THIRUVANANTHAPURAM l tuesday l may 14, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 18 l late city EDITION SC to hear plea for timely release of voter turnout data on Friday Plea by Association for Democratic Reforms seeks a direction to the poll panel to put out station-wise voter turnout data within 48 hrs of close of voting suspicions about turnout data’s accuracy ‘Address delay to uphold voters’ trust’ The final voter turnout data for the first two phases were published by the Election Commission on April 30, by which time 11 days had elapsed since the first phase voting and four days since the second phase, the plea said. The delay, coupled with the unusually high revision of over 5% in the poll panel’s press note of April 30 has raised suspicions about the data’s accuracy, it said ■ To uphold voters’ confidence, the Supreme Court must direct the EC to disclose on its website, scanned legible copies of turnout data of all polling stations within 48 hours of close of polling, the plea said ■ The court agreed to list the plea for hearing on Friday after advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the NGO, sought its urgent listing Form 17C Part-1 has details of Votes Recorded by each polling station 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 Axe likely to fall on KIIFB, pension company A N I L S @T’Puram The state government is mulling over winding up the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) and Kerala State Social Security Pension Ltd (KSSPL) in the long run, if a report by the state administrative reforms department is anything to go by The . report comes at a time when the gover nment is going through a severe financial crisis and when social security pensions are getting delayed. The work study report said the two firms were formed as special purpose vehicles, keeping in mind specific intentions, and will be done away with once their purpose is served. The report that looked into restructuring the workload in the finance department, has been vetted by an expert panel and submitted to the government. It was at the start of the first Pinarayi government’s tenure that KIIFB was floated as a revolutionary concept to facilitate out-of-budg et bor rowings (OBBs). The KSSPL was later formed to raise funds for social In the beginning KIIFB was billed as a revolutionary concept to facilitate out-of-budget borrowings at the start of the first Pinarayi government security pensions. Many point out that winding up the latter will send out the message that the government is trying to dis- KSSPL formed later to raise funds for social security pensions. Many say winding up KSSPL will send the message that the government is trying to distance itself from social security pensions. tance itself from social security pensions. Curiously, it was recently that KIIFB invited tenders to set up a new office. The move to wind up two prestigious entities is expected to draw severe flak from various quarters. “The government cannot wind up these companies at whim. KSSPL has taken only short-term loans. Once those are repaid, the government can think about terminating it. However, KIIFB cannot just be wound up offhand, as it has 20-year loans pending. These are foolish remarks that cannot be implemented. However, such official observations can hinder KIIFB from getting loans,” said a source. ● More on P4 Chadoora, Charar, Ganderbal segments recorded more than 45% votes 1 1 Biggies in their turf 1 | Prime Minister Narendra Modi with UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath during a road show in Varanasi on Monday | PTI | P7 2 2 | Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka at their first public meeting in Rae Bareli days after he filed his papers for that seat | PTI Kerala’s thumbs-up to NGO’s novel forest conservation initiative K S S R EE J I T H @T’Puram In a novel nature conservation initiative, a Kolkata-based NGO has purchased four acres of private land along the forest enclosure in Malappuram’s Kurali village, with the intention to “re-wild” it, before handing it over to the forest department. Nature Mates Nature Club (NMNC) purchased the land coming under the Sankarankode forest enclosure and approached the department with the request to receive and register it in the department’s name. The government gave its nod for the project on May 8. In a similar initiative in Wayanad’s Thirunelli, another NGO — Wild Life Trust of India — recently purchased private land and transferred it to the forest department. NMNC approached the department as part of an initiative to shift non-tribal people living or engaged in agriculture inside forest enclosures to non-forest areas. Following this, the principal chief conservator of forests (wildlife) and chief wildlife warden, through a letter on April 27, requested the government to accord approval for registering the four acres in the department’s name. The NGO acquired land from three persons, Afsar, Assainar and Abdul Kareem. The Sankarankode enclosure has 60 acres of land in the possession of non-tribal inhabitants. The stretch is surrounded by new Amarambalam Reserve Forest, and is part of the Nilambur Elephant Reserve. It is a forest area having good elephant habitat and active human-animal conflict, K Vijay Anand, CCF (Eastern Circle-Palakkad) told ● More on P4 TNIE. Highest Srinagar voter turnout in decades; better 4th phase polling P r e e t ha N air @ New Delhi After registering a dip in voter turnout in the first three phases, the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha elections saw a 67.25% turnout in 96 seats across 10 states and Union territories. In the 2019 polls, the polling percentage in these 96 seats was 69.12%. “Polling in the fourth phase of general elections 2024 closed at 6 pm, but a large number of voters were still in the queue at polling stations,” the Election Commission said in a statement, adding these were provisional figures. Voting was also held in Srinagar, one of the three parliamentary constituencies of Kashmir. Polling was brisk by Srinagar’s standards — it recorded 37.98% voter turnout — the highest in decades. In 2019, it was just 14.43%. Srinagar’s highest ever turnout was 40.9% in 1996. This is the first general election in Kashmir after the hollowing out of Article 370 in 2019. Chadoora, Charar-i- bengal Violence People stand in queues to cast their votes at a polling station in Fakeer Gujri on the outskirts of Srinagar, in the fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections on Monday | PTI Sharief, Ganderbal, Kangan, Khansahib and Shopian Assembly segments recorded more than 45% turnout. West Bengal recorded 78.37%, followed by Andhra Pradesh (76.5%), Odisha (73.97%), Madhya Pradesh (70.98%), Jharkhand (65.2%), Telangana (64.87%), UP (58.05%) and Bihar (57.06%). The low voter turnout in the last three phases has been a cause of worry for the Election Commission and political parties. The fourth round is crucial for the BJP as it hopes to make considerable gains in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Odisha. In 2019, the BJP and its allies won 47 of these 96 seats. One of the main highlights of the fourth phase is the simultaneous election to all 175 Assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh and 28 in Odisha. The contest in Andhra is keenly watched In this combo, BJP candidate Dilip Ghosh’s personal security (left) and a TMC worker (right) got injured after clashes between rival groups in the Susunia area of Bardhaman-Durgapur seat as the NDA alliance of the BJP , Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP and Pawan Kalyan-led Jana Sena Party (JSP) is taking on the ruling YSRCP led by Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy . With Andhra Pradesh and Telangana concluding the polling, the fourth phase will also mark the culmination of voting in South where expects a big haul of seats. Scattered incidents of violence were reported in Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal. India gets strategic depth with 10-yr deal to run chabahar port Y e shi S e l i @ New Delhi India and Iran signed a contract on Monday allowing India Ports Global Ltd (IPGL) to equip and operate the strategically located Shahid Beheshti Port in Iran’s Chabahar for 10 years. “We are scripting a new chapter in bilateral partnership. The contract will give a boost to regional connectivity and India’s linkages with Afghanistan, Cen- tral Asia and Eurasia,” the Ministry of External Affairs s p o ke s p e r s o n , R a n d h i r Jaiswal, said. The IPGL will invest approximately $120 million in equipping the port. India has also offered a credit window equivalent to $250 million, for mutually identified projects that will improve port-related infrastructure in Chabahar. Shahid Beheshti is the closest Iranian port to India. The deep sea port can accommo- date large cargo ships. It is a more economical and stable alternative route for Indian goods to reach landlocked Afghanistan and Central Asian countries, bypassing Pakistan. In fact, more than 2.5 million tonnes of wheat and 2,000 tonnes of pulses have been trans-shipped from India to Afghanistan through the port since IPGL, through its wholly owned subsidiary India Ports Global Chabahar Free Zone (IPGCFZ), took over its operations in 2018. sushil Modi passes away Senior BJP leader and former Bihar deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi, who was suffering from cancer, died on Monday night in a New Delhi hospital. He was 72 | P9 Salam to be League’s candidate for Rajya Sabha C y n t hia C han d ran @ T’Puram P M A Salam, state general secretary of the IUML, is slated to be its candidate for the Rajya Sabha seat that falls vacant on July 1. The decision to offer the UDF seat — of the three in Kerala to be vacated that day — to the IUML was reportedly taken unilaterally by Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan after seat-sharing talks for the Lok Sabha election turned controversial. Satheesan hogged the headlines during the talks, as the League pressed ahead with its demand for a third LS seat, besides Ponnani and Malappuram seats, where E T Mohammed Basheer and Abdul Samad Samadani, respectively, had tasted success. (The two swapped their seats for the 2024 elections). The placatory decision to offer the RS seat to the IUML — made against the backdrop of feelers that the latter is cosying up to the LDF — drew flak from leaders of the Congress and other UDF allies. A senior IUML MLA said the party has more or less decided to give the RS ticket to Salam. “For some time the party had been trying to accommodate the 71-year-old leader in a key post. The decision on the RS candidature will be taken after the LS election results are announced on June 4,” he ● More on P4 told TNIE. 18 pages, including 4 pages of THIRUVANANTHAPURAM Express Lalu’s bid to return the gift to daughter in Saran AAP MP alleges assault by PA of Arvind Kejriwal R A M A S H A N K A R @ Patna Billboard collapse kills eight A 100-feet-tall illegal billboard fell over a petrol pump in Ghatkopar area of Mumbai, killing at least eight and trapping about 100 people underneath it FOR voters of Bihar’s Saran L o k S ab h a c o n s t i t u e n cy (Chapra before 2008 delimitation), the contest between RJD patriarch Lalu Prasad’s family and BJP’s Rajiv Pratap Rudy is nothing new. In the past two polls, it was a direct fight between Rudy and RJD candidates linked to the Lalu family. In 2014, Rudy trounced Lalu’s wife and ex-Bihar CM Rabri Devi by 40,000 votes while in 2019, he sent Chandrika Rai, father-in-law of Lalu’s son Tej Pratap Yadav, packing, raising his margin to 1.38 lakh votes. This time, there is a lot of interest in the Saran joust as Lalu’s daughter Rohini Acharya is making her electoral debut. A medical doctor, Rohini is settled in Singapore. She was in the news in 2022 when she donated one of her kidneys to her ailing dad, an act that won her praise even from Lalu’s rivals. To return the favour, Lalu is working hard to get Rohini elected. Despite health issues, he has addressed a number of rallies and held meetings with RJD cadre. He has deeper connect in the constituency, which he represented four times till he was disqualified in 2013 following his conviction in the fodder scam. Rohini has an uphill task to defeat Rudy a veteran who has , worked with both Atal Bihari and Narendra Modi as a Union minister. But the Lalu scion is confident. “I am not a novice. I Rohini Acharya (left) and Rajiv Pratap Rudy Illustration: Mandar Pardikar am aware of what’s happening in Bihar. I have learnt the nuances of politics from my father, who is also my political guru,” she told this paper. As for Rudy he is showcasing , his work for the region besides riding on the Modi image. But he acknowledges the Lalu factor. “It’s not Rohini in the fray . The real opponent is Lalu, who is fighting from behind the scenes,” Rudy said. Rohini is relying on RJD’s traditional Muslim-Yadav vote bank and EBCs. She has the daunting task of carrying forward her father’s le gacy. But Saran’s political landscape is no longer the same as during the Lalu reign. U J W A L J A L A L I @ New Delhi Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal was allegedly physically assaulted at the residence of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on M o n d ay, f o l l o w i n g which she alerted the Delhi Police but did not file any formal complaint. Coming as it did in the midst of the general elections and with the AAP refusing to clear the air, the issue soon acquired political overtones. The police received a PCR call at 9.34 am from Maliwal, who was at Kejriwal’s residence, alleging that she had been assaulted by one of the chief minister’s staff. DCP (north) Manoj Meena said the local SHO with other staff reached the CM’s residence but didn’t find her there. Maliwal later visited the Civil Lines police station but did not give any formal complaint. While no official reaction has come from Maliwal or the AAP, the BJP slammed Kejriwal. Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva sought a thorough probe into the incident.
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