DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE FRIDAY, MAY 24, 2024, LUCKNOW, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES `6.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 Sensex, Nifty at new highs day after dividend payout decision MUMBAI, MAY 23 BENCHMARK STOCK market indicesSensexandNiftysurged1.6 per cent to end at record high Thursday after the RBI announced a record surplus transfer of Rs 2.11 lakh crore and on heavyinflowsfromforeignportfolio investors (FPIs). The BSE’s Sensex scaled 1196.98 points, or 1.61 per cent to end at a record high of 75,418.04. The Nifty climbed 369.85 points, or 1.64 per cent, to close at an all-time high of 22,967.65. According to some market analysts, the higher dividend payout by the RBI to the government is also because of the confidence that the ruling BJP will Chhattisgarh: Seven Maoists killed in Bijapur encounter EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE E E X P L A I NE D HITESH VYAS The market ● message A SECTION of market analysts are reading into the higher dividend payout by the RBI as an expression of the confidence that the ruling BJP is coming back to power. The market’s message of political stability after the elections is seen as having prompted Thursday’s rally, which was led by large caps and banking stocks. again come to power. “The interest rate in the US has gone up from 0 per cent to 5.25-5.5 per cent. With the forex reserves holding of $645 billion, the rise in the RBI’s earnings is substantive. The timing and the amount (of the surplus to the government) are definitely part of a well thought-out plan. It indicates that the present government will continue,” said a market analyst, who did not want to be identified. The RBI’s earnings have been robust in recent times. It has been earning around 3 per cent on its forex reserves. The central bank has been lending in the moneymarketaround1.5-2lakh crore daily, on which it charges 6.5 per cent. It is also earning fromtradingintheforexmarket, the analyst said. “The Nifty hitting a new CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Officials leave for their polling stations in Bhubaneswar on Thursday. Fifty-eight Lok Sabha constituencies in eight states and Union Territories will vote in the sixth phase on May 25. ANI polling, 22 saw same trend in 2019 DAMINI NATH NEW DELHI, MAY 23 The explosion could be heard in a radius of two kilometres, officials said. Deepak Joshi VIJAYKUMARYADAV& NAYONIKABOSE MUMBAI,MAY23 EIGHT PEOPLE were killed and around60wereinjuredinaboiler blast at a chemical company in Dombivli East of Thane district in MaharashtraThursdayafternoon. Officials of the Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) said the boiler explosion atAmudanChemicalsPvtLtd.locatedinPhase2ofDombivliMIDC areaaround1.40pm,affectedadjacent factories and houses. The number of casualties and injuries may go up as several workers and residents are still fearedtrappedinthefactory,they said. The injured have been rushed to Neptune Hospital, Global Hospital and AIMS Hospital in MIDC. The bodies of the deceased weretakentoShashtriNagarhospital, Dombivli (West) and RukmanihospitalinKalyan.Police CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 IN HIS FIRST POLL RALLY Varun invokes ‘karmabhoomi’ in his mother Maneka’s seat EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE LUCKNOW, MAY 23 ADDRESSINGHISfirstrallyinthe ongoing Lok Sabha polls, BJP leader Varun Gandhi on Thursday termed Sultanpur as his“karmabhoomi”andasserted that his mother and incumbent MP Maneka Gandhi has a close connection with the people of theSultanpurconstituencyfrom wheresheisseekingre-election. The Pilibhit MP, who was dropped by the party from its candidate list this time, said, “Many seasoned and charismatic leaders are contesting the elections this time but there is PHASE 6 TOMORROW 8 killed, 60 injured Women voter turnout higher in boiler blast at than men in Phase 5, says EC Thane chemical unit Of 24 seats which saw higher women 2024 RAIPUR, MAY 23 AT LEAST seven Maoists were killed in an encounter with security forces on the inter-district border of Narayanpur and Bijapur districts in Chhattisgarh Thursday afternoon. Thursday morning, security forces received informatiom about the presence of military platoonnumber16andIndravati area committee members of Maoists on the inter-state border. A joint team security forces set out on an operation from different directions. Aforceof arounda1,000personnel comprised of Bastar Fighters and District Reserve Guards (DRG) led by DSP Rahul Uikey and DSP Ashish Netam and Bastar along with teams of Special Task Force (STF). The encounter took place in the jurisdiction of Barsur police station in Dantewada just 10 kilometersinsideAbujhmadforest area. The operation began around 11 am when Maoists suddenly opened fired at the forces and the intermittent firingcontinuedtillevening. Asthe forces moved forward they ‘WILL GO TO COURT TO RUN GOVT FROM JAIL’ BJP leader Varun Gandhi on Thursday PTI onlyoneregionwherepeopledo not address their MP as 'saansad ji' or 'mantri ji' but as 'mata ji'. WhenIcametoSultanpurforthe firsttime,Ifeltthe'khushbu'(fragrance)of myfatherhere,butto- day I feel proud to say that I have come to my motherland.” Sultanpur, he said, has no scarcity of skills, courage or talent. “They just want a person, who considers them as family and always stands with them in every need. When I came to Sultanpur 10 years back to contestelection,peopleheretoldme thattheywantedanatmosphere of 'raunak' (resplendence) seen in Amethi and Rae Bareli here in Sultanpur as well,” said Gandhi who has remained out of public eye since he was replaced by the BJP with Jitin Prasada from Pilibhit, which went to the polls in the first phase of the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 FOR THE first time this election, the turnout of women voters was higher than the turnout of men voters in the fifth phase on May 20, when polling was held in 49 Lok Sabha constituencies acrosseightstatesandUnionterritories (UTs), according to data released by the Election Commission on Thursday. Reversing past trends, the overall turnoutof women voters (67.18 per cent) was marginally higher as compared to men BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY ■ Men ■ Women PHASE1:(66.14%*) 66.22% 66.07% PHASE2:(66.71%*) 66.99% 66.42% PHASE3:(65.68%*) 66.89% 64.41% PHASE4:(69.16%*) 69.58% 68.73% PHASE5:(62.20%*) 61.48% 63.00% Overall (67.02 per cent) in the 2019 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 2019 Men Women 67.4% 67.02% 67.18% Source: EC *Overall turnout If I quit as CM, Mamata, Pinarayi govts will be toppled next: Kejriwal Says institutions being demolished, judiciary openly threatened P10 MALLICA JOSHI & RAHUL SABHARWAL NEW DELHI, MAY 23 RESIGNING AS Chief Minister of Delhiwillset a dangerousprecedent that will allow the BJP to topple governments in states where they are not in power, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said Thursday. In an interview to The Indian Express, Kejriwal, responding to a question on why he hadn’t resigned as Chief Minister despite his arrest in the Delhi excise policy case, said, “Let me explain why I am not resigning. People accuse me of being stuck to my chair. I have never been greedy for a chair or a post. When I was Income Tax commissioner, I quit to work in slums for 10 years. WhenIbecameCM,Iresignedin 49dayswithoutanyprovocation. I did it for my principles. This time I am not resigning because itispartof mystruggle.They(the THE EXPRESS INTERVIEW ‘ONLY PM CAN ANSWER HOW LONG HE WANTS TO KEEP ME IN JAIL’ ARVIND KEJRIWAL DELHI CHIEF MINISTER BJP)understandthey cannot defeat the AAP in Delhi, so they frameKejriwalinafalsecaseand topple his government. This is dangerous for democracy.” “IfIresigntoday,thentheywill topple Mamata Banerjee’s, Pinarayi Vijayan’s governments tomorrow. Wherever the BJP CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Will expedite decision on Nikhil Gupta’s extradition to US: Czech official DIVYA A & RITIKA CHOPRA NEW DELHI, MAY 23 A DAY after the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic rejected Indian citizen Nikhil Gupta’s plea against being sent totheUStofacetrialforallegedly plotting to kill Khalistan separatistGurpatwantSinghPannun atthebehestof anIndiangovernmentofficial,aspokespersonfor theCzechMinistryof Justicetold TheIndianExpresshisextradition will now be decided “expeditiously, without undue delay”. On Wednesday, the Czech Republic’s top court upheld the decisions of the District Court in Prague and the Municipal Court in Prague that Gupta, an Indian citizen, can be extradited to the US. In an emailed response to this newspaper, spokesperson Kamila Abbasi said that “the decisions of the Constitutional Court are final” and that they leavenoroomforfurtherappeal. The matter has now been referred to the Czech Minister of Justice for a final call, Markéta Andrová, spokesperson of the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Battle for Allahabad is BJP scion vs SP-Congress scion, no holds barred PAGE 1 ANCHOR VOTE SHARE (%) IN ALLAHABAD Party 2014 2019 PRAYAGRAJ, MAY 23 BJP 35.19 55.62 IN AN election where the BJP leadershiphasconsistently used the term “do shehzade (two princes)” to attack Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav in Uttar Pradesh, the battle for the Allahabad Lok Sabha seat is between two scions as well – the BJP’s Neeraj Tripathi and Ujjwal Raman Singh contesting on the Congress symbol. Neeraj is the son of former state Assembly Speaker and ex- SP 28.24 34.89 BSP 18.18 — Cong 11.49 3.59 SHYAMLAL YADAV Note: SP and BSP were allies in 2019; Source: Election Commission West Bengal Governor Kesari Nath Tripathi, who passed away last year, while Ujjwal’s father Kunwar Rewati Raman Singh of the SP represented Allahabad in the Lok Sabha between 2004 and 2014. The third candidate in the seat, which votes on May 25, is Ramesh Kumar Patel of the BSP. While his father’s legacy and RSS organisational muscle are Neeraj’s best bet, the BJP candidate who is making his political debut is struggling with the fact that he was not seen around in the area before being pitchforked into the fight. Ujjwal, on the other hand, is a familiar face, being a three-time MLA and former minister in the Mulayam Singh Yadav government. TheAllahabadLokSabhaseat is currently represented by the BJP’s Rita Bahuguna Joshi, and the party also holds four of the five Assembly segments falling under it (Allahabad South, Karachhana, Koraon and Bara). The fifth segment, Meja, is held by the SP. In the past, the constituency has been represented by stalwarts like ‘Bharat Ratna’ Purushottam Das Tandon, former PMs Lal Bahadur Shashtri and V P Singh, senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi, former UP CM Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna,andfilmstarAmitabh Bachchan. While Neeraj is a Brahmin, Congress-SP candidate Ujjwal is a Bhumihar. Neerajisbelievedtohavewarded off competition from sitting CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Lucknow