethwa was shot dead by two persons outside the Bar Council building, opposite the Gujarat High Court, in Ahmedabad on July 20, 2010. The assailants fled the spot, leaving behind a motorcycle and a country-made revolver. Reading out the verdict in opencourt Monday, the division benchof JusticesASSupehiaand Vimal K Vyas said the case “will CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ABHISHEK ANGAD RANCHI, MAY 6 THE ENFORCEMENT Directorate has seized around Rs 34.50 crore cash and “incriminating” documents from the Ranchi premises ofapersonwhoworkedasthedomestic help of Sanjiv Lal, the personalsecretarytoJharkhandRural Development Minister Alamgir Alam, sources said Monday. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 DIVYA A & RITIKA CHOPRA NEW DELHI, MAY 6 Cash found at the premises of a domestic help linked to personal secretary of Jharkhand minister Alamgir Alam. PTI THE HIGHEST court of the Czech Republic has stayed the lower courts’ decisions permitting the extradition of Indian national Nikhil Gupta — indicted by the United States for plotting to kill KhalistanseparatistGurpatwant Singh Pannun — citing no signif- icant harm to public interest if this action is delayed, The Indian Express has learnt. In its interim decision dated January 30, 2024, the Constitutional Court in Prague saidGupta’sextraditiontotheUS for criminal prosecution would result in disproportionately greater harm to him than anyone else. Further, it emphasised CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Why Lawrence Bishnoi may be Mumbai Police’s new headache MOHAMED THAVER MUMBAI, MAY 6 DURING THEIR interrogation of Sagar Pal (21) and Vicky Gupta (24), the two men linked to the LawrenceBishnoigangwhowere arrested for allegedly firing outside actor Salman Khan’s Mumbai residence on April 14, policewerestruckbyakeydetail: the accused were given Rs 1 lakh torentahouseinMumbaiandget a bike to carry out the attack, but were not promised a supari or a contract fee for doing the ‘job’. Police say the two were simply told, “Achcha kaam karo toh tumhara achcha karenge (Do a good job and we’ll take care of you ).” That was enough for Pal and Gupta — labourers from Bihar who worked in Haryana — to come to Mumbai and open fire outside the residence of the actor who enjoys Y+ security. For the Mumbai Police, used to the ways of the city’s underworld gangs who are not known to carry out any such acts without the promised amount in hand, the Bishnoi gang’s approach was markedly different. Several officers from central agenciesandthestatepolicetold TheIndianExpressthatforthecity police, the Bishnoi gang was a “new headache”, a “new beast”. LawrenceBishnoi,aprimeaccused in the 2022 murder of PunjabisingerSidhuMoosewala, is currently lodged in Gujarat’s Sabarmati prison. With Mumbai’s underworld gangs led by Dawood Ibrahim, Chhota Rajan and Ravi Pujari, amongothers,largelyneutralised over the past decade and a half, police suspect the Bishnoi gang, which has so far been active Lawrence Bishnoi (right) with an alleged member of his gang in Chandigarh. File mainlyinPunjab,Haryana,Delhi, Rajasthan and UP, is attempting to step into this vacuum. Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime), Mumbai, Lakhmi Gautam told The Indian Express, “Mumbai Police Crime Branch is investigating the Salman Khan threatcaseinaprofessionalmanner which will ensure that Bishnoidoesnotgainanyground inthecityandthepotentialproblem is nipped in the bud.” Gangster networks are known to pick high-profile targets for wider publicity. The Bishnoi gang, police suspect, Jaipur wereattemptingtogettheirfoot in the door in Mumbai and the opportunity came knocking in theformof Salman,whoisinthe dock for allegedly shooting a blackbuck—an antelopespecies revered by the Bishnoi community — in Rajasthan during the shooting of Hum Saath Saath Hain in 1998. An IPS officer of Mumbai Police said, “While Bishnoi claims that he is upset with the actor for shooting a blackbuck, we think he is trying to make a name for himself by targeting Salman Khan. So the instruction to the two men who fired outside the actor’s house was only to create a scare, not to kill.” An officer said that over the past two years, apart from a case in which Congress MLA Aslam Shaikh allegedly received a threat call from a person claiming to be from the Bishnoi gang, there have been no reported cases of threats from the gang members in Mumbai. The IPS officer said, “It is possiblethatsomethreatcallsmade by the gang have not been reported to us due to fear. Hence, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
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