Ruturaj takes over from Dhoni as CSK captain CHENNAI: In his 15th year with Chennai Super Kings, M S Dhoni (left) will feature just as a player in the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League, which begins at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here on Friday. Ruturaj Gaikwad (right), who has been with the franchise since 2019, will take over the mantle from Dhoni as CSK skipper | ashwin prasath chennai l friday l march 22, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 40 l late city EDITION 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 BJP funds came KEJRI ARRESTED via Qwik, Future & big corporates Ponmudy induction SC blasts guv, gives 24hrs to reinduct min e X P RE S S n E W S sER V ICE @ New Delhi S u c h i t r a K a lya n M o h a n t y @ New Delhi Voicing “serious concern” over the conduct of Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi for his refusal to reinduct senior DMK leader K Ponmudy as minister into the state cabinet, the Supreme Court on Thursday directed the governor to decide on the issue within 24 hours. The governor had refused to reinduct Ponmudy whose convic, tion and three-year sentence in a disproportionate assets case were stayed by the court on March 11, saying that his conviction and sentence have only been suspended and not set aside by the court. “When a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court stays the conviction and sentence of Ponmudy, the governor has no business to say he would not administer oath to him as minister,” a threejudge bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud said. “How can the governor say his perception of alleged taint of Ponmudy overrides the SC order staying his conviction and sentence,” asked the bench. “Mr Attorney General, we are seriously concerned about the conduct of the governor. We did not want to say it out loud in court but he is defying the Supreme Court of India. Those who have advised him have not advised him properly Now . the governor has to be informed that when the Supreme Court stays a conviction, it stays a conviction,” the bench, also comprising Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, told Attorney General R Venkataramani. “If we do not hear from your person tomorrow, we will pass an order directing the governor to act according to the Constitution. We will pass an order,” the bench told the AG. P7 WITH THIS ISSUE CHENNAI’S BEST WEEKEND GUIDE 40 PAGES, INCLUDING 24 OF INDULGE (TABLOID) Bond list with alphanumeric numbers released Exp r e ss N e ws S e r v i c e @ New Delhi Big donations From Future Gaming, TMC got `540 cr; DMK `509 cr; YSR Cong `154 cr; BJP `104 cr; Cong 50 cr From Qwik Supply, BJP got `395 cr; Sena+NCP `35 cr Keventer gave bonds worth `383 cr to BJP Vedanta gave donations to BJP, Cong, BJD and TMC Bharti Airtel donated to BJP, RJD, SAD, Cong, JD(U) Muthoot donated to BJP and NCP Bajaj group donations went to BJP, AAP Apollo Tyres bonds went to Cong Lakshmi Niwas Mittal donated to BJP Kiran Mazumdar Shaw donated to BJP, TMC, Cong Rungta Sons Pvt Ltd donated to Cong, BJP, TMC, Sikkim Krantikari Morcha Torrent pharma donated to BJP, AAP, Cong Natco Pharma gave bonds to BJP, TDP, TMC and BRS The Trinamool Congress (TMC) was the biggest beneficiary of the electoral bonds donated by lottery king Santiago Martin’s Future Gaming & Hotel Services as it received `540 crore, followed by the DMK at `509 crore, YSR Congress `154 crore, the BJP `104 crore, and Congress at `50 crore, initial analysis of the full data uploaded by the Election Commission indicated. At `1,368 crore, Martin was the largest donor of electoral bonds to political parties. Qwik Supply Chain Private Limited, which is considered to have links with the Reliance Group, donated `395 crore to the BJP, besides contributing `35 crore to the Shiv Sena and the NCP put together. Hyderabad-based Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Ltd and its subsidiary Western Power donated a whopping `664 crore to the BJP. Besides, the group gave `195 crore to the BRS, `128 crore to the Congress and `85 crore to the DMK. The Megha group spent `1,186 crore on electoral bonds, making it the second highest donor to political parties. The next big donation to the BJP came from Kolkata-based Keventer Food Park Infra and its associate firms Madanlal Ltd and MKJ Enterprise, at `383 crore. Bharti Airtel with `132 crore and Vedanta at `128 crore were the other corporates that donated liberally to the ruling party . The new data includes alphanumeric numbers that can help match the bond buyers with the parties that redeemed the bonds. The ECI released two sets of data — 552 pages of details of redemption by political parties and 386 pages of donor details — cover electoral bonds purchased and redeemed from April 2019 until January 2024. “In compliance with the Supreme Court’s directions, SBI has provided data pertaining to electoral bonds to ECI today i.e. March 21. The ECI has uploaded it on its website as received from SBI on an ‘as is where is basis’,” it said. Fact-check unit notification stayed, SC sends case to HC S u c h i t r a K a lya n M o h a n t y @ New Delhi The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed the Centre’s notification setting up a fact-checking unit under the Press Information Bureau, saying its impact on freedom of speech and expression needs to be analysed. A bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud set aside the March 11 Bombay High Court order refusing an interim stay on setting up of the fact-checking unit under the amended IT Rules to identify fake news targeting the Centre. The bench said the stay shall oper- ate till the Bombay High Court finally decides the challenge to the IT Amendment Rules, 2023. “The challenge to the validity of 3(1)(b)(5) (of IT Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code Rules 2021) involves serious constitutional questions and the impact of the rule on free speech and expression would need to be analysed by the high court,” the bench said. The court was hearing a special leave petition by comedian Kunal Kamra and the Editors Guild of India seeking a stay on setting up of factchecking unit. express read ED search at 25 places in TN Chennai: The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday carried out searches in 25 places across TN allegedly linked to AIADMK leader and former health minister C Vijayabaskar and real estate group G-square as part of two separate money laundering investigations, sources said | P4 32 TN fishers detained by SL Madurai: At least 32 TN fishermen were detained and five boats were seized by Sri Lankan Navy in two different incidents at Neduntheevu and Mannar early on Thursday. A total of 85 fishers were arrested and six boats have been seized by SL Navy in March so far | P4 State chief, ex-guv part of BJP’s first list T M u r u g a n a n d h a m @ Chennai In a surprise move, the BJP fielded its state president K Annamalai in Coimbatore constituency in the party’s first list of candidates for the Lok Sabha elections released on Thursday. Former Telangana governor Tamilisai Soundararajan will take on DMK’s Thamizhachi Thangapandian in the South Chennai seat. Union Minister L Murugan has been pitted against DMK leader A Raja in Nilgiris. Interestingly , Murugan was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Madhya Pradesh only last month. Ex-union minister Pon Radhakrishnan will be the party candidate from Kanniyakumari, a seat he represented in 2014. Just minutes after BJP’s legislature party leader Nainar Nagenthran was named as the party candidate from Thoothukudi, a revised list said he would be contesting from Tirunelveli. The BJP is contesting in 20 seats. Since four of the allies will also contest in the BJP symbol, the number of candidates contesting on ‘lotus’ will be 24. The allies and the number of seats allotted to them are: PMK (10); TMC (3); AMMK (2); New Justice Party, Tamizhaga Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam, Indiya Jananayaka Katchi, and Indiya Makkal Kalvi Munnetra Kazhagam (1 each). P7 OPS enters fray in Ramanathapuram Former CM and ousted AIADMK leader O Panneerselvam has decided to contest from Ramanathapuram as an Independent candidate as part of the BJP alliance. “We had sought 15 seats in the BJP alliance. Since we could not get the ‘two leaves’ symbol as per our cadres wish, I am contesting from Ramanathapuram to prove our strength,” Panneerselvam said Direct aiadmk-dmk fight in 19 seats The AIADMK on Thursday released its final list of 16 candidates for the Lok Sabha polls, setting a direct contest with the ruling DMK in 19 constituencies across TN. The AIADMK will contest in 32 segments and it has allotted seven constituencies to allies, the DMDK (5), Puthiya Tamizhagam (1) and SDPI (1) | P4 Delhi Police personnel removing an Aam Aadmi Party worker protesting against the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal | Praveen Negi YOU READ IT HERE FIRST on June 22, 2022 HOURS after the Delhi High Court refused to grant any interim protection from coercive action to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the Enforcement Directorate on Thursday night arrested him in connection with a money laundering case linked to the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy . This paper was the first to break the story on June 22, 2022 that federal investigative agencies were looking into the Delhi excise policy scam. The ED will produce Kejriwal before a Delhi court on Friday and seek his custody for interrogation. The arrest came amid high drama and protests by Aam Aadmi Party w o rk e r s , w h o thronged the CM’s official residence shouting slogans against the ED. Besides Delhi Police personnel, Rapid Action Force and CRPF teams were deployed around the CM’s residence during the operation. Kejriwal had skipped nine summons by the probe agency , claiming the notices were illegal and politically motivated. AAP leader Atishi said Kejriwal will not resign as CM and will run the city government from jail, if need be. She said the party’s legal team has moved the Supreme Court seeking an urgent hearing. The apex court is likely take up the matter on Friday . The case pertains to alleged corruption and money laundering in formulating and executing the Delhi government’s excise policy for 2021-22, which was later scrapped. The ED alleges the accused were in touch Kejriwal for tweaking the excise policy in such a way to bring undue benefits to them. In return, they paid kickbacks to the AAP it was alleged. , Prominent AAP leaders like Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh are already in jail in connection with the scam.
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