FP FREE PRESS The publishers permit sharing of the e-paper's pdf on WhatsApp and other social media platforms VOL. 13 NO. 331 | BHOPAL | MONDAY | MAY 13, 2024 | PAGES 12 `3 - r Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2021-2023; EDITIONS: INDORE, BHOPAL, UJJAIN, MUMBAI, PUNE WITH NEIGHBOUR LIKE CHINA, WE HAVE TO LEARN TO COMPETE: EAM SPORTS Out of 18,007 polling booths, 3,080 are in critical category OUR STAFF REPORTER city.bhopal@fpj.co.in In the last and fourth phase of general election in Madhya Pradesh, the voting will be held for eight Lok Sabha seats vis Dewas, Ujjain, Mandsaur, Ratlam, Dhar, Indore, Khargone and Khandwa on Monday. There are 29 Lok Sabha seats in the state and already 21 seats went for polling in the previous three phases of the election. Tight security arrangements have been made for fourth phase of voting. Interacting with the media persons, chief electoral officer Anupam Rajan said voting will be held between 7 am to 6 pm. Total voter figure of eight Lok Sabha seats stands at 1,63,70,654. The numbers of voters in the age group of eighteen to nineteen years is 5,02,219. The voters above eighty five years are 87,979. The number of people with above 100 years is 2,231. As many as 18,007 polling booths have been made for the fourth round of Lok Sabha election. Of them, 2001 are pink booths. The number of critical polling centers is 3080. The voter slips have been already distributed and voters' needs to carry at least one identity card along with voter slip while going to cast the vote. As far as voters are concerned then Indore is having the highest number of voters i.e 25,26,803 voters. The least voters (17,98,704) are in Ujjain As far as home voting is concerned in this general election then as many as 12,307 people aged above 85 years have availed the home voting facility . Likewise, 3,135 Divyangs have availed the said facility CONTD. ON P7 . WEATHER Battle for Malwa-Nimar today MONEY 'I KNOW I CAN HIT IT BECAUSE..' 40.60c. 25.60c Sunrise : 05.48 Sunset : 06.58 VOTING FOR 8 LS SEATS IN MP Akhilesh, Giriraj, Mahua, Owaisi in fray 96 LS SEATS IN 10 STATES/UTs; 175 ASSEMBLY SEATS IN ANDHRA GO TO POLLS AMRAVATI/LUCKNOW, The electoral fate of several prominent candidates like Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Union minister Giriraj Singh, TMC's firebrand leader Mahua Moitra and AIMIM's Asaduddin Owaisi will be decided on Monday when polling will be held in 96 Lok Sabha constituencies across 10 states and Union Territories in the fourth phase of the general elections. Voting will simultaneously be held in all 175 Assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh, which is witnessing a triangular contest involving ruling YSRC, the Congress-led INDIA bloc and the NDA, comprising the BJP, Chandrababu Naidu-led TDP and Pawan Kalyan-led Jana Sena Party (JSP). As many as 28 legislative assembly seats of Odisha are also going to polls in this phase. A total of 1,717 candidates are in the fray in the Lok Sabha seats and more than 19 lakh polling officials have been deployed at 1.92 lakh polling stations for the over 17.70 crore eligible voters, including 8.73 women, in this round of the sevenphase polls. CONTD. ON P7 Nehru Stadium: All set for polls PIC: PINTU NAMDEV FIR AGAINST Arif Masood, Kamal Patel OUR STAFF REPORTER city.bhopal@fpj.co.in NEWS BRIEF Shooting at Alabama 3 dead, 12 wounded ALABAMA: Three people were killed and at least 12 were wounded Saturday night in a shooting at party in south Alabama. Andre Reid with the Baldwin County Investigation Division told WALA-TV that about 1,000 people were attending a May Day party near Stockton when an altercation started and gunfire erupted. Reid said most of the victims were "younger people." There was not immediate word on whether arrests had been made. The Associated Press left a message with the sheriff's office Sunday. Elephant electrocuted in Hazaribag HAZARIBAG: An elephant was electrocuted in Jharkhand's Hazaribag district on Sunday, officials said. The incident happened in Chutiyaro village in the Hazaribag Muffasil police station area, they said. A herd of 30 elephants was in the area for the last 15-20 days, and one of them came in contact with a lowhanging live wire while heading towards a tomato field, said forest ranger Vijay Kumar.The line was provided by the Agriculture Department for irrigation purposes, he said. An investigation was underway, he added. Army opens fire on Pakistani drone RAJOURI: Army troops opened fire on a suspected Pakistani drone near the Line of Control (LoC) in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir, officials said on Sunday. However, the drone returned to the Pakistan side after briefly hovering over the Indian territory late Saturday night, they said. FIR has been registered against Congress MLA Arif Masood in Bhopal and former minister Kamal Patel in Harda for breaching the polling norms, said officials on Sunday. Action against officials has also been penalized by the Election Commission of India. The third phase of polling was conducted on May 7th in nine Lok Sabha seats of the state including Bhopal and Harda. In Bhopal at polling booth number -72 of police colony Shahjanabad, MLA Masood reached to the polling station along with his family including his Presiding officer suspended Arif Masood Kamal Patel wife and sons. The ACP Shahjanabad told Free Press that MLA entered in the polling booth with his family and also with the mobile. They had breached the norms of the polling and he has been booked. Collector Bhopal Kaushlendra Vikram Singh told Free Press that they are finding who was the presiding officer of the booth, he will be charged for his care- Collector and district returning officer Aditya Singh told Free Press that the presiding officer Sharmila Patil has been suspended and a letter has been written to divisional commissioner to take action. He also added that a letter has also written to the police to take action against the police personnel who was on duty to check the violations. lessness, the administration will also going to write a letter to the commissioner of police to take action against the police personnel who were deputed at the polling station and permit the family into the polling station. CONTD. ON P7 Sonia spends 70% funds on Muslims: Shah RAEBARELI/PRATAPGARH Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday launched a blistering attack on senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, accusing her of "spending more than 70 per cent of her MP funds on minorities" and the Gandhi family of being experts in lying. Rahul Gandhi is fighting the Lok Sabha elections from Raebareli the seat held by his mother Sonia Gandhi for the last two decades. She recently moved to the Rajya Sabha. Rahul Gandhi has also been fielded from Wayanad in Kerala. Raebareli will vote in the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections on May 20. CONTD. ON P7 10 PROMISES 200 units free power to poor Free education Better healthcare Free land from Chinese End Agniveer scheme MSP on all crops Full statehood for Delhi 2 cr jobs in next one year Protection to honest people GST to be taken out of PMLA 8 Delhi hosps, IGI Airport receive bomb threats NEW DELHI Delhi Fire Services on Sunday said eight city hospitals and IGI Airport received bomb threats through emails, 11 days after over 150 schools in Delhi-NCR received a bomb scare of unprecedented scale. The bomb threats were reported from Indira Gandhi International Airport Terminal-3, Burari Hospital, Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital, Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, Bara Hindu Rao Hospital, Janakpuri Super Speciality Hospital, Deen Dayal Upadhyay, Dabri's Dada Dev Hospital and Aruna Asaf Ali Government Hospital in Civil Lines, a senior DFS official said. According to the police sources, the airport authorities received a threat email at 6 pm. Security has been beefed up in all the hospitals in the city and additional police force deployment was made at the airport, however, nothing suspicious was so far recovered from any of the locations so far. After a call regarding the threat from Burari Hospital at 3 pm, local police, bomb squad, dog squad were rushed to the spot, Deputy Commissioner of Police (north) M K Meena said. "Teams are checking the hospital. CONTD. ON P7 Indian Army personnel perform at Shri Badrinath temple after its portals were opened, in Chamoli district on Sunday NEW DELHI An adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has reignited concerns over the country's nuclear ambitions, particularly in light of escalating tensions with Israel. Kamal Kharrazi, the adviser, hinted at a shift in Iran's nuclear doctrine if its existence is perceived to be under threat by Israel. Tensions between Iran and Israel reached a tipping point when the former launched a barrage of explosive drones and missiles directly targeting Israeli territory, in response Fresh tension erupted at Sandeskhali island in West Bengal today when BJP supporters allegedly attacked a Trinamool Congress worker during a protest. Tatan Gayen, an aide of Trinamool MLA Sukumar Mahto, was attacked at a stone's throw from the local police station. Police reached the spot soon and riot control force was called in. The BJP organised a protest on the island today, with party workers accusing the Trinamool Congress government of foisting false cases against them. CONTD. ON P7 Forest cover has risen steadily over past 15 years: India claim at UNFF NEW DELHI India informed the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF) that it has made significant advancements in forest conservation and management, leading to a consistent increase in forest cover over the past 15 years. The country participated in the 19th Session of the UNFF held at the UN headquarters in New York from May 6 to 10. Globally, India ranks third in the net gain in average annual forest area between 2010 and 2020. During the session, India said it gives high priority to biodiversity and wildlife conservation, having ex- panded the network of protected areas to over a thousand wildlife sanctuaries, national parks, tiger reserves, biosphere reserves, and other wildlife habitats. The recent celebrations marking 50 years of 'Project Tiger' and 30 years of 'Project Elephant' underscore India's commitment to species conservation TMC files complaint with EC against NCW chief NEW DELHI The TMC on Sunday filed a complaint with the Election Commission against National Commission for Women Chairperson Rekha Sharma and BJP leaders including Piyali Das, alleging that they committed "criminal conspiracy by exploiting" innocent women of West Bengal's Sandeshkhali for political gains. In a letter to the EC, the TMC said they are filing a complaint against Sharma and Das for "commission of serious offences of forgery, cheating, fraud, crim- inal intimidation and criminal conspiracy upon innocent women of Sandeshkhali and the entire electorate in general". "This is to draw your urgent attention to a deeply distressing turn of events, wherein, BJP leaders along with member(s) of the NCW have criminally conspired against the entire electorate and hence, warrants your immediate intervention," the TMC said. The complaint referred to an interview of a woman from Sandeshkhali which was shared on 'X' on May 10. CONTD. ON P7 Amid rising tension, Iran uses N-word to warn Israel AGENCIES KOLKATA NEW DELHI QUALITY AT VALUE www.freepressjournal.in OBSERVABILITY EMPOWERS INDIA’S TECH ECOSYSTEM BRANDSUTRA Tension in Sandeshkhali AAP CHIEF pits 'Kejriwal ki Guarantee' vs ‘Modi ki Guarantee’ Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday announced "Kejriwal ki Guarantee", listing 10 works that will be done on war-footing, including to "free" Indian land from Chinese occupation, if the INDIA bloc forms government at the Centre. The opposition bloc, which has parties such as Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Congress, Trinamool Congress, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam among others as its members, was formed to take on the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance in the Lok Sabha polls. CONTD. ON P7 r RNI No. mpeng/2010/35815 and habitat protection, the environment ministry said in a statement. India also highlighted the creation of the International Big Cat Alliance, a global initiative aimed at protecting and conserving the seven big cat species worldwide through collaborative efforts. CONTD. ON P7 have a nuclear but Iran's existence be there Weshould notodecision to buildthreatened,bomb, will be no choice but change our military doctrine KAMAL KHARRAZI to the bombing of Iran's embassy in Syria's capital Damascus earlier in April. Despite Ayatollah Khamenei's previous fatwa against nuclear weapons development, Iran's thenintelligence minister hinted in 2021 that external pressures, particularly from Western nations, could prompt a reassessment of Iran's nuclear posture. "In the case of an attack on our nuclear facilities by the Zionist regime (Israel), our deterrence will change," Kharrazi added. Amidst this backdrop, ef- forts to engage with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have yielded mixed results. While discussions between Iran's nuclear officials and IAEA representatives have been described as positive and productive, tangible progress remains elusive. Rafael Grossi, the head of the IAEA, expressed frustration over Iran's alleged lack of cooperation, highlighting the urgency for concrete measures to address outstanding concerns regarding Iran's nuclear activities. CONTD. ON P7 CLASHES IN PoK One cop killed, over 100 injured ISLAMABAD One police officer was killed and more than 100 people, mostly policemen, injured in violent clashes between security forces and protesters agitating against high prices of wheat flour and electricity in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, media reports said on Sunday . The disputed region witnessed clashes on Saturday between the police and activists of a rights movement amid a wheel-jam and shutter-down strike across the territory, the Dawn newspaper reported. Mirpur Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Kamran Ali told Dawn.com that sub-inspector Adnan Qureshi succumbed to a gunshot wound in the chest in the town of Islamgarh, where he was deployed along with other police person- nel to stop a rally for Muzaffarabad via Kotli and Poonch districts under the banner of the Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC). The JAAC, which has traders at the forefront in most parts of the state, has been seeking the provision of electricity as per hydropower generation cost in the region, subsidised wheat flour and an end to the privileges of the elite class. The regional government has called in the Rangers and a heavy contingent of policemen to stop the massive protests. CONTD. ON P7