DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE TUESDAY, JUNE 4, 2024, AHMEDABAD, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES `5.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 64.2CRVOTERS,AWORLDRECORD, COUNTINGOFVOTESSTARTS8AMTODAY, says Election Commission of India postal ballots to be taken up first TIGHTSECURITYATEVMSTRONGROOMS across country ahead of counting Today is what counts ‘Mischievous’ pattern to undermine poll process, says CEC, ‘let’s understand this’ Mood upbeat in BJP camp; Kharge asks officers to uphold law MANOJ C G & ASAD REHMAN NEW DELHI, JUNE 3 CEC Rajiv Kumar with ECs Gyanesh Kumar and S S Sandhu at a press conference in New Delhi on Monday. Anil Sharma NEW DELHI, JUNE 3 ANNOUNCING THAT the Lok Sabha elections had created a “world record” with over 64 crore voters, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Monday responded for the first time to allegations of “faulty” electoralrolls,andquestionsover EVMs,theturnoutandthecountingprocess,sayingthepollpanel was prepared to counter various challengesthistimebutit“failed to understand” a “pattern” of “mischievous narratives”. Addressing the Election Commission’s first press conference after the polls were announced in March, Kumar said, “There is pattern, there is a design, I’m not saying it’s a toolkit. But there is a pattern, there is a design. Let us understand this.” With just a day to go for the counting of votes, he said the EC had been prepared to combat “4 Ms” — muscle, money, misinfor- BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY At a strongroom in Goregaon, Mumbai, on Monday where the EVMs have been stored ahead of the counting of votes Tuesday. Sankhadeep Banerjee Waiting for verdict, Sensex soars 3.39% on exit polls; FPIs rush to cover short positions RISE & RISE mation and MCC violations — buttherewasa“fifthM,mischievous narratives, which we failed to understand”. “There was a pattern... First, a case was brought before the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 SC DISMISSES YSRCP PLEA ON POSTAL BALLOT FORM PAGE 12 `14 lakh crore marketcapitalisation gaininoneday Topperformers % (BSEcos) change NTPC 9.21 StateBankofIndia 9.12 PowerGridCorpofIndia 8.97 Larsen&Toubro 6.27 RelianceIndustriesLtd 5.65 HITESH VYAS `6,850.76 cr FIIsnetpurchase `1,913.98 crore DIIsnetpurchase Big5gains(%) inlast4years February1,2021 5% February15,2022 3.07% May28,2022 2.90% August30,2022 2.69% May17,2022 2.53% ISSUES NOTICE TO STATE GOVT SC stays Gujarat Land Grabbing (Prohibition) Act FIR in Rajkot EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE AHMEDABAD, JUNE 3 BRAHMOS EX-ENGINEER GETS LIFE TERM ON ESPIONAGE CHARGE P12 PAGE 1 ANCHOR THESUPREMECourtMondayissued notice to the state government in a plea challenging the Gujarat High Court’s verdict in May upholding the Land Grabbing (Prohibition) Act as constitutionally valid. A division bench of Justices Sanjay Kumar andAugustineGeorgeMasihalso stayedfurtherproceedingsinthe FIR concerning the appellants in the interim, and kept the notices returnable for August. The appellants — Kishan Boriya,GovindBoriyaandBharat Boriya — are facing a First Information Report (FIR) in Rajkot concerning a land pur- chaseinKothariavillage.Thepetitioners have said they are bonafide purchasers and even though they made a declaration inacivilsuitin2019,pendingbefore a civil judge in Rajkot, that they are ready and willing to forego their rights in the property, an FIR was filed against them in November 2021. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 MUMBAI, JUNE 3 DOMESTIC BENCHMARK equity indices Sensex and Nifty surged over 3 per cent to close at alltime highs on Monday after exit polls on Saturday predicted a resounding victory for the BJP in theLokSabhaelectionsandthird term for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The rally in the market, which came a day ahead of the countingof votesandannounce- THE WORLD ment of the results by the Election Commission of India, wasprimarilyattributedtoshort covering by foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) and also, on fresh buying by overseas investors. The Sensex closed at a record high of 76,468.78, up 2,507 points, or 3.39 per cent. The 30share index, which opened with a huge gap-up of 2,600 points, touched an intraday high of 76,738.89. This is the highest single-day gain in Sensex since February1,2021,whentheindex CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 NEW DELHI, JUNE 3 PAGE 15 Rally on hopeof ● stable govt SEVERAL INVESTORS including many FPIs had taken short positions in the weeks leading up to elections expecting an unclear verdict. With exit polls predicting a clear third term for the BJP, these investors ran for cover. This, together with optimism that reforms would continue under a stable government, led to a sharp rally. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 DECISION 3-TIER SECURITY IN PLACE IN GUJARAT PAGE 4 EXPRESS NETWORK BAGHEL: DIFFERENT EVM NUMBERS; OPP WORKERS DETAINED: AKHILESH PAGE 13 Over 1 lakh farmers voluntarily gave up their PM-Kisan benefits last year HARIKISHAN SHARMA CLAUDIA SHEINBAUM IS MEXICO’S FIRST WOMAN PRESIDENT ISRAELI STRIKES IN CENTRAL GAZA KILL AT LEAST 11 E EXPLAINED DAMINI NATH AS THE country waited for the counting of votes Tuesday to decide the outcome of the Lok Sabha elections, the mood in the BJP camp was upbeat. There was cautious optimism and anxiety in the OppositionINDIAblocwhichbelieves, despite the exit poll predictions of an overwhelming mandate in favour of the BJP and NDA, that it can stand in the way of Modi and history. NoPMsinceJawaharlalNehru has managed to secure a third successive term in power in the country.Andnopartysince1977 — when the Congress was voted out of power for the first time after Independence — has got a thirdstraightstintingovernment. The Congress and the other BIHAR, UTTAR Pradesh and Rajasthan lead the chart of 1.16 lakhfarmerswhohavevoluntarily given up the benefits of the annual Rs 6,000 Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PMKisan) scheme across the country from June 2023 to May 2024, according to data available with THE TOP 5 STATES No. of beneficiaries who surrendered PM-Kisan Bihar 29,176 Uttar Pradesh 26,593 Rajasthan 10,343 Maharashtra 7,825 Jharkhand 6,215 the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare. The state breakup: 29,176 farmers’families,themaximum, surrendered PM-Kisan benefits in Bihar; followed by Uttar Pradesh (26,593) and Rajasthan (10,343). Sources said the Agriculture Ministry had introduced a module in the PM-Kisan mobile app and website last year which CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Miss our family, want to earn for them, say Indian workers in Israel AISWARYA RAJ GURGAON, JUNE 3 THOUSANDS OF kilometres fromhisvillageinHaryana’sJind, Gurdeep,29,hasbeenplastering buildings in Jerusalem for nearly two months now. Despite the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, the pro-Palestinian military outfit, Gurdeep says his family’s needs trump his fears. He says he decided to go to Israel for work despite the conflict because his two brothers, whoarepainters,struggletofind contractual work back home in Nirjanvillage.InApril,thefamily of ninewasforcedtosurviveona measlyRs5,000.“Ijustsentthem mysavingsof Rs70,000,”hesays. Last November, the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), a non-profit set up by the Ministry of Finance for skill development, received a demand for 10,000 construction workersfromIsrael’sPopulation and Immigration Authority for four roles — formwork, iron bending, plastering and ceramic tiling.TheNSDChassentaround 2,600 workers to Israel from UttarPradeshandHaryanasofar under a government-to-govern- ment (G2G) agreement. At a recent recruitment drive in Telangana,905workerswereselected to work in Israel. Over the past two months, the workers say they have acclimated to the ongoing conflict. Gurdeep is one of the 43 workers from Haryana who are working in Israel. He and some others landed at Tel Aviv airport on April 2 and left for their fivestorey accommodation in Jerusalem, around 50 km away. On April 12, New Delhi advised Indians to not travel to Iran and Israel till further notice “in view of the prevailing situation in the A resident of Nirjan village in Haryana’s Jind, Gurdeep’s income supports his family of nine, including wife Poonam region”. On April 14, in retaliation for the attack on its consulate in Damascus, Syria, two weeks earlier, Iran launched hundreds of drones and missiles towards Israel. As alarms sounded across Israel, Indian workers say they received a WhatsApp message from the government representative asking them to shelter inside the bunker in their building’s basement. Spotting them looking panicky and running on the streets, a neighbour reiterated the representative’s advice. Gurdeep told The Indian Express over telephone, “When the alarms rang on April 14, we knew we had no way out since the airspace was closed. However, NSDC officials contacted some of the workers and told them that we would be evacuated within 24 hours in case of a war.” His colleague Sugriv Sahni, 32, from Uttar Pradesh’s Deoria, says, “We were terrified initially. Once the alarms stopped ringing,wereturnedtoourflatssince we had to report to work the next day.” The next day, “as if nothing happened a day before”, a vehicle arrived to ferry them to the construction site, 8 km away. Sugriv, who lays ceramic tiles, says they are now accustomed toprojectilesgettingintercepted by the Iron Dome, the Israel air defence system. “It looks like Diwali from afar. We have heard abouttheIronDome.Itmakesus feel safe,” he says. Though there are news reports on injuries despite the Iron Dome, the workers say they are more concerned about their financial obligations. Sugriv, who has three children, says his daughter, 17, aspires to become a doctor. “She CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Ahmedabad