Opposition Leaders Give Call To Save Democracy in India At Mega Rally

NEW DELHI, Mar 31: The INDIA bloc's rally at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan this afternoon, was a massive show of strength where the leaders of all major Opposition parties pressed for the release of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Jharkhand's former Chief Minister Hemant Soren.

The leaders flagged concerns about the health of the country's democracy, accusing the BJP of decimating the Opposition through the Central investigative agencies.

Congress's Priyanka Gandhi listed five demands of the Opposition to the Election Commission that included the provision of a level playing field before the elections.

Efforts to forcefully scuttle the finances of Opposition parties should be immediately stopped, Ms Gandhi said, without mentioning the freeze on Congress funds and the latest Income Tax notice. Action by the Enforcement Directorate, CBI and the Income Tax department should also be stopped, she said, reading out the list of demands.

The alliance also demanded a Supreme Court-monitored Special Investigation Team investigate what they called the BJP's "extortion" of funds through the electoral bonds scheme.

The "Loktantra Bachao Rally", the leaders said, is a mark of the INDIA bloc's commitment to fighting, winning, and saving democracy in India.

"If the BJP wins these fixed elections and changes the Constitution, the country will be on fire," declared Congress's Rahul Gandhi. "You have to decide if you want democracy or dictatorship... Those who support dictatorship need to be kicked out of the country," added party ch9ief Mallikarjun Kharge.

"A new energy in the politics of India has been born today... Today, the slogan for independence is being raised here... It is our independence that our Constitution and our republic are protected. We will gain this independence," said CPM's Sitaram Yechury.

Punjab Chief Minister and senior Aam Aadmi Party leader Bhagwant Mann declared that Arvind Kejriwal was not a man but an ideology.

"You can arrest Arvind Kejriwal, but how will you arrest his ideology? In which jail will you send the lakhs of Kejriwals that are born in India?" he said, reiterating the party stance on the arrest of the Chief Minister, which took place on the eve of the general elections in the country.

Kejriwal's wife Sunita Kejriwal and Hemant Soren's wife Kalpana Soren were also spoke at today's rally.

The arrest has brought together the Opposition bloc, which was making more headlines recently over its differences than its unity.

A case in point was Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee's decision to go it alone in Bengal instead of the agreed-upon sit-sharing formula. She even said that her membership of INDIA bloc was on hold and she would review the matter after the election.

Her party MP Derek O'Brien, however, staunchly declared today that Trinamool "very much was, is and will be part of the INDIA alliance". "This is a fight of BJP versus democracy," he added.

The rally also comes on a day Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off the BJP campaign in Uttar Pradesh.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, though, appeared unfazed.

Appearing at the rally, Yadav said, "These people are giving the slogan of '400 Paar'. If you are going to win more than 400 seats, then why are you scared of the AAP leader".

"You have sent elected Chief Ministers to jail. Not just the Indians but the whole world is criticising it,' he said, without explicitly mentioning the comments that have come on the subject from the United Nations, United States and Germany.

No Immediate Relief For Arvind Kejriwal From High Court

NEW DELHI, Mar 27: Arvind Kejriwal will spend at least another night in jail after the Delhi High Court refused a petition Wednesday, challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in the alleged liquor policy scam.

The court has issued a notice asking the ED to respond to Kejriwal's petition, and given the probe agency time till April 2 to do so. The next hearing in this case is on April 3.

Kejriwal is currently in ED custody; he is being held in the lock-up at the agency's Delhi office.

On Thursday the agency's 7-day custody of the AAP leader expires and he will be back in court (this time in Delhi's Rouse Avenue Court), where, most likely, the authorities will ask for further custody.

In a long-drawn and intense hearing today, Kejriwal's legal team slammed the Enforcement Directorate's "delaying tactics" after the agency asked for three weeks' time to respond.

Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, appearing for the ED, said the copy of the petition had been served late, and that he needed time to study the document. Senior lawyer Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Kejriwal, said the petition had been filed on March 23. "Defects were cured later. I am sure Raju does not want us to serve a defective copy to him... we shared petition with him."

In his petition, Kejriwal had said his arrest had violated his human rights, and that the Enforcement Directorate had failed to prove the alleged crime.

"Arrest without interrogation shows the current action is politically motivated," Singhvi argued, underlining the AAP's claim that Arvind Kejriwal's arrest was timed to disrupt the party's campaign for next month's Lok Sabha election.

In response, Raju said the ED sought to file replies on the main matter and on the petition for interim relief. When the court pointed out it had already said it will issue a notice in the former, he said, "On interim relief also, I have the right to file a reply. If I am not entitled to file a reply, then there is no need to hear me. I can't be deprived of my right to file a reply."

Sadhguru discharged after brain surgery

NEW DELHI, Mar 27: Spiritual leader Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev has been discharged from the Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals in Delhi today after his successful emergency brain surgery on March 17.

The mystic and Yogi had suffered multiple bleedings in the brain before he was hospitalised. He suffered from persistent and severe headaches for several weeks.

Brain bleeding, also known as intracranial haemorrhage, occurs when blood vessels in the brain rupture, leading to blood leakage into surrounding tissues. This can result in neurological complications or even death. Immediate medical attention is important to address this serious condition.

“The doctors have expressed satisfaction with his recovery and healing. Sadhguru, even as he is recovering, has maintained the same spirit. His commitment to the global good, his sharp mind and his sense of humour are all intact. I think this is good news for all the millions of people who have been enquiring about his health," said Dr Sangita Reddy, Joint Managing Director - Apollo Hospitals Group

Ladakh Protest: Sonam Wangchuk Ends Fast After 21 Days, Passes Baton to Others

NEW DELHI, Mar 27: Ladakhi innovator and activist on Tuesday (March 26) ended his 21-day “climate fast”, passing the baton on to other groups for a relay fast that will continue until citizens’ groups feel their demands have been met.

In a video message at the end of his fast, Wangchuk said, “Today is an important day. The first phase has ended but the hunger strike has not come to a close. After me, women will begin a 10-day fast tomorrow. This will be followed by youth, Buddhist monks. Then, it could be women or I could come back. This cycle will go on. As many as 6,000 people, from all religions, joined me in a one-day fast.”

“We are trying to remind and awaken the conscience of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah to safeguard the fragile ecosystems of the Himalayan mountains of Ladakh and the unique indigenous tribal cultures that thrive here. We don’t want to think of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah as just politicians. We would rather like to think of them as statesman but for that they will have to show some character and far-sightedness,” he continued.

Tensions have simmering in the strategic region bordering China and Pakistan after the year-long talks broke down in third round earlier this month. A Union home ministry committee refused to concede to the demands of constitutional safeguards for Ladakh after it was downgraded into a union territory in 2019.

Civil society groups in Ladakh have been demanding the grant of statehood, inclusion of Ladakh in Sixth Schedule, a job reservation policy in the administration for locals of Ladakh and a parliamentary seat each for the Leh and Kargil districts.

Under Article 244, the Sixth Schedule provides constitutional safeguards to tribal populations and also allows them to set up autonomous development councils to frame laws on land, public health, and agriculture.

Speaking on the eight day of his fast, Wangchuk had explained the Sixth Schedule demand by saying, “Because this [schedule] is tailor-made for hilly regions with distinct indigenous tribal communities. And normally, 50% tribal population is enough to qualify for that, but Ladakh has 97%. So we were hands-down qualified for that.”

“And we had no doubt that the government that was kind enough to make Ladakh a UT would also give us that. It was a natural no-brainer.” But despite repeated promises and assurances, this has not happened – and now the government has reportedly said it will not happen. Ladakhi people, therefore, “are very hurt” and our “only resort” is to start a movement, Wangchuk said.

Kejriwal issues order from ED custody, directs minister to solve water concerns

NEW DELHI, Mar 24: Jailed Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday issued an order from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody, directing water minister Atishi to address water and sewage related grievances in the city and to make arrangements for water supply in the upcoming summer season.

In a signed order from the chief minister’s office (CMO), Kejriwal, who was arrested by ED in the excise policy case on Thursday night, has written that appropriate directions must be issued to chief secretary Naresh Kumar and the help of lieutenant governor (LG) VK Saxena should be sought in case the need arises. “He (LG) will certainly extend his help,” Kejriwal wrote.

In a press conference on Sunday, Cabinet minister Atishi read out the order from the chief minister received by her. “Arvind Kejriwal has directed me from the ED custody that he has come to know that some parts of Delhi are facing water and sewage related issues. “I am worried (about these complaints). Just because I am in jail, people of Delhi should not face any inconvenience. The summer season is about to start. Make sure enough tankers are prepared for the areas which face water shortage. Issue order to the chief secretary and other senior officers to ensure that people do not face any problems,” Atishi read out from the CMO order.

Kejriwal adds that the grievances of people should be addressed comprehensively in a timely manner. “In case the need arises, seek help from the Lieutenant Governor. He will certainly help you,” the order added.

Atishi said that the Delhi chief minister has been arrested but on his behalf she assures people of Delhi that irrespective of the chief minister being in the custody of the central agencies, the work in Delhi will not stop. “I got this order last night. This brought tears to my eyes. How can a person who has been arrested--think about the people of Delhi in such a difficult period? Arvind Kejriwal does not consider himself to be just the chief minister of Delhi but a family member of the 2 crore Delhi residents. People are not just voters for him, he considers them to be members of his family,” he added. The water minister said: “I wish to tell the BJP that they may have arrested Kejriwal, but the love has for the people of Delhi will not be imprisoned.”

Arvind Kejriwal Challenges Arrest In High Court

NEW DELHI, Mar 23: Terming his arrest and the order sending him to the Enforcement Directorate's custody illegal, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has approached the high court for an urgent hearing and sought his immediate release.

The AAP chief was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on Thursday in connection with a money laundering case pertaining to the alleged Delhi liquor policy scam. The agency was granted seven-day custody by the Rouse Avenue court in Delhi on Friday.

Approaching the Delhi High Court on Saturday, Kejriwal has challenged his arrest and the remand order, terming them illegal. Seeking an urgent hearing from the acting chief justice of the high court on Sunday, the chief minister has claimed that he is entitled to be released from custody immediately.

Money of liquor case accused found in BJP's account, arrest Nadda: AAP's big ‘electoral bond’ charge

NEW DELHI, Mar 23: While the Enforcement Directorate has not been able to establish a money trail against any AAP leader in the excise policy case, an accused-turned-approver did give crores of rupees in electoral bonds to the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) claimed on Saturday.

"In the so-called excise policy scam of Delhi, CBI and ED investigations have been going on for the past two years. In these two years, a question has come up again and again Where is the money trail? Where did the money go? No proceeds of crime were recovered from any leader, minister or worker of AAP," Delhi minister Atishi said at a press conference.

The senior AAP leader said the central probe agency arrested Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal merely based on the statement of one Sharad P Reddy of Aurobindo Pharma, who the ED arrested in November in the same case. Reddy gave crores of rupees to the BJP through electoral bonds, Atishi claimed.

"Sharat Chandra Reddy clearly said that he never met or spoke with Arvind Kejriwal and has nothing to do with AAP. After being in jail for several months, he changed his statement. But where is the money? Where is the money trail?" she said.

The minister alleged that the money trail was found in the BJP's account and dared the central probe agency to 'arrest' BJP national president JP Nadda.

"He (Sharat Chandra Reddy) gave electoral bonds worth ₹4.5 crore to BJP. And then also gave bonds worth ₹55 crores. Where is the money trail? Money trail was found in the BJP's account. I challenge Prime Minister Narendra Modi and ED, to arrest BJP national president JP Nadda," Atishi said.

Sarath Chandra Reddy, son of Aurobindo Pharma founder PV Ram Prasad Reddy, is one of the promoters of the pharmaceutical giant. According to the Enforcement Directorate, Reddy was part of a cartel, the alleged ‘South Group’ of businessmen and politicians that paid kickbacks to the AAP leaders in lieu of getting nine retail zones under the Delhi excise policy. BRS leader K Kavitha is also allegedly a member of the ‘group’. In July 2023, a Delhi court allowed Reddy to turn approver in the excise policy case.

Arvind Kejriwal Sent To 7-Day Probe Agency Custody In Liquor Policy Case

NEW DELHI, Mar 22: Arvind Kejriwal has been remanded to the custody of the Enforcement Directorate for seven days - i.e., till March 28. The order was passed late Friday by Delhi's Rouse Avenue Court, hours after the Delhi Chief Minister withdrew a Supreme Court plea challenging his arrest in the alleged liquor policy scam case.

The central agency had sought custody of Kejriwal for 10 days, stating it needed time to complete its investigation and confront the Aam Aadmi Party leader with other arrested accused in the case.

In Friday's hearing, the agency called Arvind Kejriwal the "kingpin" and "key conspirator" in the alleged scam, and in a claim seen by many as contradictory, also called him the "middleman" between the 'south group' and other accused, including ex-Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia (arrested last year).

Total proceeds of the alleged scam, the agency said, exceeded ₹ 600 crore; this includes ₹ 100 crore allegedly paid by the 'south group' the agency has claimed includes Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader K Kavitha, who was arrested last week.

Kejriwal - the first sitting Chief Minister to be arrested, spent the night at the agency's office - has denied all charges. The AAP has repeatedly stated the ED has yet to recover any of the alleged cash

In his first reaction since the arrest, Kejriwal told reporters "my life is dedicated to the nation". Shortly afterwards his wife, Sunita Kejriwal posted an appeal on X (formerly Twitter). "Your Chief Minister always stood with you.. whether inside or outside (jail), his life is dedicated to the country,' she said.

"He was directly involved in implementation of the policy, and giving favour to the south group. He demanded kickbacks in exchange for favours... this is corroborated by statements," Additional Solicitor-General SV Raju, argued for the Enforcement Directorate, "He is involved in use of proceeds of crime."

The ED claimed ₹ 45 crore of the kickbacks were used to fund the AAP's Goa and Punjab elections in 2022. The vote share of 6.8 per cent in the former confirmed AAP as a national party, and its victory over the Congress in the latter allowed it to establish a first state government outside of Delhi.

"We have examined the money trail. The money in Goa came through four routes. These allegations are also corroborated by one of AAP's candidates... this person was paid in cash..."

The probe agency concluded its argument by calling Kejriwal "the brain behind the party" and held the Chief Minister responsible for all affairs of the AAP. Raju also criticised the Chief Minister for having skipped nine summons of the ED; "... he willfully disobeyed summons..." he said.

On the role of Nair, the Additional Solicitor General said, "He was staying in a house given to Kailash Gahlot (Delhi's Transport Minister) and acted as the middleman between south group and AAP."

Singhvi told the court the Enforcement Directorate had no need to arrest Kejriwal.

"The first thing is necessity for arrest... power to arrest is not equal to need. Just because you have the power to arrest someone does not mean you should..." he argued, adding the central agency's claim about tracing the money trail further "can't be a ground for arrest... it can be grounds for questioning".

"There is a new pattern... you have a witness who does not name Kejriwal in first or second statement. You arrest him, oppose bail vehemently... then he turns approver and, one fine day, he gives a brilliant statement..." Singhvi said.

"You have to show how I am involved. You can't arrest without a 'reason to believe;," he said, asking serious questions of the ED's argument to seek custody of Chief Minister Kejriwal.

Singhvi also pointed out "there is no direct evidence, except these statements (those by accused-turned-approvers) saying 'I met Kejriwal, etc...' If people are arrested and then pardoned, they will definitely name anyone..."

"Please do not look at this remand demand as routine... it requires application of significant judicial mind. There are larger issues of democracy involved. Please keep that in mind..." he concluded.

Raju responded to these arguments by pointing to the "history of destruction of electronic evidence" in this case, suggesting the release of Kejriwal could lead to more of the same. "There is concrete evidence to show there is a scam and fraud. The excise policy was changed to fund elections," he said.

Hours earlier, Kejriwal's legal team withdrew a Supreme Court plea challenging his arrest; this was shortly after the top court rejected an identical plea by the BRS' K Kavitha. In fact, the same bench that told Ms Kavitha to go to a lower court was scheduled to hear Kejriwal's plea.

Given the court's reaction to Ms Kavitha's petition, Kejriwal's legal team said it had withdrawn its plea as it did not expect a positive response. Sources said the team believed the plea would be pointless since Kejriwal has already been arrested, and the court, in the BRS leader's case, had remarked "... just because you have the means (power and/or money) we can't entertain you".

"We are withdrawing petition here (from the Supreme Court) as it is clashing with remand. We will argue remand and come back here..." Singhvi had told the top court.

Germany ‘Takes Note’ of Kejriwal's Arrest, Expects Standards of Judicial Independence to Apply

NEW DELHI, Mar 22: Germany has “taken note” of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest and expects that “standards regarding the independence of the judiciary and basic democratic principles” will apply, a spokesperson said on Friday.

Sebastian Fischer, a spokesperson for Germany’s foreign ministry, was answering a question asking how the German federal government assessed Kejriwal’s arrest, that it takes place weeks before the general election and that the Indian opposition sees it as politically motivated.

“We have taken note of the case. India is a democratic country. We assume and expect that the standards relating to the independence of the judiciary and fundamental democratic principles will also apply in this case,” Fischer said according to his ministry’s website.

He added that Kejriwal is “entitled to a fair, unbiased trial”, which he said “includes the right to make use of all existing legal remedies without restriction”.

“The presumption of innocence is a central element of the rule of law and must apply to it [Kejriwal’s case],” Fischer continued to say.

Arvind Kejriwal arrested by ED in liquor probe

NEW DELHI, Mar 21: Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has been arrested on Thursday by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with the liquor probe making him the first sitting chief minister to be arrested ever.

The arrest came within two months after Jharkhand's Hemant Soren was arrested – another prominent leader of the opposition; Soren had resigned as the CM just before his arrest making way for Champai Soren to take the mantle of the government.

The AAP leadership, however, said Kejriwal will remain the chief minister and the national capital will be ruled from jail. Kejriwal's arrest comes a week after another big-ticket arrest in connection with the liquor probe. BRS leader K Kavitha was arrested from Hyderabad last week and was brought to New Delhi.

While Kavitha's arrest dropped hints that Kejriwal would be ED's next target, a high court order on Thursday made it easier as the court denied granting any protection to Kejriwal from any coercive action of the agency. Hours after the high court verdict, ED officials swooped in at Kejriwal's Civil Lines residence with a search warrant. After a few hours, Kejriwal was taken into custody.

Kejriwal was summoned by the ED to join the probe sine last year but citing various engagements Kejriwal skipped all the summons so far. Kejriwal moved the court and challenged the ED summons calling them unconstitutional. A major blow came to Kejriwal after the court on Thursday said it has no intention to get into the case at this stage.

The case pertains to the liquor policy which was scrapped after allegations of corruption. Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh were arrested earlier in connection with the same case.

Delhi minister and AAP leader Atishi said the party has already moved the Supreme Court for quashing the arrest of Kejriwal. "We have asked for an urgent hearing by the Supreme Cpurt tonight itself," Atishi posted on X.

Meanwhile, the AAP leadership said Kejriwal will remain the chief minister as it was decided after a survey of 'Main Bhi Kejriwal' at 23.8 lakh households in Delhi.

55-year-old Arvind Kejriwal became Delhi chief minister first in 2013 riding on the wave of the anti-corruption movement that he spearheaded with Anna Hazare. Kejriwal became the second youngest chief minister of Delhi but a year after he resigned after failing to table the Jan Lokpal Bill in the Delhi Assembly.

In 2015, he again became the chief minister after his Aam Aadmi Party won the election with a majority. In 2020, AAP again returned to power with a majority.

Kejriwal studied mechanical engineering at IIT-Kharagpur and then joined the Indian Revenue Services as an assistant commissioner of income tax in 1995 after cracking the civil services examination. He resigned from his position as joint commissioner of income tax in 2006.

Chief Justice Raps Tamil Nadu Governor

NEW DELHI, Mar 21: The Supreme Court today came down heavily on Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi for his refusal to re-induct a DMK leader as minister despite a pause on his conviction. In strong remarks, Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said the Governor was "defying the Supreme Court" and asked the Centre, "If the Governor does not follow the Constitution, what does the government do?"

The bench, also comprising Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra, has now given the Governor a day's time till tomorrow to appoint DMK's K Ponmudi as minister.

The MK Stalin government has approached the Supreme Court after Ravi refused to re-induct Ponmudi into the state cabinet, saying it would be against Constitutional morality.

Ponmudi was disqualified as an MLA after the Madras High Court recently reversed his acquittal in an assets case. Thereafter, the Supreme Court paused his conviction and the sentence of a two-year jail term. The state government had then moved to reinstate him as minister, but the Governor stressed that his conviction has only been suspended and not set aside.

"If we do not hear from your person tomorrow, we will pass an order directing the Governor to act according to the constitution. We are seriously concerned about the Tamil Nadu Governor and his behaviour. He has no business to do this. He is taking on the Supreme Court," the Chief Justice said.

"We are keeping eyes open and tomorrow we will decide. We are seriously concerned," he doubled down.

The Chief Justice said the Governor is "defying the Supreme Court". "Those who have advised him have not advised him properly," he said. "I may have a different perspective of the man/ minister, but we have to go by the constitutional law. The Chief Minister says we want to appoint this person, the Governor should do so as part of the parliamentary democracy. He's a ceremonial head of the state."

Ravi's refusal to appoint Ponmudi as minister is the latest in a series of face-offs between his office and the MK Stalin government after he took over Tamil Nadu Governor in 2021. The DMK government has repeatedly accused him of creating hurdles in its work.

Earlier, the state government had approached the Supreme Court over the delay in the Raj Bhavan clearing Bills. The court had then said the Governor must act on the advice of the Council of Ministers. The tussle had also reached the Rashtrapati Bhavan, when Chief Minister Stalin wrote to President Droupadi Murmu last year, seeking Ravi's removal from the top post.

SBI Submits All Details Of Poll Bonds With Serial Numbers To Election Body

NEW DELHI, Mar 21: After being rapped by the Supreme Court, the State Bank of India has submitted all the details on electoral bonds to the Election Commission. The data includes the all-important serial numbers for the bonds, which will help match the donors with the political parties that were the recipients.

The SBI submitted an affidavit of compliance to the Supreme Court on Thursday. One of the points of the affidavit reads, "It is respectfully submitted that SBI has now disclosed all details and that no details [other than complete account numbers & KYC details] have been withheld from disclosure."

The details given by the bank are expected to be uploaded by the Election Commission on its website shortly.

The SBI had earlier given two lists to the Election Commission, which were released by the poll panel on its website on March 14. The first had the names of the donors, the denominations of the bonds, and the dates on which they were purchased. The other had names of the political parties as well as the denominations of the bonds and the dates on which they were encashed.

Without the unique numbers, however, there was no way of linking the lists and finding out which donor had given money to which party.

On Monday, the Supreme Court had asked the SBI to disclose all details related to electoral bonds, including the serial numbers, by 5 pm today and also file an affidavit to that effect. The direction had come in response to a petition against the "incomplete data" provided by the bank, which is India's largest.

"We want all information related to the electoral bonds to be disclosed which is in your possession... The SBI's attitude seems to be 'you tell us what to disclose, we will disclose'. That does not seem to be fair. When we say "all details", it includes all conceivable data... All details should come out. We want to ensure that nothing has been suppressed," Chief Justice DY Chandrachud had said.

Centre's Fact-Check Unit Put On Hold, Top Court Cites 'Freedom Of Speech'

NEW DELHI, Mar 21: A day after the Centre notified the Fact Check Unit under the Press Information Bureau to "address the challenge of fake news", the Supreme Court today paused the notification, setting aside the Bombay High Court's go-ahead to the government's move.

A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra said the matter concerns freedom of expression. The court, however, did not comment on the merits of the case.

Stand-up comic Kunal Kamra and the Editors Guild of India had approached Bombay High Court, seeking a direction to restrain the Centre from notifying the Fact Check Unit.

The provision for a Fact Check Unit was part of the amendments to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, brought by the Centre last year.

Under the rules, if this unit comes across or is informed about any posts that are fake, false, and contain misleading facts about the business of the government, it would flag them to social media intermediaries. Once such a post is flagged, the intermediary has the option of taking it down or putting a disclaimer. In taking the second option, the intermediary risks legal action.

The petitioners had expressed concerns of censorship and said the new rules would restrict users from expressing themselves freely on social media. They had said the social media intermediaries would readily remove posts flagged by the government's Fact Check Unit to avoid legal troubles.

Kamra also challenged the new IT rules for violating his right to work as a political satirist and expressed fear of losing his social media access if his content is flagged by the Fact Check Unit. The rules will allow the government to flag any content critical of its policies, he said.

The Centre had responded that the rules were issued in public interest to crack down on fake news. It had also said the fact-check will be based on evidence and such decisions can be challenged in courts.

The Centre also said political opinions, satire and comedy are not linked to government business; the petitioners have argued that 'business of the Central Government' is a "vague" area.

On March 11, the Bombay High Court refused to grant an interim stay on setting up the Fact-Check Unit, noting that no grave and irreparable loss would be caused.

The single-judge bench noted that the petitioners fear that exchange of information in the form of political discourses or comments, political satire, and so on may be targeted if the Fact Check Unit is notified. However, the Solicitor General has said the unit only intends to deal with government business in its strict sense, and did not aim to muzzle political views, satire or sarcasm, it noted.

The petitions against the new IT Rules were referred to a single-judge bench after a division bench's split verdict in January. While one of the judges on the division bench had struck down the rules, terming them unconstitutional, another had upheld them.

Last year, the Centre had assured the court that it would not notify the Fact Check Unit until a final verdict on IT rules. But after the split verdict, the Centre said the oral assurance could be extended only until the third judge took up the matter. The petitioners had then filed interim applications, seeking a pause on notifying the Fact Check Unit. After getting no relief from Bombay High Court, the petitioners approached the Supreme Court.

ISIS India head among two arrested in Assam, to be handed over to NIA: Police

GUWAHATI, Mar 20: Two top-rung leaders of ISIS in India planning sabotage activities were arrested near the international border after they crossed over from Bangladesh, Assam Police said on Wednesday.

Acting on intelligence received from sister agencies, an STF team was deployed to the Dhubri sector to intercept the suspects, who were also wanted by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), according to the police.

On Tuesday evening, the STF team launched a manhunt in the international border area and intercepted two suspects in the early hours of Wednesday at the Dharmasala area of Dhubri after they had crossed the international border, police added.

“Both of them were apprehended and brought to STF office at Guwahati,” Assam Police Chief Public Relations Officer Pranabjyoti Goswami said in a statement.

The arrested ISIS cadres have been identified as Harish Ajmal Farooqi alias Harish Ajmal Farukhi and Anurag Singh alias Rehan. Police said that Farooqi is a resident of Uttarakhand's Dehradun while Anurag Singh is a resident of Haryana's Panipat.

Anurag Singh got converted to Islam while his wife is a Bangladeshi national, Goswami added.

Both individuals are described as highly indoctrinated and motivated leaders/members of ISIS in India, involved in various activities including recruitment, terror funding, and planning terror acts using improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

"They had furthered the cause of ISIS in India through conspiracies to carry out recruitment, terror funding and terror acts by means of IEDs at several places across India," the police official said.

According to the STF, several cases were registered against these two by National Investigation Agency (NIA), New Delhi and Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS), Lucknow.

The STF Assam has announced its intention to hand over the accused to NIA for further legal proceedings.

'Can't Keep Filing Chargesheets To Keep People In Jail': Supreme Court

NEW DELHI, Mar 20: The Supreme Court has questioned the Enforcement Directorate over filing of supplementary charge sheets to deny default bail for an accused, and to keep such persons in jail for an indefinite period. A bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dipankar Datta told the central agency this practice - of effectively keeping accused in jail without a trial - troubled the top court.

"The whole object of default bail is that you do not arrest (an accused) till the investigation is complete. You cannot (arrest an accused and) say the trial will not commence till investigation is not complete. You cannot keep filing supplementary charge sheets and then the person is in jail without a trial," Justice Khanna told Additional Solicitor-General SV Raju, who was appearing for the ED.

"In this case, the person is behind bars for 18 months. This is bothering us. In some case we will take it up and we are putting you to notice in that. Trial has to begin when you arrest an accused," the court said Wednesday.

Under current laws an arrested individual is eligible for default bail if the authorities are unable to complete the investigation, or file a final charge sheet, within timelines set by the CrPC, or Code of Criminal Procedure. This time period is either 60 or 90 days, depending on case circumstances.

The court made a similar observation in April last year; a bench of Justice Krishna Murari and Justice CT Ravikumar said, "Without completing investigation, a charge sheet cannot be filed by an investigating agency only to deprive an arrested accused of his right to default bail..."

The top court's crucial observation could go on to impact several high-profile figures, including opposition political leaders who have been arrested by the probe agency and remain in jail, facing multiple charges and charge sheets without either proceeding to a trial.

The court made this observation while hearing a bail plea filed by an accused linked to an illegal mining case from Jharkhand. The accused - Prem Prakash - is an alleged aide of former Chief Minister Hemant Soren, who was arrested by the ED last month on money-laundering charges.

Prakash was denied bail by the Jharkhand High Court in January last year. He had then moved the Supreme Court, which noted he had spent 18 months in jail and called it a "clear case of bail".

To this Raju raised concerns of evidence or witness tampering if the accused were released, but the court was not convinced. "You come to us if he (Prakash) does any of that..." Justice Khanna told the probe agency's lawyer, adding, "... but 18 months behind bars?"

The Supreme Court noted that right to bail due to prolonged jail, under Section 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, or PMLA, could be granted if there is prima facie belief the accused did not commit the offence, and that he is not likely to transgress any laws while out on bail. This, the court held, flowed from Article 21 of the Constitution, which talks about right to personal liberty.

The court referred to the incarceration of senior AAP leader and former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who was arrested by the ED in the liquor policy case in February 2023.

Last week the court - a bench led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and including Justice Khanna - dismissed a curative petition filed by Sisodia after his bail plea was rejected in October. The court held the allegations - of "windfall gains" of ₹ 338 crore was "tentatively supported" by evidence.

Noting the accused in this case had spent 18 months in jail, the court said "constitutional right (under Article 21) is not taken away by Section 45 (of PMLA)... this is very clear".

"Even in the case of Manish Sisodia, I said default bail is something separate. If there is delay in trial, power of court to grant bail is not taken away," Justice Khanna said.

The top court's observations on default bail and supplementary charge sheets come amid allegations by the opposition that central agencies like the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation target rivals of the ruling BJP, particularly before elections, to force them to cross-over to the party.

The BJP has trashed such allegations, insisting the CBI and ED are independent and are working towards the government's resolve of rooting out all corruption.

Eventually, though, Prem Prakash was denied interim bail today, with the court accepting a request to hold proceedings for a month to ascertain progress of the trial, which will now be held daily.

Union minister Pashupati Paras resigns, claims ‘injustice’ in Bihar seat-sharing deal

NEW DELHI, Mar 19: Union minister and Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party (RLJP) president Pashupati Kumar Paras on Tuesday resigned from the Modi cabinet, alleging “injustice” after his party was not included in the seat-sharing deal for the Lok Sabha polls in Bihar.

RLJP was part of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) but was not given any seats in the upcoming general elections.

“Injustice has been done to us and our party. Therefore, I resign from the post of Union minister,” he said.

The development comes a day after the BJP and its allies announced the seat-sharing details in Bihar. The Chirag Paswan faction has been given five tickets – Hajipur, Jamui, Vaishali, Samastipur and Khagaria.

Paras was unhappy with the BJP’s decision to back his nephew Chirag Paswan – who has floated his own party, the LJP (Ram Vilas) – for Lok Sabha tickets, including from the family bastion of Hajipur. Paras represented the constituency and staked claim to it.

“Yesterday, the NDA alliance announced the list of 40 candidates for Bihar Lok Sabha... Our party had five MPs and I worked with utmost sincerity,” Paras told media persons at the press conference in Delhi.

He and five other RLJP MPs, including his son Prince Raj, had sided with the BJP in 2021 when Chirag Paswan decided to contest the state assembly polls on his own. He was also against the Janata Dal (United) being made part of the NDA in Bihar.

Following a bitter fallout between Chirag and the JD(U), which is also now part of the NDA, Paras and his faction removed Chirag from the position of the parliamentary party leader in the Lok Sabha and publicly distanced themselves from the feud.

The BJP, which is contesting on 17 of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar where polling will be held in seven phases beginning April 19, is yet to comment on Paras’ resignation. The JD(U) will contest on 16, while one seat each has been allocated to Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha and Upendra Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Morcha.

Supreme Court asks Baba Ramdev, Acharya Balkrishna to appear before it for not replying to contempt notice

NEW DELHI, Mar 19: The Supreme Court has asked Patanjali Ayurveda's managing director Acharya Balkrishna and yoga guru Baba Ramdev to appear before it on the next hearing in the misleading advertisements case. The apex court issued the order after the firm didn't respond to the contempt notice.

The court also issued notice to Baba Ramdev to show cause why contempt proceedings must not be initiated against him.

In February, the court, in a strongly worded rebuke, had observed that the entire country had been taken for a ride through advertisements of herbal products that claim to cure diseases.

The court had issued a notice to Patanjali Ayurved and managing director Acharya Balkrishna, asking why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against them for prima facie violating the firm's undertaking given in the court about advertising of its products and their medicinal efficacy.

The court had also ordered the company and its officers against making media statements against any systems of medicine.

The court had asked the Centre what action it had taken against Patanjali Ayurveda for the alleged incorrect assertions and misrepresentation in advertisements claiming its medicines can cure several diseases.

The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has moved the court against the firm founded by Baba Ramdev, alleging that they had been running a smear campaign against the modern system of medicine.

On November 21 last year, the company had assured the court that "henceforth there shall not be any violation of any law(s), especially relating to advertising or branding of products manufactured and marketed by it and, further, that no casual statements claiming medicinal efficacy or against any system of medicine will be released to the media in any form".

This was after the court cautioned the firm against making "false" and "misleading" claims in advertisements about its medicines.

The court last month restrained Patanjali Ayurved from advertising or branding of products which are meant to treat ailments specified as diseases, disorders or conditions in the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954.

SC Asks SBI To Disclose All Details Related To Electoral Bond

NEW DELHI, Mar 18: As the Centre and State Bank of India (SBI) flagged the social media fallout of the Supreme Court's landmark verdict in the electoral bonds case, Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud said the court's "shoulders are broad enough" to tackle such commentary.

A five-judge Constitution bench led by the CJI today asked SBI to disclose all details related to electoral bonds. It was hearing petitions that said the state-run bank had released "incomplete data" on political funding through the now-scrapped scheme.

During the hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, said the court must be informed about how its judgment is playing out.

"The witch-hunting has started on another level and not at the government level. Those before the court started giving press interviews, deliberately embarrassing the court. It is not a level playing field. There is a barrage of social media posts intended to cause embarrassment," he said.

Statistics, Mehta said, "can be twisted as people want". "Based upon twisted statistics, any kind of posts are made. Would your lordships consider issuing a direction?" he asked.

To this, the Chief Justice replied, "As judges, we are governed by the rule of law, and we work as per the Constitution. As judges, we are also discussed in social media, but as an institution, our shoulders are broad enough to deal with social media commentary."

As the Solicitor General cited a "media campaign" on the electoral bonds issue, the Chief Justice doubled down, "Recently, in an interview, I was asked about the criticism of a judgment. I said that as a judge, we cannot defend our judgments, once we deliver a judgment, it becomes public property."

Senior Advocate Harish Salve, appearing for SBI, said the "media is always behind us, with the petitioners saying they will take the SBI to task, haul them up in contempt".

Stressing that the bank is not holding back any information, Salve flagged the risk of a series of Public Interest Litigation (PIL). "Voter knowing is one thing. But if there are PILs saying investigate this and that, I don't think that is the intent of this court's judgment," he said.

Salve also said "judgments given for high Constitutional principles are used for purposes other than what they are delivered for, unfortunately".

The bank was in for some tough talk today, when the Chief Justice said, "SBI's attitude seems to be 'you tell us what to disclose, we will disclose'. That does not seem to be fair. When we say 'all details', it includes all conceivable data."

The court eventually asked the bank to disclose all details, including the alphanumeric number and serial number, if any, of the bonds redeemed. It also asked the SBI chairman to submit an affidavit, stating that no info has been withheld. The Election Commission was asked to upload the data received from SBI.

Centre's Firefight After Foreign Students In Gujarat Attacked Over Namaz

AHMEDABAD, Mar 17: Five international students were injured after a mob stormed a Gujarat University hostel last night and attacked students from African countries, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan, allegedly for offering namaz on the campus.

Hours after state home minister Harsh Sanghavi reportedly spoke with Gujarat's top police officers and directed them to ensure a fair probe, Ahmedabad Police arrested two individuals in connection with the case. The Ministry of External Affairs has said it is in touch with the Gujarat government and strict action will be taken against those who attacked the international students.

The students have said that there is no mosque on the Ahmedabad-based campus, so they had gathered inside the hostel to offer taraweeh - a namaz offered at night during Ramadan. Soon after, a mob armed with sticks and knives stormed the hostel, attacked them and vandalised their rooms, the students have alleged. The students have said the security guard of the hostel tried to stop the mob, but failed.

A student from Afghanistan said people in the mob raised slogans and asked them who had allowed them to offer namaz in the hostel. "They attacked us inside the rooms too. They broke laptops, phones and damaged bikes," he said.

The student said the five injured students include one each from Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Turkmenistan and two from African countries. "The mob fled when the police arrived. The injured students are in hospital and have informed the embassies."

Visuals shared on social media showed damaged bikes, broken laptops and ravaged rooms. In some of the visuals, people are seen throwing stones at the hostel and hurling abuses at the overseas students. In the visuals, the international students are heard saying that they are "scared" and that "this is unacceptable".

In one of the videos, a youngster in the mob is heard asking a security guard, "Why are they offering namaz, is this the place?" At this point, a student screams, approaches the youngster and attacks him. Some users on social media have claimed this triggered the mob violence.

Hyderabad MP and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi has slammed the incident and asked if Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah will intervene.

"What a shame. When your devotion and religious slogans only come out when Muslims peacefully practice their religion. When you become unexplainably angry at the mere sight of Muslims. What is this, if not mass radicalisation? This is the home state of @AmitShah & @narendramodi, will they intervene to send a strong message? I am not holding my breath. @DrSJaishankar domestic anti-Muslim hatred is destroying India's goodwill," he said in a post on X.

"About 300 overseas students study here. They are from Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, and African countries. Some of them were offering namaz on the terrace yesterday. Some people came and asked why they were doing so and that they should offer namaz at a mosque. This led to a heated exchange and a fight. The outsiders then threw stones and vandalised the hostel rooms," Ahmedabad city police commissioner GS Malik said.

The senior officer said police reached the spot soon after they received a call. "We have formed nine teams and investigate this. We have identified one person. A complaint has been received against 20-25 people and an FIR registered. We will scan the videos doing the rounds. We will take strict action against those involved," he said, adding that the situation is under control.

Gujarat University Vice-Chancellor Dr Neerja A Gupta told the media that there was some tension between those in the mob and some overseas students, and yesterday's events led to an escalation. "The matter is under police investigation now," she said.

Dr Gupta said that since these students are from overseas, they need to be trained in "cultural sensitivity". "These are foreign students and when you go abroad, you must learn cultural sensitivity. These students need an orientation. We will sit with them, provide cultural orientation and discuss how to strengthen their security."

The Ministry of External Affairs has said the Gujarat government is taking strict action against those who attacked the international students.

"An incidence of violence took place at Gujarat University in Ahmedabad yesterday. State government is taking strict action against the perpetrators. Two foreign students were injured in the clash. One of them has been discharged from hospital after receiving medical attention. MEA is in touch with Gujarat government," MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a post on X.

Lok Sabha Elections From April 19 In 7 Phases, Results On June 4

NEW DELHI, Mar 16: The 2024 general election for 543 Lok Sabha seats will be held in seven phases that will begin from April 19 and continue till June 1, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said today, announcing the commencement of the world's largest democratic exercise.

The results of the election will be announced on June 4.

Simultaneous election for Lok Sabha and assembly will be held in four states -- Sikkim, Odisha, Arunachal Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh. Jammu and Kashmir, which has been under President's Rule since 2018, was not on the list.

Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir will be held soon after the Lok Sabha polls, Kumar said. Simultaneous election was not viable due to shortage of security personnel, he added, pointing out that the Commission has to provide security to every member who would contest in the assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir.

By-elections will also be held for 26 assembly seats across multiple states, including Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu.

Kumar, announcing the dates, sent out a strong message on the circulation of fake news on social media, saying political parties should ensure responsible social media behaviour -- "verify before you amplify".

"Fake news will be dealt with severely as per existant laws.. Section 79 (3)(B) of the IT Act empowers nodal officers in each state to remove unlawful content," he said.

The other strong message was on violation of model code in terms of hate speeches. "There should be issue-based campaign, no hate speeches, no speeches along caste or religious lines, no criticism of anyone's personal lives," he said.

The media must clarify when they carry political adverts, those cannot masquerade as news, he said. Individual messages regarding this would be sent to the candidates, he added.

The commission has employed 2,100 advisors to keep an eye on these issues and strong action will be taken regarding this, he said.

Voters above the age of 85 years and persons with disabilities, with 40 per cent disability can vote from home, Mr Kumar said. Around 82 lakh voter are above the age of 85, he said.

The announcement of election come days after Election Commissioner Arun Goel quit, leaving the three-member Commission with only the Chief Election Commissioner.

Asked about the matter, Kumar said, "Arun was a very distinguished member of the team and I thoroughly enjoyed working with him. But in every institution, one must be given personal space. So if he has given personal reasons, respect it".

On Thursday, a committee headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi named two retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers -- Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Gyanesh Kumar – as Election Commissioners. They took oath the next day.

Big Companies Donated Crores Through Unknown Firms, Individuals: The Reporters' Collective On Electoral Bonds

NEW DELHI, Mar 15: The Reporters' Collective, a news website run by independent journalists, in its analyses of the electoral bonds data released by the Election Commission found companies and individuals donated crores of rupees to political parties under circumstances that would merit a detailed look.

According to The Reporters' Collective, some of the companies and people who have donated in crores include a Kotak group company that donated using the same scheme that billionaire banker Uday Kotak had questioned; a company linked to YSR Congress Party MP Alla Ayodhya Rami Reddy that donated over ₹ 100 crore; a Reliance Group accounts man, Laxmidas Vallabhdas Merchant, who is among the top 100 donors, and a Reliance Group company called Qwik Supply Chain Pvt Ltd, which was the third-largest donor.

The electoral bonds account for a lion's share of political donations in the country. The Supreme Court ruled them illegal last month, saying the scheme violated the right of voters to know who was financing their representatives.

Around 11 per cent of the bonds issued between April 2019 and January 2024 was bought by a firm led by Santiago Martin, who is also known as the "Lottery King". The data shows that his Future Gaming and Hotel Services was the single-biggest buyer of electoral bonds for the period.

The electoral bonds data, however, does not map electoral bond buyers to recipients, leaving it unclear which individual and corporate donors were funding which parties.

The Collective in a report said just before the general elections in April 2019, Kotak asked the then Finance Minister Arun Jaitley about the opaque electoral bonds scheme. Seven months later, a privately-held company of the Kotak group, Infina Finance Pvt Ltd, bought electoral bonds worth ₹ 60 crore, the Collective reported.

Reddy, the YSR Congress Party MP, founded real estate and infrastructure development firm Ramky Group, whose official address Ramky Towers is also the office of construction firm Chennai Green Woods Pvt Ltd, the Collective reported. This construction firm donated ₹ 105 crore.

In July 2021, the income tax department reportedly raided the Ramky group over alleged tax evasion, and from the same financial year the company began donating to political parties through electoral bonds, the Collective reported.

Qwik Supply Chain Pvt Ltd, a little-known company with a registered address at Navi Mumbai's Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City (DAKC) and having links to Reliance Industries Ltd, was the third-largest donor to political parties using electoral bonds, a news agency reported. It bought ₹ 410 crore of electoral bonds between financial years 2021-22 and 2023-24. A Reliance Industries spokesperson, however, said Qwik Supply Chain is not a subsidiary of any Reliance Industries' entity, it has been reported.

A Reliance Industries employee, Laxmidas Vallabhdas Merchant, whose LinkedIn profile says he's a Group Controller looking after tax compliance, is among the top 100 donors, the Collective reported. He donated ₹ 25 crore through electoral bonds in November 2023. The now-scrapped electoral bonds scheme allowed individuals to donate to political parties without revealing their identities.

This allowed big companies to use unknown individuals and zero-revenue companies to donate on their behalf while keeping away from the glare of public scrutiny, the Collective reported.

Electoral Bonds Scheme World's Biggest Extortion Racket, Alleges Rahul Gandhi

THANE, Mar 15: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday alleged that the electoral bonds scheme was the world's biggest extortion racket and a "brainchild" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Speaking at a press conference, Gandhi, who is on the last leg of his 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra', also claimed that the funds obtained through the scheme were used to split parties like the Shiv Sena and NCP, and topple governments.

Congress' central election committee and party president Mallikarjun Kharge would decide if he should contest the Lok Sabha election from Amethi, he said in reply to a question.

"Some years ago, the prime minister claimed to have designed the electoral bonds (scheme) to clean up the political finance system. It turns out that this was the way of extorting money from India's largest corporates. It was meant to intimidate corporates into giving money to the BJP....It is the largest extortion racket in the world....I hope investigation takes place," he said.

To a question about some companies donating electoral bonds to the Congress and getting contracts in the states run by the party's governments, Gandhi said none of the governments run by opposition parties controlled contracts at the national level such as highway and defence contracts, nor did they control central probe agencies like Income Tax and Enforcement Directorate or put 'Pegasus' (surveillance software) in people's phones.

"There is no correlation between the contracts given in the states run by the Congress, and the funding given to us....This is a criminal extortion from corporate India, and every single corporate knows this. Months after contracts were given, the companies have donated electoral bonds to the BJP. CBI, ED file cases, and then corporates give money to the BJP," he alleged.

The scheme was meant to allow corporates to donate money anonymously, Gandhi said.

"Some companies never donated money to the BJP (earlier), but after the CBI, ED cases were registered against them, they did," the Congress leader claimed.

"It is a huge theft orchestrated by the prime minister," he alleged, while also stating that "the electoral bonds scheme was the PM's brainchild."

The BJP government at the Centre captured national institutions for indulging in corruption, Gandhi said, alleging further that, "funding for splitting parties like Shiv Sena and NCP, toppling opposition governments, was obtained through electoral bonds."

Nothing can be more anti-national than this, the Congress leader said.

The ED and CBI have become BJP, RSS institutions, he claimed, adding that one day the BJP government will be displaced and such activities will be punished. "This is my guarantee that such things will never happen again," he said.

To a question about the recent exit of state Congress leaders Ashok Chavan and Milind Deora, he said the party in Maharashtra was intact despite their leaving.

Congress and its allies in Maharashtra will win Lok Sabha seats with record margins, Gandhi claimed.

When asked if he would contest from Amethi Lok Sabha seat, Gandhi said, "The central election committee and AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge will decide if I should contest from Amethi."

Gandhi had lost to Union minister Smriti Irani in Amethi in 2019, but won from Wayanad in Kerala.

Kavitha arrested amid huge drama, lawyer says illegal, BRS announces statewide protest

HYDERABAD, Oct 15: K Kavitha, a prominent leader in Telangana, and the daughter of former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, was on Friday arrested by the Enforcement Directorate from her Hyderabad residence in the presence of her husband and brother -- amid much drama, chaos and furore.

While BRS supporters protested outside her Banjara Hills residence against the daylong search and raid by the ED and income tax officials, her brother and cousin fought the ED officials and asked them whether they had transit remand as they were preparing to take ED to New Delhi.

Kavitha has been questioned several times in connection with her alleged link to Delhi liquor policy. The BRS leader maintained that she had done nothing wrong. She was not named an accused in any of the six charge sheets filed by the financial crimes probe agency since November 2023.

The arrest was dramatic as the ED and the income tax department arrived at her residence in the morning and conducted searches for hours. Then they questioned her and at 5.20pm she was put under house arrest.

ED officials claimed at around 6pm, a group of men barged into the residence and obstructed ED's work. They claimed to be Kavitha's brother, lawyers and other relatives but showed no identity cards.

Kavitha's brother KT Rama Rao was seen engaged in a fight with the ED officials. He asked them why they were not allowing the family members and whether they had transit remand to fly Kavitha from Hyderabad to New Delhi.

The arrest memo said a 14-page copy of the grounds of the arrest was served on Kavitha when she was arrested.

Kavitha's husband D R Anil Kumar was informed in person about Kavitha's arrest at 5.20pm, another ED document said.

Kavitha's lawyer P Mohith Rao said the arrest was illegal because a petition is there in the Supreme Court which was even heard on Friday.

The BRS will hold a protest across Telangana in protest of Kavitha's arrest just the day before the election dates are to be announced.

The party said it was pre-planned and that's why the officials came on a Friday.

2 Poll Commissioners Picked, Opppsition Leader Questions Procedure

NEW DELHI, Mar 14: Bureaucrats Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Gyanesh Kumar have been chosen for the two vacant posts in the top panel of Election Commission of India, Congress's leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury told the media this afternoon.

Chowdhury was part of the panel chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to select two Election Commissioners to assist Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar as the poll body prepares for the upcoming Lok Sabha election. Besides the Prime Minister and Chowdhury, Union Home Minister Amit Shah was on the panel.

The Congress leader hit out at the Centre over the law that replaced the Chief Justice of India by a Union Minister on the selection committee. "The Chief Justice of India should have been on this committee," he said, adding that the law brought last year had reduced the meeting to a "formality". "The government is in the majority on the panel. What they want happens."

The Congress leader said he was given 212 names for scrutiny last night. "I had asked for a shortlist so that I can examine the candidates. But I did not get that opportunity. I reached Delhi at midnight and the meeting was at noon today. I was given 212 names, how can someone examine so many candidates in a day? Ten minutes before the meeting, I was given a shortlist of 6 names," he said.

"It was fait accompli that the chosen two will be selected. However, I tried to intervene in an appropriate manner so as to bolster the institution. That's why, before my arrival in Delhi, I sought a shortlist. They gave me a list of all candidates, numbering 212. Now you can imagine if, in a single night, it is humanly possible for me to examine 212 names and find out the most competent person among them," he said.

The Congress leader said he had given a dissent note, questioning the procedure of selection.

Chowdhury also referred to Arun Goel's resignation as Election Commissioner, which has sparked a row. "When Mr Goel was appointed, the Supreme Court had made a 'lightning speed' remark. He came with a lightning speed and left with digital speed," he said.

Sandhu and Kumar are retired IAS officers of the 1988 batch. While Sandhu is from the Uttarakhand cadre of IAS, Kumar is from the Kerala cadre.

Sandhu has earlier held key government positions, including the Chief Secretary of Uttarakhand and chairman of the National Highways Authority of India. Kumar has served as secretary in the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and the Amit Shah-led Ministry of Cooperation.

The two officers have been chosen for the Election Commissioner posts a day before the Supreme Court hears petitions challenging the selection process.

In the current process, a search committee led by the Law Minister prepares a shortlist. Then, a selection panel led by the Prime Minister and comprising the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha and a Union Minister makes the final choice.

The Supreme Court had in March last year ruled that the panel must have the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice of India and the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha. But the Centre thereafter brought a law to replace the Chief Justice by a Union Minister. The change has tilted the process in the favour of the Centre.

The Association for Democratic Reforms and Congress leader Jaya Thakur have challenged the process in Supreme Court and the matter will be heard tomorrow.

Nitin Gadkari, ML Khattar, Anurag Thakur On BJP's 2nd List For Lok Sabha Polls

NEW DELHI, Mar 13: The BJP released its second list of candidates this evening for the Lok Sabha polls, after a last-minute hiccup over one seat in Bihar. The list of 72 names includes a number of old hands including Union ministers Nitin Gadkari, Piyush Goyal, who is making his electoral debut, and Anurag Singh Thakur.

The other fresh face is Manohar Lal Khattar, who was pulled out of the Haryana Chief Minister's post yesterday. Two other former Chief Ministers -- Trivendra Singh Rawat and Basavaraj Bommai -- have also been fielded.

Candidates have been declared for two seats in Delhi, seven seats in Gujarat, six seats in Haryana, two seats in Himachal Pradesh, 20 seats in Karnataka, 5 seats in Madhya Pradesh, 20 seats in Maharashtra, 6 seats in Telangana, one seat in Tripura and two seats in Uttarakhand. Candidates have also been announced for Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.

In Delhi, the BJP has fielded two new candidates -- Harsh Malhotra from East Delhi and Yogendra Chandolia from North West Delhi.

In Karnataka -- the only southern state where the party has considerable heft -- the BJP is fielding around 10 new faces, after its big defeat in the recent assembly election.

Among the known faces is Union minister Pralhad Joshi, who will fight from Dharwad while former Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa's son BY Raghavendra will contest from Shimoga.

In Bengaluru South, Tejasvi Surya, the BJP's youth wing chief, will seek re-election. Yaduveer Krishnadatta Wadiyar of the erstwhile Mysore royal family has replaced Pratap Simha as the candidate for Mysore seat.

In Maharashtra, the BJP has fielded Union ministers Nitin Gadkari and Piyush Goyal, and former state minister Pankaja Munde. The party has announced candidates for 20 of the state's 48 seats. After Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra sends the maximum numbee of MPs to the Lok Sabha.

Nitin Gadkari was renominated from Nagpur – the headquarters of the BJP's ideological mentor Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Among the eight newcomers are Union commerce minister Piyush Goyal – fielded from Mumbai North – and Pankaja Munde from Beed. All Union ministers from Maharashtra have been fielded again.

In Uttarakhand, BJP chief spokesperson and Rajya Sabha member Anil Baluni has been fielded from Garhwal.

Earlier this month, the BJP had announced its first list of more than 190 candidates for the Lok Sabha polls, due this summer.

BJP Breaks New Ground In Bihar, Goes One Up On Nitish Kumar In Seat Share

NEW DELHI, Mar 13: The BJP -- long used to playing the supporting role to Nitish Kumar in Bihar -- has taken the lead for the first time and will spearhead the NDA attack in the state. The party will contest 17 of the state's 40 seats, under a formula that was finalised today after the impasse with Chirag Paswan's faction of the Lok Janshakti Party was resolved.

Kumar's Janata Dal United will field candidates on 16 seats, Chirag Paswan's LJP will contest on five seats, Upendra Kushwaha and Jitan Ram Manjhi will contest on one seat each.

Chirag Paswan's deal with the BJP came after a long impasse that was followed by claims that the Opposition bloc INDIA has been sending it feelers.

While the BJP apparently offered him just six seats -- to be split with his uncle Pashupati Paras -- sources said the Opposition had offered LJP eight seats, all six it won in 2019 and two more in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh as bonus.

Chirag Paswan, who recently claimed that "Every Party, Every Coalition Wants Me To Be On Its Side," settled for five seats today. But he made it clear after the meeting that his uncle Pashupati Paras would not be given any seat from his quota.

But sealing the deal is a huge plus for the BJP, which from a position of isolation imposed by Nitish Kumar's defection to the Grand Alliance, has suddenly found itself rich with his return.

But the party has made it clear that it was second to none -- the one extra seat marking it as the alpha in the alliance.

Even in 2019, the BJP and the JDU, after a silent and bitter face-off, had decided on a 50:50 formula and contested on an equal number of seats. The division was 17 seats each for the BJP and Mr Kumar's Janata Dal United and six for Lok Janashakti Party, then led by Chirag Paswan's father Ram Vilas Paswan.

The alliance had won 39 of the 40 seats -- only one had gone to the Opposition.

SBI Sends Electoral Bonds Data To Poll Panel Day After Supreme Court Rap

NEW DELHI, Mar 12: The State Bank of India on Tuesday evening submitted data about electoral bonds to the Election Commission of India, in line with a stern order from the Supreme Court. The data will be collated and released by the poll panel - which has confirmed receipt of the data - by 5 pm Friday, as ordered.

The bank's Chairman and Managing Director, however, has not yet filed the affidavit confirming compliance with the court order. This is ready and will be submitted Wednesday.

The Supreme Court on Monday nixed a plea by the State Bank of India - the country's largest bank - to extend the March 6 deadline to release this data. A bench led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud came down strongly on the bank for "willful disobedience" of orders, and warned it of contempt proceedings.

"While we are not inclined to exercise contempt jurisdiction at this time, we place SBI on notice that this court may be inclined to proceed against it for willful disobedience if it does not comply with directions by timelines indicated in this order," the court had said.

The bank argued it would take considerable time to collect, cross-check and release the data, which was stored in two "silos" to maintain confidentiality of both sides. "We need a little more time to comply. We were told this is supposed to be a secret," the bank said, and asked for time till June 30.

That deadline is well past the completion of the 2024 general election.

In response the Supreme Court pointed out donor details were available at the SBI's Mumbai branch, and the bank just had to "open covers, collate details and give information". "We had not told you to do the matching exercise. We have asked you for a plain disclosure," the Chief Justice rapped SBI.

Last month, in a landmark verdict, the Supreme Court held the electoral bond scheme to be "unconstitutional" and said it violated citizens' right to information. The SBI had been directed to reveal data by March 6 and the poll panel to make this information public by March 13.

SC rejects SBI plea; Asked to disclose details of electoral bonds by March 12

NEW DELHI, Mar 11: A five-judge Supreme Court bench on Monday dismissed an application by the State Bank of India (SBI) seeking time until June 30 to submit details of electoral bonds (EBs) purchased since April 12, 2019, to the Election Commission of India (ECI), noting that the required information is “readily available” with the state-owned bank, and giving SBI time until the business hours of March 12 to do so.

In turn, the ECI will make public the information submitted by SBI by posting such details on its website by 5pm on March 15, the court ordered.

The court order did not provide any clarification or explicit instruction to SBI for providing information to the ECI following the correlation of donor data with political party affiliations, making it unclear whether the bank must complete the exercise of matching donors to recipients before sharing the data.

While most of the information about political parties’ EB redemptions is already available to the public, the related donor data is not.

Under the February 15 judgment of the court, SBI was supposed to submit details of EBs to the ECI by March 6 but the bank sought an extension of time, claiming that “decoding” the data and matching donors to recipients would be a “complex process”.

Rejecting the SBI’s plea, the bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud held on Monday that “the information which has been directed to be disclosed by the court is readily available” with the bank and that there is no reason why the extension application should be entertained.

“SBI is directed to disclose the details by the close of business hours on March 12, 2024. We further direct that the ECI shall compile the information and publish the details on its official website by no later than 5 pm on March 15, 2024,” directed the bench, also comprising justices Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra.

The bench added that the ECI will also put on its website another set of information about EBs that the poll body received from political parties in the wake of the court’s direction on November 2. On that day, the ECI was directed to provide the court with comprehensive information on donations received by political parties through EBs by September 30.

Asking the SBI’s chairman and managing director (CMD) to submit his affidavit of compliance, the top court warned the bank of being proceeded against under the contempt charge for “wilful disobedience” if the bank failed to adhere to the direction and the timeline set down in the Monday order.

Nevertheless, the court order did not give SBI any specific instructions or clarification to disclose information to the ECI after linking donor data to political parties, which was the main reason SBI requested an extension of time.

Senior advocate Harish Salve, representing the bank, argued that SBI has information ready in two separate silos in so far as details of EBs purchased and redemption of bonds by political parties are concerned. According to Salve, matching the information to ascertain who contributed to which political party was a time-consuming process, and thus, the plea for an extension until June 30 was moved.

Responding, the bench criticised SBI for not disclosing in its extension plea whether the bank has started the exercise of collating the details.

“There should have been a degree of candour on the part of SBI to tell us as to what extent the work is done and what’s remaining. Our judgment is dated February 15. It has been 26 days since then, but your application is completely silent on what you have done to date...you are the number one bank in the country. We expect you to be able to handle this,” it told Salve.

Even as the Constitution bench proceeded to reject SBI’s plea and read the EB scheme together with the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) put by SBI on its website to note that the bank already has details of the purchasers of the bonds as well as redemption by political parties, it did not address whether the bank must provide information to the ECI only after matching donors to the recipients of EBs.

The court merely recalled the part of its February 15 judgment which directed that SBI shall submit details of EBs, which will include the date of purchase of each EB, the name of the purchaser of the bond, and the denomination of the bond.

“SBI shall submit the details of political parties which have received contributions through Electoral Bonds since the interim order of this Court dated 12 April 2019 to date to the ECI. SBI must disclose details of each Electoral Bond encashed by political parties which shall include the date of encashment and the denomination of EB,” the February judgment stated. On Monday, the bench said that SBI must comply with these two directions.

Asked by Salve whether the bank needs to complete the matching exercise first, one of the judges on the bench said: “We haven’t asked you to do the matching exercise...You simply comply with our judgment.”

Along with the SBI’s extension plea, the bench also disposed of applications by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and CPI (M), petitioners in the case that had moved the court demanding that the state-owned bank be held in contempt for disobeying the court’s order regarding submission of details to the ECI.

The five-judge bench had on February 15 struck down the Centre’s 2018 EB scheme of political funding, declaring it to be “unconstitutional” because it completely anonymised contributions made to political parties. It added that restricting black money or illegal election financing -- some of the articulated objectives of the scheme -- did not justify violating voters’ right to information in a disproportionate manner.

The bench directed SBI, the only designated EB-issuing bank, to stop the issuance of EBs, adding that the bank should submit details of EBs purchased since April 12, 2019, until that date to the poll watchdog by March 6. By March 13, the judgment ordered all funding received by political parties—since the court issued an interim direction to parties to submit such information with ECI—to be made public on ECI’s website.

Moving a plea on March 4, SBI claimed it needs to break down the details of 22,217 EBs, which would involve decoding, compiling, and comparing 44,434 information sets because the details relating to buyers and recipients of bonds are kept in two different information silos.

ADR’s contempt plea on Thursday last week labelled the request as “mala fide” and an attempt to thwart transparency efforts before the upcoming elections.

ADR said that SBI India possesses the necessary infrastructure to swiftly compile and disclose information on electoral bonds.

“SBI’s IT system, designed for managing electoral bonds, is already in place and can easily generate reports based on the unique numbers assigned to each bond... the bank has records of the unique numbers allotted to each electoral bond and the Know Your Customer (KYC) details of purchasers,” stated the plea.

Adding that SBI has a vast network of branches and a well-functioning IT system, the contempt plea said the bank can compile data for about 22,217 EBs easily.

Stressing the significance of transparency in political financing, ADR argued that voters have a fundamental right to know about the substantial sums of money contributed to political parties through EBs and that the lack of transparency goes against the essence of participatory democracy enshrined in Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution.

In its extension plea, SBI sought to bring to the court’s notice “certain practical difficulties with the decoding exercise and the timeline fixed for it”. The public sector bank said that not only were details of purchases made at SBI branches not maintained centrally but the data related to the issuance of the bond and the data related to the redemption of the bond were also recorded in two different silos.

“No central database was maintained. This was done so as to ensure that donors’ anonymity would be protected. It is submitted that donor details were kept in a sealed cover at the designated branches and all such sealed covers were deposited in the main branch of the applicant bank, which is located in Mumbai,” the plea said.

SBI said that, at the time of redemption by a political party, the original bond, and the pay-in slip would be stored in a sealed cover and sent to the SBI’s main branch in Mumbai.

SBI also said that some of the details such as the number of bonds, etc are stored digitally while the other set of details such as the name of the purchaser, KYC, etc are stored physically.

“The purpose of not storing all details digitally was to ensure that it cannot be gathered easily to achieve the object of the scheme,” claimed the plea, adding the timeline of three weeks fixed by the court in its February 15 judgment would not be sufficient for the entire exercise to be completed.

4 Years After Bill Passed, Citizenship Law CAA Becomes Reality

NEW DELHI, Mar 11: The government on Monday evening issued a notification for the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act, or CAA, which is set to be implemented just weeks before the 2024 Lok Sabha election.

The CAA - which makes religion, for the first time, a test of Indian citizenship, and sparked fears it could be used to target religious minorities - was cleared by Parliament in December 2019 amid violent protests nationwide, in which over 100 people died, and fierce resistance from activists and opposition politicians.

Now that the notification has been issued, the central government can grant citizenship to non-Muslim migrants - from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan - who came to India before December 31, 2014.

A spokesperson for the Home Ministry said eligible individuals could submit applications in "a completely online mode". No other documentation will be sought from the applicants, one official said.

Implementation of the CAA was a major campaign platform for the BJP before the 2019 election.

And this notification comes less than a month after Home Minister Amit Shah called the CAA "an act of the country" and said, "it will definitely be notified. CAA will come into effect before the election..."

The Home Minister - who led the government's charge on this topic in both houses of Parliament - also played down fears the CAA, and the NRC, or National Register of Citizens, will be used to target Muslims.

He accused Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee - who has long been one of the CAA's fiercest and most vocal critics - of deliberately misleading the people of her state on this topic. Bengal - with 42 Lok Sabha seats - is shaping to be a key battleground for the BJP as it bids to reach its target of 370.

Meanwhile, Ms Banerjee hit out almost immediately, telling reporters at a hastily-convened press conference that her government would steadfastly oppose "anything that discriminates (against) people".

"If there is any discrimination, we won't accept it. Be it religion, caste, or linguistic. They won't be able to give citizenship to anyone in two days. This is just lollipop and show-off," she declared.

"After multiple extensions in four years, its implementation two to three days before the election announcement shows that it is being done for political reasons," she slammed the BJP.

The Trinamool boss also pointed out the CAA, the NRC, and the NPR, or National Population Register, were sensitive topics in Bengal and the northeast, and that she does not want unrest before the election.

Significantly, parts of the northeast have been exempted from the CAA.

She also accused the BJP of raking up the CAA issue with an eye on votes. "With elections approaching, BJP has again raked up CAA to reap political benefits. But as long as I am alive, I will not allow it...".

In the northeast - which saw violent clashes between anti-CAA protesters and the police - the Assam Students Union, which led protests in the state four years ago, has sounded the call for another agitation.

Ms Banerjee isn't the only opposition politician to fight against the CAA.

The Bengal leader's Tamil Nadu counterpart, MK Stalin, was similarly emphatic. Accusing the BJP government of going "against communal harmony", the DMK boss too vowed he would not implement the law.

Other states - like Kerala and Punjab - and others then ruled by the Congress (and now by the BJP) - such as Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh - also opposed the CAA and passed resolutions. In fact, the Bengal and Kerala governments also stopped all NPR, or National Population Register, and NRC work.

In Telangana, the then-ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi of ex-Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao also passed resolutions against all three and urged the government to "remove all references to any religion, or to any foreign country" in view of fears expressed by lakhs across the country.

The Madhya Pradesh government - then also ruled by the Congress - also passed a resolution, and, significantly, several BJP leaders and lawmakers from the state also criticised the law.

The government has said the Citizenship Amendment Act will help minorities from Muslim-dominated countries get citizenship if they fled due to religious persecution. However, critics say it is designed to discriminate against Muslims and violates secular principles of the Constitution.

Indian Election Commissioner Arun Goel Resigns Weeks Before Lok Sabha Polls

NEW DELHI, Mar 9: In a shock move weeks before the Lok Sabha polls, Election Commissioner Arun Goel has quit and his resignation has been accepted by the President. The three-member Election Commission of India already had a vacancy and will now be left only with Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar.

It was expected that the Lok Sabha election dates were likely to be announced next week, and Goel's resignation has now put a question mark on that timeline.

Top officials said Goel cited personal reasons while resigning, adding that the government tried to persuade him not to quit, but he insisted. On speculation that health was a cause for the resignation, they said Goel is in perfect health. "The government will start the process of appointing other election commissioners," said an official.

Goel, a 1985-batch IAS officer had taken voluntary retirement on November 18, 2022, and was appointed Election Commissioner a day later. This had come up in the Supreme Court, which had asked the government what the "tearing hurry" was.

"Minister of Law picks up four names from the list of names shortlisted... The file was put up on November 18; moves the same day. Even PM recommends the name on the same day. We don't want any confrontation, but was this done in any haste? What's the tearing hurry," the court had asked.

A petition against Goel's appointment was, however, dismissed by a two-judge bench last year. The judges had noted that a Constitution bench had examined the issue but had refused to cancel Goel's appointment.

Goel's tenure was till 2027 and he was in line to replace Rajiv Kumar as the Chief Election Commissioner after the latter's retirement next year.

Even before Goel's resignation, there were concerns that the Lok Sabha polls were being held with only him and Rajiv Kumar in the core body of the Election Commission of India instead of a three-member panel. The other Election Commissioner, Anup Pandey, had retired last month.

Trinamool Congress leader Saket Gokhale has termed Goel's resignation "very very concerning" and pointed out that the panel to pick Election Commissioners now consists of the Prime Minister, a Union Cabinet minister and the Leader of the Opposition.

"In a sudden move, Election Commissioner Arun Goel has abruptly resigned. The post of the other EC is vacant... Modi Govt has introduced a new law where Election Commissioners will now be appointed with a majority vote of PM Modi & 1 Minister chosen by him. Ergo, before 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Modi will now appoint 2 out of the 3 Election Commissioners after today's resignation," he posted on X.

Congress leader KC Venugopal also called the resignation deeply concerning and claimed that “there is absolutely no transparency” in how the Election Commission has been functioning.

Congress Gets 9 Seats In Tamil Nadu As DMK Repeats 2019 Formula

CHENNAI, Mar 9: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin's party DMK has finalised a seat-sharing pact with its ally Congress. The party has allotted nine seats to its INDIA bloc ally in Tamil Nadu and one in Puducherry - a rerun of DMK's 2019 formula that had led it to a sweeping victory.

The Congress had won nine out of the ten seats it fought in 2019. Tamil Nadu has 39 Lok Sabha seats.

MK Stalin and Tamil Nadu Congress Committee chief K Selvaperunthagai finalised the deal, in the presence of senior Congress leaders KC Venugopal and Ajoy Kumar.

Venugopal asserted the DMK-led combine would win all 40 seats in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry and said the 'bonding' between the Congress and the DMK "is intact." "We will fight together and win together," he said.

Tamil Nadu's ruling party has been following its 2019 model religiously while finalising seat-sharing pacts with most of its allies. On Friday, it allotted two seats - both reserved constituencies - to Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) and the Vaiko-led MDMK was given one. VCK will contest from Chidambaram and Villupuram, the two seats it represents in the current Lok Sabha.

The party had sought at least three seats, including a general category one, but settled for two reserved constituencies considering the political situation in Tamil Nadu and India and keeping in mind the need to ensure the DMK-led alliance wins this time also, VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan said.

The DMK had allotted a Lok Sabha constituency and one Rajya Sabha seat to MDMK during the 2019 polls and Vaiko was elected to the Upper House then.

With the announcement on the pact with Congres, the DMK - that leads the multi-party Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA) in Tamil Nadu - has sealed deals with all its allies - CPI (M), CPI, IUML and KMDK, besides VCK and MDMK.

Earlier in the day, actor Kamal Haasan-led Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) joined the ruling DMK-led alliance in Tamil Nadu and extended its support for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. His party has been given one seat for the 2025 Rajya Sabha polls. This was finalised during a meeting between Haasan and Stalin.

According to the understanding arrived at by the two leaders, MNM will do campaign-related work in the 39 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

The DMK-led alliance had registered a dominant victory in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, winning 38 out of the 39 seats in the state and the lone Puducherry segment. The 39th seat was won by the AIADMK, which was then allied with the BJP and other regional outfits.

The BJP - which has traditionally struggled for traction in the state - continues to be without a major partner in Tamil Nadu after the AIADMK walked out of the National Democratic Alliance in September.

Jolt To Congress As Senior Leader, Considered Close To Gandhis, Joins BJP

BHOPAL, Mar 9: In a jolt to the Congress in Madhya Pradesh ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, senior leader and former Union minister Suresh Pachouri, ex-MP Gajendra Singh Rajukhedi and several others, including the party's former MLAs, joined the BJP in Bhopal today.

Pachouri, Rajukhedi and other leaders joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the presence of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, state BJP president VD Sharma and former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan at the party's state headquarters in the morning.

Former MLAs Sanjay Shukla, Arjun Paliya, Vishal Patel were among the leaders of the grand old party who also joined the ruling outfit.

Pachouri, who was close to the Gandhi family, was Union minister of state for defence (defence production and supplies), and also served as a four-time Rajya Sabha member of the grand old party.

Pachouri had earlier held several key positions in the Congress, including the post of the party's Madhya Pradesh unit president. He was also the state unit president of the Youth Congress.

Rajukhedi, a prominent tribal leader, was elected as an MP from Dhar (Scheduled Tribes) Lok Sabha seat on the Congress ticket for three terms - 1998, 1999 and 2009. Before joining the Congress, he was elected as a BJP MLA in 1990.

Rahul Gandhi, Bhupesh Baghel, KC Venugopal, Shashi Tharoor Among 39 Candidates In Congress' 1st Lok Sabha List

NEW DELHI, Mar 8: The Congress has announced 39 names, including those of Rahul Gandhi, Shashi Tharoor and Bhupesh Baghel, for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Rahul Gandhi will contest from Wayanad in Kerala. Shashi Tharoor will fight from Thiruvananthapuram, a seat he has held for three terms, while Baghel will contest from Rajnandgaon in Chhattisgarh.

Some of the other big names on the list are Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal, who will contest from Alapuzzha in Kerala - a seat he had won in 2014 - and DK Suresh, brother of Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, who has been fielded from Bengaluru Rural.

The names have been announced primarily for some southern and northeastern states and the only outliers are Chhattisgarh and the Union Territory of Lakshadweep. At 16, the bulk of the candidates have been announced from Kerala, where the Congress is expected to leave the remaining four seats for its allies.

Seven names have been announced from Karnataka, six from Chhattisgarh and four from Telangana. The remaining are from Meghalaya, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura and Lakshadweep.

The focus on the south is deliberate because not only does the Congress have its governments in the states of Karnataka and Telangana, but it is also the only region in the country where the BJP is relatively weak.

While announcing the names on Friday, Venugopal said the candidates had been picked by the Congress Central Election Committee. He emphasised that 24 of the 39 candidates are from the OBC, SC, ST and minority communities.

Sources said this list is a start and more names can be expected as the INDIA alliance finalises seat-sharing in some of the remaining states, including Maharashtra. Deciding on pacts for the state, which sends the second-highest number of MPs to the Lok Sabha, has proved to be troublesome for both the NDA and the INDIA alliances.

Another reason behind the delay could also be the fact that Rahul Gandhi is busy with the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, which is in Gujarat and will end in Mumbai on March 17. Venugopal said there will be a massive rally in the city on that day and the leaders of all INDIA party leaders are being invited for it.

Congress Request To Stop Action Against Its Bank Accounts Rejected

NEW DELHI, Mar 8: In a big setback for the Congress just weeks ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal has refused to accept the party's petition to stop the department's action against its bank accounts.

After the petition against the IT action was turned down on Friday, the Congress' counsel, Vivek Tankha, appealed that the order be kept in abeyance for ten days.

Tankha, who is also the head of the Congress' legal cell, said that the tribunal had not followed its own precedents and that the party would be approaching the Delhi High Court soon.

"We are disappointed with the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal order. We will be moving the High Court very soon. They have not followed their own past precedents in granting relief on payment of 20 per cent penalty and that too to a national party which is now on the verge of contesting national elections, which are going to be notified soon," he said.

On February 16, the Congress had said the Income Tax Department had frozen ₹ 115 crore in its bank accounts following a tax demand of ₹ 210 crore as dues and penalty for the financial year, 2018-19, which was also an election year.

Days later, Congress leader Ajay Maken had claimed that ₹ 65 crore had been withdrawn by the department from three of the party's accounts even though a petition against the claim was being heard by the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal.

Repeating its charge that central agencies were being misused by the BJP, the Congress had called the tax demand "politically motivated" and said that it was timed to disrupt the party's election preparations. The Congress had also accused the BJP government of "financial terrorism" and attempting to "cripple" its primary opposition before the elections.

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge had also expressed concern over the Income Tax department's actions and called it a "deep blow to democracy".

"The unconstitutional money that BJP has collected will be used in the elections, but the money we have collected through crowdfunding will be sealed. That is why we have said that there will be no elections in the future! We appeal to the judiciary to save the multi-party system in this country and secure India's democracy. We will take to the streets and fight strongly against this injustice and dictatorship," he had said.

Every Citizen Has Right To Criticise Any Decision of State: Supreme Court

NEW DELHI, Mar 7: The Supreme Court today upheld the right to dissent, saying every criticism is not an offence and if it were thought so, democracy would not survive.

The police should be sensitised about freedom of speech granted by the Constitution, the court added, throwing out a case against a man who had made adverse comments on the scrapping of Article 370, which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

"The Constitution of India, under Article 19(1)(a), guarantees freedom of speech and expression. Under the said guarantee, every citizen has the right to offer criticism of the action of abrogation of Article 370 or, for that matter, every decision of the State. He has the right to say he is unhappy with any decision of the State," the court said.

"Now is the time to educate our police machinery about the concept of freedom of speech and expression guaranteed by Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution and the limits of reasonable restraint on them… They should be sensitized about the democratic values enshrined in our Constitution," said the bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan.

A criminal case was filed against Javed Ahmed Hazam, a Kashmiri professor working at Maharashtra's Kolhapur College for a WhatsApp status that called August 5 a "Black Day for Jammu and Kashmir" and celebrated Pakistan's Independence Day on August 14. The court ordered that the case against him be scrapped.

The court said calling August 5 a "Black day" was an "expression of protest and pain". Wishing people of Pakistan a happy Independence Day "is a goodwill gesture and cannot be said to create feelings of animosity, hostility, hatred or ill-will between different religious groups," the judges added.

The test in such cases is "not the effect of the words on some weak-minded persons who see danger in every hostile approach, but the general effect of statements on reasonable persons who are significant in number," the judges added.

Just because some individuals may develop hatred or ill will, it would not be sufficient to attract penalty for promoting enmity between groups, the court said. "Legal means should be considered a part of the right to live a dignified and meaningful life guaranteed by Article 21 of the Constitution (which grants freedom of speech)," the judges said.

There was also a caveat – the opposition or disagreement, the court said, "must be within the four corners of the methods permitted in a democratic system".

Supreme Court Dismisses Money Laundering Case Against DK Shivakumar

NEW DELHI, Mar 5: In a big relief to Karnataka's Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar ahead of Lok Sabha polls, the Supreme Court today dismissed a 2018 money laundering case against the Congress leader. The case pertained to allegations of tax evasion and hawala transactions worth crores.

The Congress leader was arrested by Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials in September 2019 in connection with this case. The Delhi High Court had granted him bail the next month. Shivakumar had then accused the BJP of political vendetta and said he had full faith in the judiciary.

The ED's investigation against the Congress leader had followed Income Tax department's raids on premises linked to him and his aides in 2017. Officials had then said cash worth nearly ₹ 300 crore was recovered in these raids. Shivakumar had hit back, saying that the cash was linked to the BJP.

"Question of whether 120B IPC can constitute a predicate standalone offence to enable ED to invoke PMLA has already been decided by the Supreme Court," the court said today.

In November last year, the Supreme Court ruled that criminal conspiracy - under 120 B of IPC - will be treated as a scheduled offence under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act only if the alleged conspiracy is to commit an offence included in the Schedule to the Act. The ED has sought a review of this ruling.

The court today said that the agency is free to see a recall of today's order if the review request is accepted.

Shivakumar had in 2019 approached Karnataka High Court and sought dismissal of summons issued by ED. On finding no relief there, he approached the Supreme Court.

Another corruption case against Shivakumar is at the centre of a massive political row in Karnataka at this point. The Siddaramaiah-led government recently withdrew the sanction to CBI to probe the case. The central agency, which got a go-ahead in the case before the Congress came to power in Karnataka, has now challenged the new government's move in court.

Shivakumar has repeatedly accused the BJP of harassing him by misusing central agencies. Responding to today's order, Shivakumar said that it is a "big relief". "I have been troubled. Today is a great day of my life," he said.

SBI Requests Supreme Court To Extend Deadline To Give Electoral Bonds Info

NEW DELHI, Mar 4: The State Bank of India (SBI) has requested the Supreme Court to extend the deadline till June 30 for giving information about electoral bonds to the Election Commission.

The Supreme Court in a historic judgment last month had struck down the electoral bonds scheme and told SBI to give the information to the Election Commission (EC) by March 6.

The Supreme Court ended the controversial electoral bonds scheme on the grounds that it violated citizens' right to information. The electoral bonds scheme, Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud had said, was unconstitutional and arbitrary and may lead to a quid pro quo arrangement between political parties and donors.

The Supreme Court had ordered SBI to stop issuing these bonds and give details of donations made through this mode to the EC. The poll body was then told to publish this information on its website by March 13.

The Constitution bench of five judges held that the stated objective of fighting black money and maintaining the confidentiality of donors cannot defend the scheme. Electoral bonds, the court said, are not the only way to curb black money.

The electoral bonds scheme was introduced in 2018 with the stated objective of blocking black money from entering the political system.

The then Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said the conventional practice of political funding in India was cash donations. "The sources are anonymous or pseudonymous. The quantum of money was never disclosed. The present system ensures unclean money coming from unidentifiable sources.

It is a wholly non-transparent system," he had said. On the confidentiality clause, he had said the disclosure of the donors' identity would make them go back to the cash option.

Soon after the scheme was implemented, multiple parties challenged it in court. These included CPM, Congress leader Jaya Thakur, and the non-profit Association for Democratic Reforms. They argued that the confidentiality clause came in the way of the citizen's right to information.

'My Clinic Awaits My Return': BJP Leader Harsh Vardhan Quits Politics

NEW DELHI, Mar 3: Former Union Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan had wrapped up his three-decade-long political career to return to what he called his "roots".

In a long farewell message posted on X, formerly Twitter, he said, he would continue his work against "tobacco and substance abuse, against climate change and teaching simple and sustainable lifestyles".

His message came as the BJP fielded Praveen Khandelwal from Chandni Chowk, a seat which Vardhan holds at present. His name did not figure in the 195 names announced in the party's first list.

The 69-year-old, who started his political career with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the BJP's ideological mentor, also said a "swayamsewak at heart", he jumped into electoral politics "at the insistence of the then RSS leadership".

"They could convince me only because for me politics meant opportunity to fight our three main enemies - poverty, disease and ignorance," he added.

Dr Harshvardhan had stepped down from the post of the Union Health minister in July 2021, shortly before a cabinet reshuffle. He was replaced by Mansukh Mandaviya.

The Congress alleged that his exit was Centre's tacit admission of its all-round failure to manage the Covid pandemic.

A doctor, Harsh Vardhan enjoyed a sterling record in his stints as health minister -- in Delhi and then the Centre.

But the unprecedented scale of devastation during the second Covid wave ambushed India's health infrastructure.

Thousands of patients had died, desperate for oxygen, hospital beds and vaccine.

Images of bodies floating in the Ganga or washing up on its banks in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar played out in Indian and foreign media.

His removal was seen as a strong message from Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the importance of performance.

Modi, 34 Ministers On BJP's 1st List Of 195 Candidates For Lok Sabha Polls

NEW DELHI, Mar 2: The BJP has announced a list of 195 candidates even before the poll dates have been notified. The list includes the party's heaviest hitters, Narendra Modi, who will be contesting from Varanasi for the third time, and Home Minister Amit Shah, who will be fielded again from Gandhinagar in Gujarat.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will contest from Lucknow and Smriti Irani will be fighting from Amethi, where she had pulled off a shock victory against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in 2019. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has been named as the candidate from Kota in Rajasthan.

As many as 34 Central and state ministers and two former chief ministers are on the list, which also includes 28 women, 47 leaders under the age of 50 and 57 members from the OBC community. Of the 195, 51 are from the all-important state of Uttar Pradesh, 20 from West Bengal and five from Delhi.

For Delhi, Praveen Khandelwal, Manoj Tiwari and Sushma Swaraj's daughter Bansuri Swaraj are among the candidates. Ramesh Bidhuri, who was at the centre of a huge controversy following his alleged communal remarks against BSP lawmaker Danish Ali in the Lok Sabha last year, has not been repeated from the South Delhi seat. The seat will now be fought by Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, the leader of the opposition in the Delhi Assembly.

Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, who had been elected from the Rajya Sabha earlier, will be contesting from Porbandar in Gujarat.

Thiruvananthapuram is expected to see an interesting contest as another Rajya Sabha member and minister, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, has been named from the seat, which is held by the Congress' Shashi Tharoor.

Among other Union ministers, Rajya Sabha MP Jyotiraditya Scindia will contest from Guna in Madhya Pradesh, a constituency the former Congress leader had held since 2002 until his loss to the BJP's Krishna Pal Singh Yadav in 2019. His fellow Rajya Sabha colleague Bhupender Yadav will be fielded from Alwar and Kiren Rijiju will contest from Arunachal West.

Sarbananda Sonowal will fight from Dibrugarh in Assam, Arjun Ram Meghwal from Bikaner, G Kishan Reddy from Secunderabad and Arjun Munda from Khunti in Jharkhand.

In a surprising move amid the farmers' protest, Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra Teni will contest from the Kheri constituency again. Teni's son, Ashish, had been jailed for his alleged involvement in mowing down four farmers in Lakhmipur Kheri in 2021 and justice for the victims has been one of the key demands in the ongoing protests against the Union government.

Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who wasn't made the Madhya Pradesh chief minister despite the BJP's stunning victory last year, seems to be headed for a national role as he will be contesting the Lok Sabha polls from Vidisha. Another big headline from the state is that controversial MP Pragya Singh Thakur has not been repeated from Bhopal, which will now be contested by Alok Sharma.

Among the other key candidates, Hema Malini will be fielded from Mathura, a constituency she has represented since 2014. Former Tripura chief minister Biplab Deb has been named from Tripura West.

Apart from Bidhuri, Minister of State for External Affairs Meenakshi Lekhi, former Union Minister Harsh Vardhan, and Parvesh Verma have not been given tickets for the Lok Sabha seats in Delhi that they had contested and won in 2019. Manoj Tiwari, the MP from North East Delhi, is the only one who has kept his seat and candidates are yet to be named for the remaining two constituencies.

The list, which also focuses on some constituencies in which the party is perceived to be weak, has been released after a series of deliberations, including a late-night, five-hour meeting chaired by Modi on Thursday.

The timing of the list's release also indicates an effort to put pressure on the opposition INDIA bloc, which is still finalising seat-sharing deals in some states and has failed to arrive at a consensus on others, including West Bengal and Punjab.

9 Injured In Bomb Blast At Bengaluru's Rameshwaram Cafe

BENGALURU, Mar 1: Nine people were injured in a bomb blast at a popular restaurant in Bengaluru's Kundalahalli today, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah told reporters. The blast was seen on CCTV.

The police had earlier reported they were trying to find out what caused the explosion at The Rameshwaram Cafe. After a team of the anti-terror National Investigation Agency (NIA), bomb squad, and forensics laboratory reached the cafe, the Chief Minister told reporters that an improvised explosive device (IED) was used in the attack on the cafe.

"There's information that around 12.30 pm, there was an explosion. And that there was a bag. The investigation is on... I am getting to know that it was an IED. The investigation is on," Siddaramaiah told reporters.

The police have filed an FIR under the anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Explosive Substances Act.

Mamata Banerjee's Warns Against BJP

KOLKATA, Mar 1: West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress president Mamata Banerjee has warned that the price of cooking gas can rise to ₹2,000 per cylinder if the Bharatiya Janata Party returns to power at the Centre after the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Mamata Banerjee was addressing a gathering in Bengal's Jhargram district on Thursday.

Mamata Banerjee, a staunch critic of the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, claimed the party will force the masses to return to collecting wood for fire.

"If the BJP wins the elections, they may hike the price of a cooking gas cylinder to ₹1,500 or ₹2,000. Then again, we will have to go back to the old practice of collecting wood to light a fire," she said.

Mamata Banerjee also said that if the Central government doesn't complete building houses under the Awas Yojana by April-end, the West Bengal government will start constructing them.

Banerjee said the BJP government didn't pay the MGNREGA dues.

"I asked one youth whether he got the money for the 100 days' work scheme. He said he got around ₹30,000. This was the amount that the central government had not paid people like him for the last two years. We have paid 59 lakh people their dues," she added.

The BJP and the Trinamool Congress are currently locked in a pitched political battle over the arrest of TMC strongman Shajahan Sheikh, the main accused in the Sandeshkhali sexual assault case.

The Trinamool Congress has suspended the controversial politician for six years.

Reacting to the arrest, West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose said on Thursday that his arrest is the "beginning of an end".

"This is the beginning of an end. We have to put an end to the cycle of violence in Bengal. In parts of Bengal, the goons are ruling the roost. This must end, and the gangsters should be put behind bars," he said.

After his arrest, TMC leader Derek O'Brien dared the BJP to suspend its leaders who have criminal cases against them.

"We have decided to suspend Shajahan Sheikh from the party for 6 years. As always, we walk the talk. We have set examples in the past, and we are doing that today. But we dare the BJP to suspend leaders, who have corruption cases against them and have several criminal cases against them," he said.