DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY POLL PANEL ORDER TO PARTIES, THEIR STAR CAMPAIGNERS No communal speeches, no alarm on Constitution: Poll panel to BJP, Cong Noexplicitdenialinresponsestonotice:ECtoNadda,Kharge DAMINI NATH NEW DELHI, MAY 22 THE WORLD SUNAK CALLS SNAP POLLS ON JULY 4 P 13 `5.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 ALMOST A month after issuing noticestoBJPpresidentJPNadda and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge over alleged violations of the Model Code of Conduct by their star campaigners, the Election Commission Wednesday ordered BJP star campaigners to “refrain fromutterances along religious/com- PM on Cong, AAP: They communal, not I… will get X-ray of their assets CEC Rajiv Kumar munal lines” and Congress star campaigners to not spread the “false impression that the Constitution may be abolished”. The EC had broken from norm when it issued notices to the two party presidents on April 25 on complaints against Prime Minister Narendra Modi by the Opposition and against Rahul Gandhi and Kharge by the BJP, instead of the leaders themselves. While the EC did not name Modi, Rahul or Kharge, it asked the party presidents for their “comments” on the alleged MCC violations by their “star campaigners”. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 No legal mandate to upload Form 17C, EC informs SC DAMINI NATH NEW DELHI, MAY 22 RESPONDING TO a plea for uploading voter turnout data, polling station-wise, on its websiteatthecloseof pollingday,the Election Commission told the SupremeCourt Wednesday that it cannot upload Form 17C, which is the record of votes polled at a polling station, because there is no legal mandate to give it to anyone other than candidates and their agents. On May 17, the top court had asked the EC to submit a response to a petition by Association for Democratic Reforms, which asked for CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Shah Rukh Khan admitted to Ahmedabad hospital after heat stroke Shah Rukh Khan at Narendra Modi Stadium on Tuesday. File Prime Minister Narendra Modi at an election rally in Dwarka, Delhi, on Wednesday. Tashi Tobgyal EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, MAY 22 CALLING THEM “ghor sampradayik,ghorjaativadiaurghorparivarvadi” (deeply communal, casteist and dynastic) and “kattarbhrashtachari”(verycorrupt), Prime Minister Narendra Modi mounted a sharp attack WednesdayontheCongressand AAP, contesting as partners in DelhiandHaryana,andthelarger Opposition INDIA umbrella. Addressing an election rally in Dwarka, his second poll rally in Delhi, Modi accused the Congress and the INDIA bloc of crossing “all limits of communalism, appeasement and vote bank politics” and asked “Muslim brothers” to identify CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 System aligned against lower castes, have seen it since birth: Rahul ‘Two CMs arrested, one who is Adivasi still in jail... two different sets of rules’ EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE CHANDIGARH, PANCHKULA, MAY 22 SAYING THAT 90 per cent of the population representing “Dalits, Adivasis, OBCs and minorities” are unrepresented across different fields and there are “two different sets of rules” although the Constitution is a “document of equality”, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said the “system is aligned against lower castes”. MentioningformerCongress Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Manmohan Singh, he said he “understands the system from inside” as he’s been “sitting inside the system since birth”. Speaking at a panel discussion in Panchkula, Gandhi said: “I have been sitting inside the CongressleaderRahulGandhi in Panchkula. Jasbir Malhi system since birth. I understand the system frominside. You cannot hide the system from me. How it works, who it favours, how it favours, who it protects, who it attacks, I know everything, I can see it as I have come from inside it. At the Prime Minister's house, when my grandmother (Indira Gandhi) was the PM, Papa (Rajiv Gandhi) CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ACTORSHAHRukhKhanwasadmittedtoprivatemulti-speciality K D Hospital in Ahmedabad on Wednesdaymorningaftersufferingfromaheatstroke.Heisyetto be discharged from the hospital, said sources. Khan was in Ahmedabad on Tuesday to attend an Indian PremierLeague(IPL)matchofhis KolkataKnightRiders(KKR)team at the Narendra Modi Stadium. “Actor Shah Rukh Khan was admittedtoKDHospitalaftersuffering from a heat stroke," Ahmedabad (Rural) SP Om PrakashJatsaid.Securityhasbeen tightenedaroundthehospital,the police said. Ahmedabadrecordedamaximum temperature of 45.2 degreesCelsiusonTuesday.Itroseto 45.9 degrees on Wednesday. KKR entered their fourth IPL final with a eight-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in Qualifier 1 on Tuesday. Videos shared by the official X account of KKRshowedKhancelebrating his team's triumph with a lap of honour, with his children Suhana Khan and AbRam Khan accompanying him. INDIA AT RAISI FUNERAL Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar pays tribute to Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and others who died in a helicopter crash, in Tehran on Wednesday. X/ @VPIndia REPORT,PAGE13 Sexual assault charges against Prajwal: Over 20 speak to cops, back case NIKHILA HENRY NEW DELHI, MAY 22 THEKARNATAKAPolice’sSpecial Investigation Team (SIT) probing theallegationsof rapeandsexual harassment against Prajwal Revanna has so far heard details from“20to30”people,bothmen and women, that back its case againsttheJD(S)MPfromHassan, The Indian Express has learnt. These people include those livingnearthelocationwherethe alleged crimes took place and those who turned in documents Prajwal Revanna left the country last month to support the claims of the four women who have so far accused theMPofrapeandsexualassault, itislearnt.Theyhavemainlyprovided “circumstantial evidence”, telling investigators that “they wereawareofsexualassaulthappening behind closed doors”, a CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 HC cancels OBC certificates issued in Bengal since 2010, CM protests SANTANU CHOWDHURY KOLKATA, MAY 22 THE CALCUTTA High Court Wednesday cancelled all Other Backward Class (OBC) certificates issued by the West Bengal government since 2010. Hours later, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said she will not accept the order, and OBC reservation will continue in the state. The court washearing a pub- I do not accept the order: CM Mamata Banerjee lic interest litigation challenging provisions of the West Bengal Backward Classes (Other than ScheduledCastesandScheduled Tribes)(Reservationof Vacancies in Services and Posts) Act, 2012. Settingasidetheclassification of 37 communities as OBC, the Benchsaid,“Westrikedownsection 16 of the Act of 2012 since it empowerstheStateExecutiveto amendanyscheduleof theActof 2012. Consequently, the 37 classes included under exercise of section 16 are struck out of schedule 1 of the Act of 2012.” The number of persons enlistedunderOBCinthestateafter 2010islikelytobeabovefivelakh, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Army conducts own survey on scheme for Agniveers, may recommend tweaks Seeks responses from Agniveers, staff at regimental centres, unit commanders AMRITA NAYAK DUTTA NEW DELHI, MAY 22 THE ARMY is conducting an internal survey on the Agnipath scheme to assess its impact on its recruitment process so far, based on which it is likely to draw up recommendations for the incoming government on possible changes to the scheme, The Indian Express has learnt. Rolled out in June 2022, the Agnipath scheme is recruiting Agniveers—soldiers,airmenand sailors—intheArmedForcesfor a period of four years. At the end of thefour-yeartenure,upto25% of them can apply voluntarily to join the services on a regular basis, subject to merit and organisational requirements. Ever since its launch, it has generated much debate, espe- E Agniveer status ● update In the Army, two batches of 40,000 Agniveers have completed training and are under posting. The third batch of 20,000 began training in November 2023. In the Navy, three batches of 7,385 Agniveers have completed training. In the IAF, 4,955 Agniveer Vayu trainees have completed training. cially in political circles. The Opposition Congress has pledged to end the scheme and return to the earlier military CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 RBI’s record dividend of Rs 2.1 lakh cr to govt can help trim deficit ENS&PTI AHMEDABAD,MAY22 TWO YEARS AFTER AGNIPATH ROLLOUT E X P L A I NE D THURSDAY, MAY 23, 2024, AHMEDABAD, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES EXPRESS NETWORK SOREN WITHDRAWS BAIL PLEA AFTER SC RAP PAGE 6 HITESH VYAS MUMBAI, MAY 22 THE CENTRAL Board of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesdayapprovedahighestever surplus transfer, or dividend, of Rs 2.11 lakh crore to the Central government for the accounting year 2023-24. This amount is much higher than both the budgeted (Rs 1.02 lakh crore announced in the Interim Budget for FY2025, including dividends from banks and financial institutions) and market expectation of Rs 1-1.1 lakh crore surplus, and would come as an unexpected boost to thegovernment’sfiscalposition. SURPLUS TRANSFERRED Year 2023-24 2022-23 2021-22 2020-21 2019-20 2018-19 Amount 2,10,874 87,416 30,307 99,122 57,128 1,76,051 Source: RBI; in Rs crore Thebumperdividendpayout is likely to help ease FY25 fiscal deficit by around 0.2 per cent of the GDP, analysts said. In the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Built by uprooting mangroves, cricket ground in Amreli razed GOPAL KATESHIYA RAJKOT, MAY 22 NEARLY SIX months after a cricket ground was built in Amreli's Jafrabadtown allegedly by removing mangroves in a fragile coastal regulation zone (CRZ), government officials and police have swung into action to reclaim the land. The Jafrabad police onMondaybeganaprobe into the matter after lodging an FIR against unidentified people. The development came around two weeks after the Gujarat High Court issued notices to the Centre, the state government and Amreli District Collector Ajay Dahiya. Even as the cricket ground has been razed, details about people who developed the facility and whether due approvals were sought remain unclear. Heavy machinery at work to build the cricket ground in Jafrabad. File Following the notice by the High Court, the Amreli district CRZ committee discussed the matter during ameeting onMay 15. After an order by the committee, the cricket ground -spread over 12,000 square metre of land and nestled by lush green mangroves and water channels in the Jafarabad creek -- was flattened by heavy machinery on May 17 and 18, and thelandwaslevelledagain. A2.5 metre high earthen bund, which wasmeanttoprotecttheground from getting flooded by seawater during high tides, was also CONTINUEDONPAGE2 On painkillers, Tejashwi carries weight of INDIA’s Bihar campaign tinue irrespective of repeated setbacks and loss of power courPATNA, MAY 22 tesy a vacillating Nitish Kumar. How 34-year-old Tejashwi perIT HAS been a back-breaking forms could also determine election for RJD leader Tejashwi INDIA’s fortunes at the Centre, Yadav — literally. For nearly a with a crucial40 seats at stake in month now, the man on Bihar, of which the BJPwhom the INDIA camled NDA had won 39 in paign almost entirely 2019. rests in Bihar, has been Elections in the state ontheroadrallyingsupare stretched out across port for the coalition, theentiresevenphasesof DECISION the Lok Sabha polls, and popping painkillers, 2024 wearing a lumbo sacral they were just two belt for back relief, and phases in when Tejashwi usinga wheelchair whenhecan. developed pain in his back. On It’sacrucialfightforTejashwi May 3, he was seen limping and who,havingprovedthestomach walking with the help of aides for it in the 2020 Assembly polls, while campaigning. Soon after, now needs to show he can con- he was advised “maximum bed SANTOSH SINGH rest” and use of the belt to help ease pain and stiffness. It has been more than a month since and, as of Tuesday, Tejashwi had alone addressed 183 public meetings in Bihar. He hasalsotravelledtoMumbaiand Delhi to campaign. Of otherINDIAleaders,Rahul Gandhi has been to Bihar just once to hold rallies, in Kishanganj and Bhagalpur. Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge has held a couple of meetings. On the NDA side, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has held 13 rallies so far, and Union Minister Amit Shah over half-adozen. Besides, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath DECISION 2024 ● SP may wrest Azamgarh back with Muslim leader on side ● CM Naveen Patnaik’s core support base of women is BJP target EXPRESSINTERVIEW ‘ItisfarmersvsBJP...They don’tletuscampaign’ Advised bed rest due to spinal issues, he has held 183 public meetings so far. X/ RJD leader Alok Kumar Mehta and his Assam counterpart Himanta Biswa Sarmahaveheld four public meetings each. JD(U)supremo andBihar CM PRENEETKAUR,BJP’S PATIALACANDIDATE PAGES 10, 11 Nitish Kumar has also campaigned through all the five phases so far, and addressed 50odd public meetings. Recently, Tejashwi’s back pain figured in the political war of words when he said at a rally that he would not rest until PM Modigot"bedrest".TheRJDlater clarified that Tejashwi meant to say "political bed rest". Soon after,addressingarallyinMotihari, Modi said he did not expect any other words from"thesuccessor of jungle raj". This attack directed at Tejashwi was not new, with Modi lately talking of “Bihar’s shehzada” (as he calls Tejashwi) more often than his pet target Lalu Prasad. Tejashwihasbeenmoreconsistent, ensuring that his cam- paign doesn’t stray from his theme of jobs, much like the 2020 Assembly polls when he had promised 10 lakh jobs if the Mahagathbandhan formed the government. Now he tells voters that a hiring spree just before Nitish switched back to the BJP – toppling the RJD-JD(U)Congress government – was a result of his initiatives as then Deputy CM. Since the fourth phase of polling,Tejashwihasaddedwelfare schemes to his list of promises, in coordination with his partner Congress. "If the INDIA bloc comes to power, we will give 10 kg free rations and Rs 1 lakh annually to a woman per CONTINUEDONPAGE2 Ahmedabad