eye THE SUNDAY EXPRESS MAGAZINE Murshidabad to Seoul JAIPUR,LATECITY MARCH17,2024 How small towns and villages in India are trying to live their K-pop dream 14+4PAGES,`6.00 DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA MODELCODEOFCONDUCT kicks in with immediate effect LOKSABHAPOLLINGIN7PHASES, from April 19 to June 1 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM ASSEMBLYPOLLSIN4STATES Andhra, Odisha, Arunachal, Sikkim FOUR-PAGE PULLOUT ONEINFIVEVOTERSUNDER30, 21.54 cr of 96.8 cr voters are 18-29 yrs Dates are in: Voting from April 19, Verdict June 4 Won’t tolerate code violations; time to go beyond advisories and take concrete action: CEC FOR 18th LOK SABHA: 543 SEATS, 7 PHASES, 44 DAYS Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 Phase 4 April 19 102 Seats April 26 89 Seats May 7 94 Seats Phase 6 Phase 7 May 20 49 Seats May 25 57 Seats BY UNNY May 13 96 Seats Phase 5 BUSINESS AS USUAL June 1 57 Seats DAMINI NATH CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Delay over EC quitting, festivals: Why LS polls will extend into June Verdict in June first time since 1991 NEW DELHI, MARCH 16 KICKING OFF THE world’s largest election exercise, the Election CommissionofIndiaSaturdayannounced that the 18th Lok Sabha elections would be held in seven phases from April 19 to June 1, with counting of votes on June 4. Close to a billion electors will be eligible to cast their votes in theexercisethatwillstretchwell into the peak of summer, with over10millionpolling andsecurity personnel being deployed for the job. This time, the complete polling process — from 44 DAYS, SECOND-LONGEST SINCE 1951 RITIKA CHOPRA NEW DELHI, MARCH 16 COUNTING JUNE 4 CEC Rajiv Kumar with ECs Gyanesh Kumar and S S Sandhu in New Delhi on Saturday. Amit Mehra Andaman and Nicobar Islands Lakshadweep OVERALL 2019: 91 cr VOTERS 2024: 96.8 cr Male 47.33cr 49.7cr Female Transgender 43.85cr 39,000 47.1cr 48,000 First Time Voters 2019: 1.5 cr 2024: 1.8 cr FULL COVERAGE, P 6 THE 2024 Lok Sabha elections, extendingintothepeaksummer month of June for only the second time in the country's electoral history, marks a 44-dayelectionperiodthe second-longest after the first Parliamentary election in 1951-52. This protracted process has beennecessitatedbyacombination of factors. The first general election to PM: Going to people Kharge: Last chance to with track record, Opp save democracy; Cong is rudderless, issueless pledges Right to Health LALMANI VERMA MANOJ C G WELCOMING THE announcement of dates for the Lok Sabha elections, the “biggest festival of democracy”, Prime Minister NarendraModisaidSaturdaythat theBJP-ledNDAwas“goingtothe people on the basis of our track record of good governance and service delivery across sectors”. He attacked the Opposition SOONAFTERtheannouncement of theschedulefortheLokSabha polls, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said this election is going to be “perhaps the last chance” to save India’s democracy and Constitution. In a post on X Saturday, Kharge said, “2024 Lok Sabha NEW DELHI, MARCH 16 INSIDE CONG’S LS SURPRISE IS A GIANT-KILLER PAGE 5 SKIPPING SUMMONS: DELHI COURT GRANTS BAIL TO KEJRIWAL P 5 AZAM CONVICTED IN 2016 DEMOLITION CASE PAGE 8 NEW DELHI, MARCH 16 PTI PM Modi in Telangana’s Nagarkurnool on Saturday as“rudderlessandissueless”and said its “attempts of dividing CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Cong chief Mallikarjun Kharge with Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah and Dy CM D K Shivakumar in Bengaluru on Saturday. ANI ED, I-T, regulator heat: 11 infra firms bought Rs 506-cr bonds SOUMYARENDRA BARIK & AANCHAL MAGAZINE NEW DELHI, MARCH 16 CONSTRUCTIONANDinfrastructurecompanieswereamongthe biggest purchasers of electoral bonds, with at least 11 companieshaving boughtbondsworth over Rs 506 crore — directly or through lesser known subsidiaries — close on the heels of regulatoryorinvestigativeaction by agencies like the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the antitrust watchdog. While there are a number of big construction companies that feature in the list of donors, data released by the Election Commission also shows that a string of small to medium sized infrastructure companies, those in the ancillary business, and those that offer loans to infra projects, also made significant donations. Take for instance, Chennai Green Woods and Madhya Pradesh Waste Management — linked to Hyderabad-based Ramky Group whose chairman is the YSRCP MP Ayodhya Rami Reddy — collectively purchased electoralbondsworthmorethan Rs 111 crore between May 2019 and October 2023. Chennai Green Woods, a construction company, had purchased bonds worth Rs 40 crore in January 2022. In July 2021, the I-T Department had conducted CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Behind cheating video: Schools with low passing rate, high dropouts, staff crunch PAGE 1 ANCHOR AISWARYA RAJ NUH, MARCH 16 IT WAS a frame that captured an intractable problem — mass cheating in examinations. The 37-second video of March 5 showed people using ropes suspended from windows to scale thewallsof aschoolinHaryana’s Nuh district and passing on chits to students inside appearing for In the last Class 10 exam, the Government Senior Secondary School in Raheri had a pass percentage of 15%. Abhinav Saha the Class 10 Board exams. The private Chandrawati Senior Secondary School is one of 63 examination centres in the district for the ongoing Class 10 Board examination, with students of three schools — two government ones (in Raheri and Padheni villages) and the other private (in Noorpur) — appearing for their exams here. Nuh District Education Officer Paramjeet Chahalsaid an inquiry was conducted into the incident at Chandrawati school. No FIR has been registered yet. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Jaipur Lok Sabha was held over 68 phases from October 25, 1951, to February 21, 1952. More than 70 years later, the 2024 Parliamentary elections with a recordnumberof 96.8crore voters is set to be the longest. That apart, the only other time general elections were held in June was the 1991 Lok Sabha polls, but that was because the Chandra Shekhar government was dissolved 16 months after it was sworn in. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Manipur: Two phases for two seats, voting in relief camps SUKRITA BARUAH GUWAHATI, MARCH 16 VOTING IN conflict-rocked Manipurwilltakeplaceovertwo phaseswithpreparationsunderway to enable people displaced within the state to vote at or close to their relief camps. According to sources, informal preliminary assessments place the number of displaced voterswithinthestateat23,00025,000. The total number of voters in Manipur is 20.26 lakh. In the wake of the ethnic clashes that broke out in the state on May 3 last year, hard lines have been drawn between areas where the Kuki-Zomi and CONTINUED ON PAGE 2