Phalke award for Rajinikanth THIRUVANANTHAPURAM l friday l april 02, 2021 l `7.00 l PAGES 18 l LATE city EDITION Artist Sudarshan Patnaik gives finishing touches to a sand sculpture honouring Rajinikanth in Puri, Odisha, on Thursday | PTI New Delhi: Actor Rajinikanth will be honoured with the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said in New Delhi on Thursday. The announcement comes days ahead of the April 6 assembly polls in Tamil Nadu where the 70-year-old Rajinikanth resides. CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ WARANGAL ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI LOVE, LOVE JIHAD & FREEDOM OF CHOICE Why Kerala didn’t enact law against ‘love jihad’: Yogi Rahul Gandhi speaks at an election rally at Kalpetta | T P sooraj Don’t agree with you but don’t hate you: Rahul to Left Kalpetta: Congress national leader Rahul Gandhi said his party doesn’t agree with the ideology of Left parties, but it doesn’t mean the both should hate each other, kill each other or not smile at each other. “I don’t agree with them. But I certainly do not hate them. I will debate, discuss and disagree with them. But I will always smile at them because at the end of the day, they are our brothers. We all are brothers and sisters,” he said. P5 Interview Only UDF win can stop BJP in its tracks IUML leader P K Kunhalikutty tells TNIE that he is confident of the Congress-led UDF winning more Kunhalikutty than 80 seats. FULL INTERVIEW ON P5 P’Thitta: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday asked why the Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF government had desisted from making a law against ‘love jihad’ when such cases are increasing in Kerala. “Both LDF and UDF are playing vote bank politics in the state. Though the Kerala High Court in 2009 asked the state government to enact a law against ‘love jihad’, both LDF and UDF did not do anything,” he said. P5 Yogi Adityanath and Sobha Surendran during a roadshow in Kazhakoottam | vincent pulickal CPM alleges data leak, Chennithala says LDF nervous after being caught red-handed FACE-OFF Pinarayi Vijayan Party takes final decision, not persons: Pinarayi Kannur: CM Pinarayi Vijayan has said that in CPM, the party takes a final decision not individuals. He was reacting to CPM central committee member and Industries Minister E P Jayarajan’s public statement that he would never contest in elections again. “Party leaders and individuals have their own opinions regarding such issues. Party will consider such opinions. In the end, party will take a decision and all will have to toe the party line,” he said. P5 poll bytes Candidate promises tickets to World Cup Malppuram: Kattuparuthy Sulaiman Haji, the LDF-backed independent candidate in Kondotty, in Malappuram district, is wooing the voters by trying to cash in on people’s craze for football. ‘Help me win, get tickets to 2022 Qatar FIFA World Cup,’ is his electoral promise. P2 Fake voter issue takes centre stage Posters appear against Jose in Pala Kottayam: A day after councillors of Kerala Congress (M) and CPM traded blows at a meeting of the standing council of the Left-ruling Pala municipal council, posters appeared in the name of ‘Save CPM Forum’ in various parts of the town against KC (M) chairman Jose K Mani. The IP address shows the portal is based in Singapore and the opposition leader handed over the personal data to the foreign-based portal without people’s consent M A Baby, CPM politburo member When they got caught, they are trying to divert attention by raising issues such as data leak. There is no data leak in the information we shared Ramesh Chennithala, Opposition Leader E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Kochi THE issue of bogus voters and multiple entries, numbering as high as 4.34 lakh, raised by Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala, has become the focal point of this elections as campaigning entered its final phase. Corroborating the allegations raised by Chennithala, the name of the late CPM leader P K Kunhananthan was found to be figuring in the voter list in the Koothuparamba constituency, pushing the LDF on the defensive. After the information came out, following a complaint filed by a Congress activist in the constituency, the Election Commission of India (ECI) said in a statement that Kunjananthan’s name was removed from the electoral rolls. KERALA ASSEMBLY CPM politburo memELECTIONS ber M A Baby, meanwhile, alleged the Opposition leader leaked the personal details of 4.34 lakh voters, whose names were duplicated on the electoral rolls, through the Singapore-based www.operationtwins.com portal. “The IP address shows the portal is based in Singapore 2021 Govt data debunks ‘love jihad’ chants, 47% choose to embrace Hinduism CONVERSION BREAKUP Hindu to 111 Christian (Male 51, Female 60) Christian 209 to Hindu (M 101, F 108) Hindu to 111 Islam (M 39, F 72) Christian 33 to Islam (M 14, F 19) GAIN & LOSS Islam to 32 Hindu (M 10, F 22) Hindu 241-222 Islam to 8 Christian (M 6, F 2) Christianity 119-242 Hindu to 2 Buddhism (M 1,F 1) Islam 144-40 M S V i d ya n a n d a n @ T’Puram WHILE the BJP, in its election manifesto, has promised an Uttar Pradesh model law against forceful religious conversion and ‘love jihad’ in Kerala to woo Hindu and Christian voters, the data sourced by TNIE from the government gazettes paints an altogether different picture. According to official figures for the year 2020, the biggest gainer – in terms of new converts – was Hinduism. People who embraced Hinduism constituted 47 per cent of religious conversions in Kerala during the one-year period under refer- ence. Of the 506 people who registered their change of religion with the government, 241 were those who converted from Christianity or Islam to Hinduism. A total of 144 persons adopted Islam whereas Christianity received 119 new believers in 2020, the data shows. As per the rule, people who officially change their religion, including minors, have to advertise it in the gazette. Seventy two per cent of the new converts to Hinduism were Dalit Christians, mostly Christian Cheramars, Christian Sambavas and Christian ● More on P7 Pulayas.  and the opposition leader handed over the personal information to the foreign-based portal without the consent of people. This raises ethical and legal issues,” Baby said in Thiruvananthapuram. Chennithala, in a Facebook post, said the CPM’s response shows its panic and nervousness after getting caught redhanded in its act of systematic creation of bogus voters and multiple entries which the party used to win elections in the past. “When they got caught, they are trying to divert attention by raising issues such as data ● More on P7 leak,” he wrote.  Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee arrives at a polling station on Thursday | PTI Figures that matter WEST BENGAL 10,620 ballot units and an equal number of polling in 30 control units assembly and VVPATs constituencies, used in including Nandigram Bengal 80.43% ASSAM 77.21% polling in 39 assembly constituencies 10,819 ballot units, 10,592 control units and as many VVPATs used in Assam 18 pages, including 4 pages of THIRUVANANTHAPURAM Express