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 ■ ■ HYDERABAD TUESDAY MAY 07, 2024 `9.00 PAGES 18 LATE CITY EDITION Hamas accepts Egyptian-Qatari ceasefire proposal to halt war | P11 Stakes high for Kharge, BSY, NCP in Phase 3 Saffron party sees it as one of consolidation; 30-40 seats across 11 states to witness triangular contests today seats 93 will befor which polling held in 11 states/UTs 1,300 candidates including around 120 women, in the fray 11 crore people eligible to vote PHASE 3 FACTOIDS Entire Gujarat and Goa, 11 seats in Maharashtra, 10 in UP, 14 in Karnataka, 7 in Chhattisgarh, 5 in Bihar, 4 each in Assam and West Bengal to go to polls RAJESH KUMAR THAKUR AND DEVARAJ B HIREHALLI @ New Delhi/ Bengaluru THE electoral fate of half-a-dozen Union ministers and two former chief ministers will be sealed on Wednesday in the third phase of the general elections is 93 constituencies in 11 states and Union territories. The BJP sees the third phase as one of consolidation as compared to the first two phases. Prominent among the heavyweight candidates in this phase AMIT SHAH DOCTORED VIDEO Hyd cops in advanced stage of probe, says CP E X P R E SS N E WS S E R V I C E @ Hyderabad ASSERTING that city cops are in an advanced stage of investigation in the case of a doctored video of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Hyderabad Commissioner of Police (CP) K Srinivas Reddy on Monday said, “There is no need for Delhi police to create any confusion. We will give information through the official channel.” Noting that the Hyderabad cybercrime police had on April 27, received a complaint from the BJP on the CP said, “We registered the case immediately alert, ed X platform officials to find out the origin of the video and started the probe right away .” Stating that both the police teams are dealing with the same case, the CP said he did not know why there needed to be two different investigations. He pointed out that Delhi police registered an FIR on April 28, a day after the Hyderabad cops had started probing the case. Srinivas Reddy said the Hyderabad police have already arrested five persons in connection with the case and asserted that the investigation is currently in an advanced stage. It must be noted that Justice B Vijaysen Reddy of the Telangana High Court on May 3 had directed the state as well as Delhi police not to take any coercive action against the five accused after finding the notice issued by the Special Cell SHO, Delhi, to be untenable, as they were already named accused in another similar case with same allegations. A city court had granted them bail on the same day . Towards the end of April, two complaints were filed against the Telangana Congress, one in Hyderabad and another in Delhi, accusing the party of morphing and circulating a video of Shah’s statement on reservations. Following numerous tweets and retweets, the video was later deleted from the Telangana Congress X handle. are Union home minister Amit Shah in Gandhinagar, Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya (Porbandar), civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya M Scindia (Guna), former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh (Rajgarh), NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar)’s Supriya Sule (Baramati), and Adhir Ranjan Choudhary (Berhampur). In Uttar Pradesh, representatives of the Mulayam Singh Yadav clan are contesting in this phase — Dimple Yadav from Mainpuri, Akshaya Yadav, son of Ram Gopal Yadav, from Firozabad and Aditya Yadav, son of Shivpal Yadav, from Budaun. In Karnataka, the last of the 14 seats will go to polls in what is being seen as a high-stakes battle for Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. For, most of the seats are in North Karnataka, which is regarded as his home turf. The elections are equally important for former chief minister B S Yediyurappa, whose son Vijayendra is the state BJP president. Prominent among those in the TG TOPS IN SHARE OF ‘CRIMINAL’ CANDIDATES A total of 1,710 candidates from 10 states will feature in Phase 4 of the Lok Sabha election that will be held on May 13. Of them, 274 candidates have serious criminal charges against them with 85 of them, the most, coming from Telangana (20%), says the New Delhi-based Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR). Meanwhile, AP sits at the second position with 69 candidates (15%) declaring serious criminal cases in the affidavits. CONGRESS (TG) Atram Suguna: 10 serious IPCs Neelam Madhu: 20 Mallu Ravi: 9 Mohammed Waliullah Sameer: 9 Danam Nagender: 7 Chamala Kiran Kumar Reddy: 4 BJP (TG) Bandi Sanjay Kumar: 30 Arvind Dharmapuri: 18 Eatala Rajender: 15 M Raghunandan Rao: 7 Konda Vishweshwar: 4 DK Aruna: 2 Madhavi Latha: 1 BRS Atram Sakku: 10 Dr RS Praveen Kumar: 5 Gaddam Srinivas Yadav: 4 Maloth Kavitha: 3 AIMIM Asaduddin Owaisi: 8 YSRC Venumbaka Vijayasai Reddy: 26 serious IPCs Bellana Chandrasekhar: 7 Suresh Babu Nandigam: 7 Dr Chevireddy Bhaskar Reddy: 6 Umabala Guduri: 3 S Avinash Reddy: 2 TDP Sribharat Mathukumili: 5 BK Parthasarathi: 3 Putta Mahesh Kumar: 2 Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani: 2 JANA SENA PARTY Balashowry Vallabhaneni: 3 Tangella Uday Srinivas: 1 TOP FIVE RICHEST CANDIDATES IN THE FRAY Eight of the 10 richest candidates in Phase 4 are from the Telugu states. The other two are from West Bengal. The top five: Name State Segment Party Assets Dr Chandra Sekhar AP Guntur TDP `5,705 cr Pemmasani Konda Vishweshwar TG Chevella BJP `4,568 cr Reddy Prabhakar Reddy AP Nellore TDP `716 cr Vemireddy Amrita Roy WB Krishnanagar BJP `554 cr CM Ramesh AP Anakapalle BJP `497 cr Compiled by Ajay Tomar EXPRESS READ India’s medical support for Olympics L 30 CR AND COUNTING Enforcement Directorate officials counting unaccounted cash to the tune of over `30 crore recovered from the premises of Jahangir Alam, the domestic help of Jharkhand minister Alamgir Alam’s secretary Sanjiv Lal, in Ranchi on Monday | PTI Mumbai: The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) have made elaborate plans to take a battery of support staff including a sleep therapist and a small army of physiotherapists to help the Indian contingent at the Paris Games. Unlike in the previous Games, they will also get a full-fledged recovery room | P6 It’s Modi factor vs Biju legacy in Kendrapara B I J AY C H A K I @ Kendrapara WHEN BJP’s national vice-president Baijayant Jay Panda was named the party candidate for the Kendrapara Lok Sabha seat, the question on everyone’s mind was if he could make it this time. Panda had won twice from the seat in 2009 and 2014 as a BJD candidate. But electoral success deserted him after he joined the BJP . Once a close confidant of Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik, Panda switched over to the BJP in 2019 after a bitter fallout with the BJD chief. He contested the 2019 Lok Sabha election as a BJP candidate but was trounced by Odia film star Anubhav Mohanty of the BJD. This time, Panda is locked in a triangular contest with Anshuman Mohanty of the BJD, the son of Nalini Kanta Mohanty, a former minister and close aide of Biju Patnaik, and Siddharth Swarup Das of the Congress, a new face with no experience of fighting election at this level. A s o n e t r av e r s e s through Kendrapara, the election fervour seems to be conspicuous by its absence. There is no perceptible tilt, but scratch the surface and there is a simmer for change, particularly in the rural parts. “No doubt, the BJD and its leaders have done a good work in the constituency . But we should also examine what other political parties are offering. Baijayant Panda is a known leader nationally,” said Biraja Das, a paan shop owner at Chhapali square under Mahakalapada Assembly segment. The sentiment was echoed by another voter. “The time has come for a change. The same party has been ruling for too long. Development is too slow,” said Sadasiv Patra of Pospura. Basic issues such as roads, water, hospitals, schools, and unemployment are on top of voters’ mind. However, voting behaviour is more inclined to emotion and attachment, where problem-solving becomes secCONTINUED ON P6 ondary . fray in Karnataka are former CMs Basavaraj Bommai (Haveri) and Jagadish Shettar (Belgaum), Union ministers Pralhad Joshi (Dharwad) and Bhagwant Khuba (Bidar), Yediyurappa’s son Raghavendra (Shivamogga), and Kharge’s son-in-law Radhakrishna Doddamani (Gulbarga SC). According to sources, around 30-40 constituencies in the third phase will witness triangular contests, giving sitting Lok Sabha members a really tough time. Most of the sitting MPs are from the ruling BJP . Delhi L-G calls for NIA probe against Kejriwal KAVITHA DENIED BAIL A Delhi court said there is sufficient material against the BRS MLC. There is every chance of her influencing witnesses if given bail, it said | P4 A S H I S H S R I V A S TA V A @ New Delhi LIEUTENANT Governor of Delhi V K Saxena on Monday recommended a probe by the NIA against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, citing an allegation that his Aam Aadmi Party received funding from the banned pro-Khalistan group, Sikhs for Justice. The L-G’s recommendation comes amid the Supreme Court’s indication that it may consider giving bail to Kejriwal in view of the Lok Sabha polls. In a letter written to the Union home ministry the L-G said his , recommendation is based on a complaint he received about the AAP receiving $16 million from Khalistani groups for facilitating the release of Devendra Pal Bhullar, who was convicted in the 1993 blast case in Delhi. The complaint was filed by Ashoo Mongia, the national general secretary of the World Hindu Federation, referring to a video in which Khalistani leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun said the AAP took money from pro-Khalistani groups between 2014 and 2022.
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