bhubaneswar l thursday l february 08, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l late city EDITION Twin Blasts rock Pak ahead of its general elections today A day before Pakistan’s general elections, twin blasts shook up Balochistan on Wednesday leaving 30 people dead and 40 others injured Candidates are the targets for the blast The first blast happened outside the office of an independent candidate in Pishin district. Police say this blast was detonated remotely after a bag of explosives was left outside the office of the candidate. The second blast an hour later was also outside another candidate’s election office. Police say candidates are the targets, even their homes were attacked ■ 50 No change in election schedule: Minister ■ Pakistan’s Election Commission said security has been increased in Balochistan for Thursday’s election. Balochistan’s home minister Jan Achakzai said elections would be held as per schedule So far no one has claimed responsibility. Separatist groups operating in Balochistan are the prime suspects for the blasts | P11 election-related attacks occurred since sunday in Balochistan CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI Local Delhi court concurs with ED, summons Kejri Finds prima facie offence of intentionally disobeying the probe agency’s summonses J A ISO N WILSO N @ New Delhi Arvind Kejriwal Jal Board scam The ED said incriminating documents, valuables of `1.97 crore and foreign currency worth `4 lakh were seized during raids on Delhi CM’s personal assistant Bibhav Kumar and others in the Jal Board scam No bail to Sanjay The Delhi High Court on Wednesday refused bail to arrested AAP leader Sanjay Singh in the Delhi excise policy scam. “No ground for grant of bail to the accused at this stage is made out,” the judge said Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday appeared to lose some wriggle room as a local court summoned him to appear before it on February 17 in the excise policy scam case. It issued the order after taking cognisance of a plea filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) complaining that Kejriwal had failed to comply with its summons in the case for the fifth consecutive time. “Prima facie offence under Section 174 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 is made out and there are sufficient grounds for proceeding under Section 204 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 against accused Mr. Arvind Kejriwal,” Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Divya Malhotra said in her order. As per Section 174, a person who intentionally disobeys the directions issued by the probe agency shall be prosecuted and punished with imprisonment extending up to one month or with a fine or both. The ED had issued summons to Kejriwal on October 30, November 2, December 18, December 22 and January 3 demanding his attendance “to give evidence in connection with the investigation or proceedings under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA)” on the alleged excise policy scam. Objecting to the summons as “unsustainable in law”, Kejriwal had argued that the ED had failed to disclose the capacity in which he was being called — as a witness or a suspect. But under PMLA, the investigating officer is not required to disclose the capacity under which a person is summoned at the stage of probe, the agency said in its plea. It would be premature to label the summoned person either as a witness or an accused, it added. The agency told the court that the investigation carried out so far had revealed that the 2021-22 excise policy was formulated “as a part of a criminal conspiracy by the leaders of Aam Aadmi Party with deliberate loopholes to generate and channelize illegal funds” for themselves as well as the party . UCC bill passed, awaits assent of President na r en d r a s eth i @ Dehradun The Uttarakhand Assembly on Wednesday passed the Uniform Civil Code bill through a voice vote after two days of deliberations. The bill now awaits President Droupadi Murmu’s assent for its enactment. The bill is expected to be the template for adoption by other BJP-ruled states like Gujarat and Assam. The assembly rejected the opposition’s demand to send the bill to a select committee of the House for vetting. In his reply to the debate, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said the legislation comprises 392 sections, with major emphasis on succession rights. It establishes a uniform legal framework applicable to all citizens, encompassing crucial aspects such as marriage, divorce, inheritance, adoption, and even live-in relationships, irrespective of religious affiliation, he added. The Congress chose not to protest in the House during Dhami’s speech. “The bill’s paramount goal is to protect women’s rights,” Dhami said. The law applies to the whole of Uttarakhand and to people from the state living outside. Apparently to bar the practice of halala, the bill specifies “the right to marry the divorced spouse without any condition, such as marrying a third person before such remarriage”. It gives both husband and wife equal rights to seek divorce. The bill makes no distinction between legitimate and illegitimate children in terms of property rights. yogi pitch On shrines in Mathura, Varanasi Referring to Ayodhya, Kashi and Mathura, UP CM said, “We asked only for three places, there was no issue over the others” | P10 Congress outdated party with divisive narratives, says Modi RAJESH KUMAR THAKUR The Congress’s thought process has become outdated and it is now outsourcing all its work. We are not happy to see such levels of decline and depletion of a party that ruled India for centuries. You have our full sympathies @ New Delhi PICKING up from where he left off in his reply to the debate on the Motion of Thanks on the President’s Address in Lok Sabha on Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday trained his guns on the Congress again, accusing it of working against the interests of the marginalised sections of society and trying to create a wedge between north and south India. Replying to the debate on the Motion of Thanks in the Rajya Sabha, Modi said the Congress had an ‘anti-reservation’ policy during Jawaharlal Nehru’s time to shut out people from the SC, ST and OBC sections. Modi claimed Nehru was against the idea of reservation and had it not been for Babasaheb Ambedkar, the underprivileged sections would not have had any quota. Nehru, Modi said, was of the Naveen tears into state BJP for politicising sensitive crimes E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Bhubaneswar In his last speech in the Assembly before the general elections, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday lashed at the state BJP for politicising sensitive issues including the rape and murder of a five-year-old girl in Nayagarh. Making a statement in the House in reply to discussion on Motion of Thanks to the Governor’s address, the chief minister referred to the judgement in the Nayagarh case and said everybody knew who were trying to get bail for the accused and derail the judicial process. “Now that the accused is convicted, where will the Opposition especially the state BJP, which tried to politicise this issue at the cost of stalling justice to the minor girl, go,” he said. Stating that he has been a member of the House for the last 24 years, the chief minister said, he had never seen this kind of politicisation of sensitive issues. “When the state is in the midst of a tremendous growth trajectory and all achievements were happening, I am sorry to say that the Opposition was busy politicising every crime and trying to defame the state and its people,” he said. Naveen appealed to the Opposition do politics during election time but not over sensitive crimes, development or the image of the state and its people. Referring to the obstacles created on the implementation of the Srimandir Parikrama and Lingaraj projects, the chief minister said people would not forgive those who defame their own state for narrow political interests and block development. “We should always work together for a larger cause, for a new and empowered Odisha,” Continued on P5 he said.  Narendra Modi, Prime Minister opinion that the affirmative action to uplift the marginalised communities in the country would promote non-meritorious people and bring inefficiency into the system. “Of late, I remember Nehru ji more often than not. He once wrote a letter to the chief ministers in which he had stated that he was against reservation. He had reasoned it would promote inefficiency amongst the people of eligible sections,” Modi said. In an apparent reference to Karnataka deputy chief minister D K Shivakumar’s brother and Congress MP D K Suresh’s recent comment that South India should become a separate country Modi said the grand old , party was trying to divide the country for political gains. Modi said the Congress has become such an ‘outdated’ party that it can only think in terms of how to generate new narratives to divide the country. He said there is no doubt the BJPled alliance will get its third consecutive mandate. Modi said in stark difference to the Congress’ stand against the SC/STs, the BJP-led government has always accorded top priority to the welfare of marginalised communities. Meanwhile, the Budget session of Parliament has been extended by one day till February 10 amid reports that the government will table a white paper on economy The session, which be. gan on January 31, was to end on February 9. BJD-BJP partnership runs Odisha: Rahul E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Rourkela Congress MP and former AICC president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday launched a scathing attack on the BJD and BJP saying they were running the Odisha government in partnership. On the second day of his Odishaleg of Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Rourkela, Rahul held a road show from Ambedkar Square to Uditnagar in the steel city before addressing the people at Panposh Gandhi Square where he claimed it was only the Congress which has been fighting this combine. “It is the partnership of Prime Rahul Gandhi addressing people at Rourkela during his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra | Express Minister Narendra Modi with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik which is running the Odisha government. I have seen in the Parliament when Narendra Modi needs support, he talks to Naveen Patnaik and the BJD starts harassing us. Only the Congress is fighting against the partnership government of BJD and BJP in the state,” Rahul said. Targeting the BJD government in the state, the Congress leader raised the issue of migration of people to different states for work and livelihood. “As many as 30 lakh poor and hungry people of Odisha have migrated to different states to work as labourers as the government was not doing its work. On the other hand, 20 industrialists from outside the state have come to loot the resources of the state. This is the state of affairs in Odisha,” he said.  Continued on P5