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 No explicit denial in responses to notice: EC to Nadda, Kharge DAMINI NATH NEW DELHI, MAY 22 THE WORLD SUNAK SETS JULY 4 AS POLL DATE PAGE 10 `6.00 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 attacks Cong, AAP: Communal, not I, will get X-ray of assets done 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 thetwopartypresidentsonApril 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”ontheallegedMCC 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 Bangladesh MP missing from Kolkata was murdered, say police; 3 held Blood stains found in flat he had taken on rent Prime Minister Narendra Modi at an election campaign meet in Dwarka, New 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 their attempts. He took on the Congress, especially Rahul CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Rahul targets ‘system’: ‘Sitting inside it since birth, so understand it’ ATRI MITRA & RAVIK BHATTACHARYA KOLKATA, MAY 22 WEST BENGAL police said Wednesday they have received informationthatBangladeshMP Md Anwarul Azim, who went missing a day after arriving in Kolkata on May 12, has been murdered. They said the case is being handled by the CID and a Special Investigation Team has been formed to trace his body and probe the murder. Hours later, Bangladesh Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan announced at a press conference in Dhaka that three personshavebeenarrestedtherefor themurderof Azim,athree-time MP of the ruling Awami League. Khan said Azim was in Kolkata for medical treatment. “We have been informed by the Indian police that he has been murdered.Afterhewentmissing, the Indian police shared inputs with us... Based on that, our police arrested three persons. We are cooperating with the Indian police. He has been murdered in apre-plannedwayataresidence there(Kolkata),”theministersaid. Thearrestsweremadebythe CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in Panchkula. Jasbir Malhi EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE CHANDIGARH, PANCHKULA, MAY 22 SAYING THAT 90 per cent of the population representing “Dalits, Adivasis, OBCs and poor general castes” are unrepresented and there are “two different sets of rules” although the Constitution is a “document of equality”, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday questioned the “system”inplace,addingthathe “understands the system from inside” as he was “sitting inside” it since his birth. Speaking at a panel discussioninPanchkula,Gandhi,while referring to the arrests of former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, said: “Two chief ministers are jailed. One who hails from Adivasi community continues to be in CONTINUED ON PAGE 4 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,PAGE10 IIT alumnus gets life term for 2008 murder of fashion designer MANISH SAHU LUCKNOW, MAY 22 A SPECIAL CBI court in Lucknow on Wednesday handed down a life sentence to a 45-year-old alumnus of IIT, Kanpur, and IIM, Lucknow, for the murder of a Mumbai-basedfashiondesigner, Adesh Bajpai (35), in 2008. Last week, the court held Rahul Verma, who had been out on bail, guilty and he was taken into custody by the police. The court convicted Verma on charges under IPC sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of The victim, Adesh Bajpai offence, or giving false information to screen offender). On Wednesday, Verma was brought to the court amid police security from the Lucknow jail, where he is lodged. “The court has also imposed a fine of Rs 90,000 on Verma,” said senior public prosecutor Ashish Kumar Saxena. He added that the court examined 44 prosecution wit- nesses and six defence witnesses. Notably, the court dropped IPC section 364 (kidnapping) charge against the accused. In 2010, the murder case was transferredtotheCentralBureau of Investigation following a directive by the Allahabad High Court. The defence counsel, who did not wish to be named, said “We will file an appeal in the High Court against this (Wednesday's) judgment.” Accordingtotheprosecution, the case dates back to August 20, 2008, when the victim's father, CONTINUED ON PAGE 4 2 YEARS AFTER AGNIPATH ROLLOUT Army conducts own survey on scheme for Agniveers, may suggest 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, especially in political circles. The Opposition Congress has pledged to end the scheme and return to the earlier military recruitment process. Just weeks ago, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said the government is open to change in the Agnipath scheme if required, and the fu- E E X P L A I NE D THURSDAY, MAY 23, 2024, LUCKNOW, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES 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. ture of youths joining as Agniveers will not be impacted. According to officials, the Army survey has sought comments from all stakeholders includingAgniveers,therecruiting andtrainingstaff atdifferentregimental centres of the Army and unit and sub-unit commanders under whom the Agniveers operate. Officialssaidtheresponsesto specificquestionsforeachgroup CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 BJP’s Nishad ally struggles in UP’s Sant Kabir Nagar, but for Modi-Yogi name BHUPENDRA PANDEY SANT KABIR NAGAR, MAY 22 SANJAY NISHAD is among the leaders of many different caste groupsinUttarPradeshwhohas always punched above his weight. In the 2022 Assembly polls, with one son the sole MLA of hisNISHAD Party and another the only MP, he had talked of demanding deputy chief ministership from the BJP to continue their alliance. The BJP held out then, but its concession to Sanjay Nishad, an MLC and minister in the Yogi Adityanath government, in repeatinghissonPraveenfromthe Sant Kabir Nagar Lok Sabha seat VOTE SHARE (%) Sant Kabir Nagar Party BJP BSP SP INC 2014 34.49 24.8 23.74 2.18 2019 43.97 40.61 -12.08 Note: SP and BSP were allies in 2019 Source: ECI may end up proving costly for the party. While the different castes and groups in this constituency, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 HC cancels OBC certificates issued RBI’s record dividend of Rs 2.11 L cr in Bengal since 2010, CM protests to govt can help in reducing deficit 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 public interest litigation challenging provisions of the West Bengal I do not accept the order: CM Mamata Banerjee Backward Classes (Other than ScheduledCastesandScheduled Tribes)(Reservationof Vacancies in Services and Posts) Act, 2012. Setting aside the classification of 37 communities as OBC, the Bench said, “We strike down section 16 of the Act of 2012 since it empowers the State Executive to amend any schedule of the Act of 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 enlisted under OBC in the state after 2010 is likely to be above five lakh, a lawyer representing the petitioners said. The division bench of Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty and Justice Rajasekhar Mantha, how CONTINUED ON PAGE 4 HITESH VYAS MUMBAI, MAY 22 THE CENTRAL Board of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday approveda highestever 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 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 and financial institutions) and market expectation of Rs 1-1.1 lakh crore surplus, and would come as an unexpected boost to thegovernment’sfiscal position. Thebumperdividendpayout is likely to help ease FY25 fiscal deficit by around 0.2 per cent of the GDP, analysts said. In the Interim Budget for FY2025, the government had set an ambitioustargetof bringingdownthe fiscaldeficittargetto5.1per cent of GDP in FY25 from 5.8 per cent of GDP in FY24. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 On painkillers, Tejashwi carries weight of INDIA’s Bihar campaign for it in the 2020 Assembly polls, now needs to show he can continue irrespective of repeated PATNA, MAY 22 setbacks and loss of power courIT HAS been a back-breaking tesy a vacillating Nitish Kumar. election for RJD leader Tejashwi How 34-year-old Tejashwi perYadav — literally. For nearly a forms could also determine INDIA’s fortunes at the month now, the man on Centre, with a crucial 40 whom the INDIA camseats at stake in Bihar, of paign almost entirely which the BJP-led NDA rests in Bihar, has been had won 39 in 2019. ontheroadrallyingsupElections in the state port for the coalition, DECISION are stretched out across popping painkillers, 2024 theentiresevenphasesof wearing a lumbo sacral the Lok Sabha polls, and belt for back relief, and usinga wheelchair whenhecan. they were just two phases in It’sacrucialfightforTejashwi whenTejashwidevelopedpainin who,havingprovedthestomach his back. On May 3, he was seen SANTOSH SINGH limping and walking with the help of aides while campaigning. Soon after, he was advised “maximumbedrest”anduseofthebelt 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 DECISION 2024 ● Shahabuddin’s wife tries luck in Siwan again ● BJP eyes CM Naveen Patnaik’s core base in Odisha: women 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 PRENEETKAUR,BJP’S PATIALACANDIDATE PAGES 3, 6, 7 Minister Narendra Modi has held 13 rallies so far, and Union Minister Amit Shah over half-adozen. Besides, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his Assam counterpart Himanta Biswa Sarma have held four public meetings each. JD(U)supremo andBiharCM 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 campaign doesn’t stray from his themeofjobs,muchlikethe2020 Assembly polls when he had promised 10 lakh jobs if the Mahagathbandhan formed the CONTINUED ON PAGE 4 Lucknow