ROHIT, JADEJA hold fort as England toil Hundreds by India captain and all-rounder rescue the team after it was reduced to 33/3 in the first innings of the third Test on Thursday Senior pros step up After losing three early wickets for 33 runs, Rohit Sharma scored 131 and Ravindra Jadeja was batting on 110 to take India to 326/5 at stumps Dream debut for Sarfaraz THIRUVANANTHAPURAM l friday l February 16, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l late city EDITION After piling runs in Ranji Trophy, an emotional Sarfaraz Khan finally got his India cap on Thursday in front of his dad and wife. He made 62 | P11 Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja 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 Farmers protest BJP had made electoral bonds a medium for bribe and commission. Today a stamp has been put on this SC has delivered a verdict, we respect it. Electoral bonds had laudable objective of bringing transparency It is the most historic judgement that we have got from the SC in 5-7 years. It is a great boon for democracy It is a historic judgment, it’s in the interest of a clean democracy. I hope that political parties will learn their lessons Welcome this unanimous judgment scrapping the electoral bonds that legalise political corruption Rahul Gandhi, Congress Ravi Shankar Prasad, BJP S Y Quraishi, former CEC T S Krishnamurthy, ex-CEC Sitaram Yechury, CPM Orders SBI to give EC data on buyers and recipients Poll panel told to upload info on its site Verdict weeks before LS polls SC nixes electoral bonds S u c h i t r a K a lya n M o h a n t y @ New Delhi In a landmark judgment, a five-member Constitution bench the Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously struck down the electoral bond scheme notified by the BJP government at the Centre in early 2018, as unconstitutional. The verdict is a moral blow for the government ahead of the general elections. The bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud gave the State Bank of India, the issuing bank, time till March 6 to share with the Election Commission of India full data on the purchasers of the electoral bonds and their recipients. It went on to instruct the poll body to upload the SBI’s information on its official website within a week of receipt of the data — by March 13. The court also declared the amendments to the Income Tax Act and Section 29C of the Representation of the People Act to facilitate the electoral bonds, null and void. The CJI further said the amendment to the Companies Act that opened the door for blanket corporate political funding was unconstitutional. “The Union has been unable to establish the measure adopted in Clause 7(4)(1) of the electoral scheme is the least restrictive measure (on fundamental rights),” the verdict authored by the CJI for himself as also for justices B R Gavai, J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, said. Justice Sanjay Khanna wrote a separate verdict. He had a different reasoning but arrived at the same conclusion. “The scheme is not fool-proof. There are sufficient gaps in the scheme which enable political parties to know the particulars of the Bearer instrument An electoral bond has the nature of a promissory note, which is bearer in character. A bearer instrument does not carry the name of the buyer or payee SA m p le contributions made to them,” Justice Chandrachud said. Information about funding of political parties, he added, is essential for the effective exercise of the choice of voting. Data shows that 94% of the donations were in the denomination of `1 crore. In other words, electoral bonds provide economically powerful contributors access to lawmakers and the ability to influence policy decisions while giving them selective anonymity vis-a-vis the public. The court said information about political funding would enable voters to assess if there is any correlation between policy making and financial contributions. In an affidavit filed in the SC on March 27, 2019, the EC had informed that it had written to the Centre ques- Videograb of the five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and comprising justices Sanjiv Khanna, B R Gavai, J B Pardiwala and Manoj Mishra | PTI Denomination up to L1 crore The scheme allows Indian citizens and domestic companies to donate these bonds issued in multiples of B1,000, B10,000, B1 lakh, B10 lakh and B1 crore to parties of their choice. These bonds have to be redeemed within 15 days No cap on buying No limit on the number of electoral bonds that an individual or corporate entity can purchase. Scheme does not require parties to mention the names and addresses of the contributors in their annual reports to the Election Commission tioning the changes in several laws relating to political funding, saying it will have serious repercussions on transparency It had also warned the . government that changes in the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010 could allow unchecked foreign funding of political parties. “In a situation where electoral bonds were not reported, it cannot be ascertained whether the political party has taken any donation from government companies and foreign sources.” Justice Sanjiv Khanna, in his separate verdict, said retribution, victimisation or retaliation against any donor to a political party is an abuse of law and power. It needs to be corrected but cannot be seen as justification to make the scheme anonymous. “Transparency and not secrecy is the cure and antidote,” he said. Ganesh Kumar, Antony Raju play Borrowing cap row with central musical chair with a difference Talks not fruitful, team E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @T’Puram Politics is often described a game of musical chairs. However, a minister changing the venue of the inauguration of his predecessor’s pet project to deny the latter a chair on the dais is not that common, especially when both belong to the same political front. The launch of KSRTC’s electric double decker in Thiruvananthapuram has such a rare tale to tell. The rift between Transport Minister K B Ganesh Kumar and his predecessor Antony Raju is not a secret. The venue for the electric double decker inauguration on Thursday was shifted from East Fort, which comes under Raju’s constituency, to Vikas Depot just outside it almost at the last hour. Raju made his displeasure clear at not being invited for the flag-off function with a visit to the depot. “This electric bus is my child as well. It doesn’t matter who takes care of its upbringing,” said Raju, adding that his visit was out of curiosity “The officials first told me . that the inauguration would be held at Nayanar Park in East Fort, which is the centre of the city. Now it has been shifted to a desolate corner. Irrespective of the flag-off venue, the bus shall be operated from Thampanoor which is under my constituency,” he added. As many as 103 electric buses were purchased under the Smart City project during Raju’s tenure. KSRTC-Swift received the buses in the first week of January Raju also crit. icised the delay in starting the bus service. “Kerala is the second place after Mumbai to get an electric double decker. We are the first to start an open roof double decker service,” ● More on P4 said Raju. express read Prime Minister to visit state on February 27 Kochi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the valedictory function of Kerala Padayatra organised by the NDA in Thiruvananthapuram on February 27, said BJP state president K Surendran. P5 says Balagopal E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @ T’Puram The Supreme Court-prompted meeting between the representatives of state and Union governments on the dispute over restrictions on the borrowing limit failed to resolve the impasse on Thursday Finance Minister . K N Balagopal, who led the state delegation, said the discussion did not yield the desired result. The meeting was held as per the direction of the Supreme Court, which is considering a petition filed by the Kerala government alleging Centre’s “illegal interference in the state’s finances and budgeting”. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Balagopal said the central team refused to discuss some key issues citing the matter was being considered by the court. The state delegation handed over a memorandum to the central team. “The meeting was neither positive nor did it yield any result,” the fi● More on P4 nance minister said. Burning midnight oil to resolve agri unrest H a r p r e e t B a j w a @ Chandigarh THE third round of talks between the Centre and farmer leaders were held in Chandigarh on Thursday night, even as the stand-off between protesters and security personnel continued for the third day on the Punjab-Haryana border. The meeting between three Union ministers—Arjun Munda, Piyush Goyal, and Nityanand Rai—and farmer leaders started three hours later than scheduled. Sources said the Union ministers were closeted with Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann at a five-star hotel ahead of their meet with the delegation of 14 farmer leaders including Jagjit Singh Dallewal, Sarwan Singh Pandher, and Jarnail Singh. The meeting between the Central ministers and farmer union leaders was ongoing at press time. Two previous rounds of talks on February 8 and 12 were not successful. Sources said the Centre has a new proposal, which, if accepted, could offer a resolution to the agitation. Security personnel deployed at the PunjabHaryana Shambhu border during a protest march in Patiala district on Thursday | pti CM Mann and Punjab finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema also joined the negotiation talks at the Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Public Administration. The situation at Shambhu and Khanauri on the Punjab-Haryana borders remained calm compared with the past two days. Train services were disrupted at many places in Punjab following the ‘rail roko’ call by some unions. Modi invites Qatari Emir to visit India Y e s h i s e l i @ New Delhi Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday thanked the Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, for the recent release of eight naval veterans who were under custody in Doha since 2022. The PM invited the Emir to visit India, Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra said. The two leaders held detailed discussions, first in a delegation level format and then in a restricted format. The topics of discussion included bilateral cooperation, trade partnership, investment cooperation, energy partnership, regional security cultural , affinity, and people-to-people ties. “My visit to Qatar has added new vigour to the India-Qatar friendship. I thank the government and people of Qatar for their hospitality Modi said. ,’’ 16 pages, including 4 pages of THIRUVANANTHAPURAM Express
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