chennai l Monday l April 22, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l LATE CITY EDITION 18 children among 22 killed in israeli strikes on Rafah Two separate overnight attacks on the southern Gaza city came even as the US approved billions of dollars of additional military aid to Israel PIC: afp attacks continue amid calls for restraint U.S. weighs sanctions against IDF unit Despite international calls for restraint, Israel is continuing its near-daily air raids on Rafah, where more than half of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million has sought refuge from fighting elsewhere. A man, his wife and their 3-year-old child were killed in one of the strikes overnight on Saturday. Another attack killed 17 children and two women as per hospital records ■ ■ In West Bank, Israeli troops killed two teenagers on Sunday after they allegedly attacked a checkpoint with knife and gun The US, which is Israel’s principal backer, is mulling sanctions on a unit of the Israeli army over human rights abuses in the West Bank, a move that could widen the schism between the two allies | P13 $26 bn size of military aid to Israel CLEARED by the U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 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 Kejriwal and Soren’s messages read out at Ulgulan Nyay Rally; will throw BJP out of power, say INDIA bloc leaders Will repeal CAA if voted to power: Chidambaram M U K E S H R A N J A N @ Ranchi THE leaders of the Opposition-led INDIA bloc on Sunday said that democracy in India is in danger and that the BJP should be thrown out of power to save the country Holding a . mega rally in Jharkhand’s capital Ranchi in a show of strength ahead of the remaining phases of Lok Sabha polls, the leaders lashed out at BJP for “converting ED and CBI its extended department” and oppressing opposition leaders. Leaders from 28 parties took part in the ‘Ulgulan Nyay Rally’ but Congress leader Rahul Gandhi did not attend the event due to ill health. In his speech, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said Modi keeps saying that his government made a tribal the President of the country. “You (Modi) have done this not for the welfare of the tribals, but for the vote bank. You did not give jobs to the poor. You had talked about providing jobs to the youth, but this did not happen…. there was talk of doubling the income of farmers, but it also did not happen,” said Kharge. C y n t hia C han d ran & P ree t ha N air @ T’puram/New Delhi Leaders of Opposition INDIA bloc hold hands during ‘Ulgulan Nyay Rally’ in Ranchi on Sunday | PTI Notably, two empty chairs were kept on the stage for two jailed leaders—Arvind Kejriwal of the Aam Aadmi Party and Hemant Soren of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha. Their spouses read out their messages. Reading out Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s message, his wife Sunita Kejriwal said INDIA bloc is seeking votes to make the country better. “Arvind ji is a very brave. He is like a lion. The only thing he has in his mind is how to make lives of this country better,” she said. She also listed out the six guarantees including free electricity to the poor, government schools in every village to provide free education, multispecialty hospitals in every district, and fair prices for farmers. “If you give a chance to INDI Alliance, then we will make this country better and stronger,” she added. Reading out Hemant Soren’s message, Kalpana Soren alleged central agencies such as the ED and CBI are being misused to suppress the opposition’s voice. ‘Cong selling lies on Constitution to scare voters’ R ajesh A snani @ Jaipur Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday tore into the Congress party saying it is trying to instill fear among the Dalits, tribals and minorities by spreading lies about the future of India’s democracy, the constitution and reservation. “The Congress sells fear, hunger and corruption in its shop,” Modi said addressing a rally in Rajasthan’s Banswara. “But the country is no longer in the grip of fear. That is why their lies are no longer working,” he added. He went on to say that if the Opposition won the election, it would redistribute the wealth of people to Voters question ECI’s unilateral name deletions B A n b use lvan @ Chennai With complaints of the deletion of thousands of voter names emerging on polling day in Tamil Nadu, a section of voters and activists have demanded that the Election Commission of India’s authority to unilaterally delete voter names should be regulated. They demanded that it should be mandatory for notice to be issued to voters before their names are deleted and that a provision should be made for voters to exercise their franchise in the event of an erroneous deletion. On these demands, however, ECI officials remain tight-lipped and Chief Electoral Officer Satyabrata Sahoo could not be reached for comments. During the general election polling on April 19, thousands of voters in Chennai and other parts of TN complained their names had been deleted despite possessing valid voter IDs and residing at the same address for several years. According to ECI rules, voter names can be removed upon the receipt of Form 7 from family members. Furthermore, the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) of the constituency has the authority to delete names under suo motu powers in cases of death and other reasons. The ECI’s guidelines for electoral roll revision suggest that Booth Level Officers (BLOs) should carry out field verification and issue notices to voters before their names are deleted, but in practice this is hardly implemented.  P5 Narendra Modi addresses a public event in Jalore, Rajasthan on Sunday | PTI Muslims and cited former prime minister Manmohan Singh’s remark that the minority community had the first claim on the country’s resourc- es. “This urban-naxal mindset, my mothers and sisters, they will not even leave your Mangalsutra. They can go to that level,” Modi said. Earlier, speaking at Jalore, Modi charged that Congress leaders exploited the country and they cannot be entrusted with leading the nation once again. The prime minister said the grand old party can only blame itself for its current predicament. “They ruled for 60 years, yet left our mothers and sisters longing for basic amenities like toilets, gas, electricity, and bank accounts. Their legacy of nepotism and corruption has weakened the nation, and they are now facing the consequences,” he said. A day after Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan attacked the Congress for being silent on the CAA in its manifesto, the party switched to a damagecontrol mode on Sunday, with senior leader P Chidambaram asserting that the controversial law will be repealed if INDIA bloc wins power. Clarifying the party’s stand, the former Union minister said, “I have a list with me, of a large number of laws, in which we have mentioned that five laws would be repealed. One of the five laws is CAA. Why we dropped the list in the manifesto is because it was already too long. This manifesto is 46 pages and it is a long list of 40 to 50 laws. I am the chairman of the manifesto committee, take it from me. CAA will be repealed.” Speaking to reporters in Thiruvananthapuram, Chidambaram added, “We will repeal, amend, and review the following sets of laws— CAA 2019 is at the top of the list.” TNIE had reported though ‘repealing and amending of CAA’ figured in the original draft of the Congress manifesto, the top leadership of the party decided to drop any mention of it in the document. Instead, the manifesto said it would repeal all anti-people laws passed by the NDA without referring to CAA. Gehlot Jr strives for a win to shed born identity R A J E S H A S N A N I @ Jaipur Among the most keenly watched Lok Sabha contests in Rajasthan is the one at Jalore-Sirohi, since former chief minister Ashok Gehlot’s son Vaibhav is in the fray against Lumbaram Chaudhary of the BJP . Vaibhav had lost the 2019 general elections from Jodhpur to BJP’s Gajendra Singh Shekhawat. The legacy of three-time Congress chief minister Ashok Gehlot, who has never lost an election, looms large over Vaibhav’s campaign. The younger Gehlot is striving to carve out his own identity, emphasising his contributions to the Youth Congress and his active involvement in Jodhpur’s political landscape. However, Vaibhav’s journey has not been without controversies. He has been under the Enforcement Directorate’s scrutiny over alleged foreign exchange violations related to Triton Hotels and Resorts Pvt Ltd and Vardha Enterprises Pvt Ltd, which surfaced just before the 2023 Assembly elections. His opponent Lumbaram Chaudhary represents the BJP’s grassroots strength in the Jalore-Sirohi region. With a history of active participation in party activities, Chaudhary earned his stripes through hard work and dedication. His tenure as the pradhan of the Sirohi Panchayat Samiti and his leadership roles in the Sirohi BJP unit strengthened his local appeal. Despite being overlooked in t h e p r ev i o u s a s s e m b l y elections, his commitment finally paid off with the Lok Sabha ticket after the BJP dropped its sitting MP Devji Patel. ContINUEd on:P9 Illustration: Mandar Pardikar Jailed leaders take centre stage at Oppn rally