Evening News -

THE HEADLINES:

Campaigning for Lok Sabha Elections picks up; Senior BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi hold rallies and roadshows in various parts of the country.
DMK leader MK Stalin holds rally in Madurai; Congress and Aam Admi Party leaders hold public meetings in Assam.
Delhi High Court dismisses Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s plea challenging his arrest by ED in an alleged liquor policy scam case.
UN Security Council President refers Palestine’s application for full membership to its Admission Committee.
NASA says, March 2024 hottest month on record; warns of uncertainties if rising temperatures continue till end of Summers.
In IPL Cricket, match between Punjab Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad underway in Chandigarh.

<><><>

Campaigning for the Lok Sabha Elections is picking up momentum. Top leaders of major political parties are touring various parts of country and holding public rallies and roadshow in support of their party candidates.

Senior BJP leader and Prime Minister Narendra Modi began his two day visit to Tamilnadu today with a road show in Chennai this evening. He arrived in Chennai by a special flight and sought votes for BJP candidates Dr.Tamilisai Soundararajan, Paul Kanagaraj and Vinoj.P.Selvam who are contesting in Chennai South, North and Central Lok Sabha constituencies. The two kilometer road show began at Panagal Park and ended at Eldams Road, Teynampet. Mr.Modi was was accompanied by State BJP President K.Annamalai and others.

Tomorrow, star BJP campaigner, Mr Modi will address two public meetings, in Vellore and Mettupalayam, near Coimbatore.

In another event at Madurai, DMK leader and State Chief Minister M.K.Stalin canvassed for the candidates of I.N.D.I.A. block. Addressing a public meeting at Madurai, he criticised the BJP for targeting the opposition leaders with ED and IT and putting them behind bars. Stalin said that non-BJP ruled States were always at the receiving end due to insufficient funds. He also criticised the AIADMK for being inactive during their four years tenure in power.

Single phase polling will be held for 39 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu on the 19th of this month.

Earlier today, Prime Minister Modi, addressed a gathering at Balaghat in Madhya Pradesh. Mr Modi said, 2024 Lok Sabha election is a very important election for the 21st century India adding that this is not just an election but a mission to build a new India. He said, the BJP government is following the mantra of Sabka Saath-Sabka Vikas and is giving priority to every city and village of the country. He said, the government is spending crores of rupees on building modern infrastructure in the country. He said, his government honoured Tantya Mama and started the Tribal Pride Day for the first time on the birth anniversary of Lord Birsa Munda.

In Assam, star campaigners have started arriving in the state to woo the voters. Union Home Minister Amit Shah today addressed a public meeting at Chukuli Bhoria in Lakhimpur Lok Sabha constituency of Assam. Aam Admi Party and Congress leaders were also in the state today.

The polls campaign got momentum with the arrival of the star campaigners in Assam. 3 phases polling will be held in the state for 14 seats. Union Home minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah held a rally at North Lakhimpur in presence of Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. He said that the North East has witnessed tremendous progress in the last 10 years. Mr. Shah also held a road show at Tinsukia for Union minister and NDA’s Dibrugarh candidate Sarbananda Sonowal. AAP leader Atishi did a public meeting at Marghertia . State Congress President BHupen Kumar Borah participated in various election meetings at Kaziranga constituency . AIUDF, TMC, CPI-M ,BPF are also holding election rallies to woo the voters. MANAS PRATIM SHARMA, AKASHWANI NEWS GUWAHATI

<><><>

The Election Commission has directed the Union Home Ministry to deploy 100 more companies of Central Armed Paramilitary Forces in West Bengal for upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Sources said, 55 companies of Central Reserve Police Force and 45 companies of Border Security forces are being deployed by the Home Ministry on the instructions of the Commission. Officials have been directed to complete the deployment on or before the 15th of this month.

<><><>

The Election Commission of India has issued notice to Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala for his undignified remark against BJP leader Hema Malini. Mr. Surjewala has been asked to submit his reply by 5 PM on the 11th of this month.

<><><>

In Uttar Pradesh, voting will be held on eight seats in the second phase of Lok Sabha elections on April 26. This also includes the important seat of Meerut. In this seat, BJP has canceled the ticket of its three-time MP Rajendra Aggarwal and has fielded Arun Govil, who played the role of Ram in the serial Ramayana. BSP has declared Devvrat Tyagi as its candidate and Samajwadi Party has made former mayor Sunita Verma its candidate. Apart from these, 5 other candidates are also contesting the election.

Meerut Lok Sabha seat of western Uttar Pradesh has five assembly constituencies. This includes four assemblies of Meerut district, Meerut Cantt, Meerut Kithore, Meerut City, Meerut South and one Hapur Assembly. There are a total of 20 lakh 530 voters in this Lok Sabha constituency. These include 10 lakh 75 thousand 368 female voters, 9 lakh 25 thousand 22 male voters and 140 transgender voters. BJP has made Arun Govil its candidate from the Meerut Lok Sabha seat by canceling the ticket of its three-time MP Rajendra Aggarwal. On this seat, Samajwadi Party changed the names of its candidates twice and finally made former Mayor Sunita Verma its candidate. Samajwadi Party had first given ticket to Advocate Bhanu Pratap but later his ticket was changed to Sardhana MLA Atul Pradhan. He had also filed his nomination but on the last day of nomination his ticket was canceled and Sunita Verma from SP filed nomination. Devvrat Tyagi is contesting from BSP on this seat. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, BJP’s Rajendra Aggarwal won the election from this Lok Sabha seat by getting 5 lakh 86 thousand 184 votes. From here, BSP’s Haji Mohammad Khad Yakub stood second by getting 5 lakh 81 thousand 455 votes. The margin of victory or defeat between the two leaders was very small. All parties have started campaigning for this high profile seat. Voting on this seat will be held on April 26. Om Awasthi, AIR News Lucknow.

<><><>

The Delhi High Court today dismissed the plea moved by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the money laundering case related to the alleged liquor policy scam case, as well as the remand order passed by the trial court sending him to ED custody.

Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma upheld his arrest and subsequent remand holding that ED was able to place enough material, statements of approvers and AAP’s own candidate stating that Kejriwal was given money for Goa elections.

On Kejriwal’s arguments challenging the timing of arrest ahead of General elections, the Court held that challenging the timing of arrest, in the absence of any mala fide on the part of the ED, is not sustainable.

Mr. Kejriwal is currently in judicial custody. He was arrested on the night of March the 21.

<><><>

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested the key accused, identified as Harwinder Singh in the Attari drug seizure case. Indian Customs had seized over 102 kilograms of heroin worth seven hundred crore rupees in April 2022. The case relates to a major conspiracy hatched by the international drug cartel to circulate drugs in India through various distributors and channelize the proceeds to the foreign-based masterminds.

<><><>

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached one thousand 807 acres of land worth over 52 crore rupees in a bank loan fraud case of Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative Bank. ED has initiated investigation on the basis of an FIR registered by Mumbai Police against the then directors of Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative Bank Joy Thomas, Waryam Singh and other unknown persons.

<><><>

In Bihar, seven people including five children and two women were killed in a fire tragedy this afternoon in Ibrahimpur locality under Kachwa police station area in Rohtas district.
Local villagers said the accident took place in a thatched house due to a spark from a nearby transformer. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has expressed grief over the tragic incident.

<><><>

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued notices to Gurugram Municipal Commissioner and Police Commissioner over the incident of a two-year-old boy who died after falling into a 12-feet deep uncovered manhole in Gurugram, Haryana on 3rd April. Taking a suo motu cognizance after media reports, NHRC sought reports on the matter within four weeks from both departments.

<><><>

The UN Security Council President has referred the Palestinian Authority’s application, to become a full member of the world body, to the committee on the admission of new member.

Malta’s U.N. Ambassador Vanessa Frazier proposed to the committee, that met yesterday, to consider the application, adding that deliberation has to take place this month. Malta is president of the Security Council for April.

<><><>

Director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, Gavin Schmidt has said, if temperatures do not fall by the end of the year, Climate change could move “into uncharted territory”. He said, if record breaking temperatures are witnessed in the North Atlantic or elsewhere by the end of the summer this year, then the weather system will move into uncharted territory.

The warning came as new data showed that March 2024 was the warmest month on record, extending the run of monthly temperature records to ten in a row since June last year.
A weather system called El Nino and human caused climate change are behind some of the recent heat.

<><><>

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in France today delivered a landmark ruling and found that Switzerland’s failure to adequately tackle the climate crisis is a violation of human rights.

The court ruled in favour of a group of elderly women from Switzerland, who argued that the Swiss government’s inadequate efforts to combat climate change put them at risk of dying during heatwaves.

The case was brought by more than 2,000 Swiss women the majority of whom are in their 70s.

<><><>

The Government has extended the deadline for submission of Research and Development proposals under National Green Hydrogen Mission till the 27th of April. Earlier the last date for submission was 12th April. The National Green Hydrogen mission was launched in January last year with an outlay of 19 thousand 744 crore rupees up to the financial year 2029-30.

<><><>

The Sensex and the Nifty hit a record high of 75 thousand mark for the first time ever. Nifty also climbed to a fresh new record peak. Buying in IT stocks contributed the most to the market rally in early trade.

However, the markets closed in the red after trading flat amid volatility. While BSE Sensex lost 58 points to close at 74,683, Nifty-50 fell 23 points to settle at 22,642.

We spoke to market analyst, Udayan Ray on the reasons for record high in the markets today.

<><><>

In IPL Cricket, the match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Punjab Kings is underway at Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in Chandigarh.

Put in to bat, Sunrisers Hyderabad were 172 for 8 in 19.1 overs, when reports last came in.

<><><>

THE HEADLINES ONCE AGAIN

Campaigning for Lok Sabha Elections picks up; Senior BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi hold rallies and roadshows in various parts of country.
DMK leader MK Stalin holds rally in Madurai; Congress and Aam Admi Party leaders hold public meetings in Assam.
Delhi High Court dismisses Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s plea challenging his arrest by ED in an alleged liquor policy scam case.
UN Security Council President refers Palestine’s application for full membership to its Admission Committee.
NASA says, March 2024 hottest month on record; warns of uncertainties if rising temperatures continue till end of Summers.
In IPL Cricket, match between Punjab Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad underway in Chandigarh.