Midday News -

THE HEADLINES::

President Droupadi Murmu to confer Padma Awards at Rashtrapati Bhavan this evening.
Top leaders of various political parties hold back to back rallies for second phase of Lok Sabha polls; Withdrawal of candidature for third phase to end today.
Repolling underway at eleven Polling Stations under Inner Manipur Parliamentary Constituency.
Supreme Court allows medical termination of pregnancy of a 14-year-old rape survivor.
In Chess, India’s 17-year-old Grandmaster D Gukesh surpasses record of Garry Kasporov to become the youngest-ever World Championship contender.
And in IPL Cricket, Rajasthan Royals to lock horns with Mumbai Indians in Jaipur today.

<><><>

President Droupadi Murmu will present the Padma Awards at the Civil Investiture Ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi today. President Murmu will confer Padma Vibhushan on former Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, and Bharatnatyam dancer Dr Padma Subrahmanyam. Padma Vibhushan award will be given to Bindeshwar Pathak posthumously. Actor Mithun Chakraborty, and singer Usha Uthup will receive the Padma Bhushan award. The other Padma Bhushan awardees include philanthropist Dr Sitaram Jindal, cardiologist Dr Tejas Madhusudan Patel and former Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik.

Padma Awards, one of the highest civilian Awards of the country, are conferred in three categories – Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri for the exceptional and distinguished service.

<><><>

With only two days left for campaigning to end for the second phase of Lok Sabha polls, top leaders of political parties are making all out efforts to woo the voters by holding back to back rallies and road shows in favour of their candidates. Twenty seats in Kerala, 14 in Karnataka, 13 in Rajasthan, eight each in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, seven in Madhya Pradesh, five each in Assam and Bihar, three each in West Bengal and Chhattisgarh and one each in Tripura and Jammu and Kashmir will go to polls in this second phase on coming Friday.

<><><>

The campaign is in full swing for eight Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh, which will go to polls in the second phase on Friday. These seats include Amroha, Meerut, Baghpat, Ghaziabad, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Bulandshahr, Aligarh, and Mathura. Senior BJP leader and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address an election rally in Aligarh this afternoon in favor of party candidate Satish Gautam. BSP Chief Mayawati is also going to address rallies in Bulandshahr and Gautam Buddha Nagar Parliamentary constituencies, while several Samajwadi Party and Congress leaders and candidates are also campaigning in different areas to woo the voters. More from our correspondent:

After the first phase of polling in eight Lok Sabha seats, all parties are leaving no stone unturned to garner the support in the second phase of polling. This phase is very crucial for both ruling BJP and opposition as out of eight, seven seats were won by the BJP in the last Lok Sabha polls. Through his rally, Prime Minister Modi will try to ensure maximum support of the people in Aligarh and adjoining areas so that BJP can maintain its tally. On the other hand, opposition Samajwadi Party, Congress and BSP are trying hard to improve their performance in these Lok Sabha seats. The Aligarh Parliamentary Constituency where Mr. Modi is going to address the rally in a short while from now is significant as BJP has emerged victorious twice in 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls and the party has again given ticket to its sitting MP Satish Gautam on this seat. Samajwadi Party has fielded Chaudhary Bijendra Singh on this seat while from Bahujan Samaj Party’s side Hitendra Kumar is trying his political fate. Durgesh Bhadauria for Akashvani News, Aligarh.

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Union Minister Amit Shah, while addressing an election rally in Kanker town of Chhattisgarh today, has said that naxalism is now on the verge of extinction in the country. He assured that if BJP government is formed again at the Center under the leadership of The Union Home Minister called upon the Naxalites to surrender and join the mainstream of the society, otherwise their destruction is certain. Mr. Shah said that during the last 10 years, the Modi government at the Center has taken many steps for the welfare of tribals.

He said that poor, tribals and backward classes have the first right on the country’s resources. BJP National President J.P. Nadda is also addressing election rallies in Chhattisgarh today.
In Karnataka, the election campaign heats up in the 14 constituencies going to the polls on April 26th. The Congress National President Mallikarjuna Kharge campaigned in Channapatna in Bangalore Rural constituency and in Yelahanka that is part of Chikkaballapur Lok Sabha constituency. Senior Congress leaders D K Shivakumar and Jairam Ramesh will campaign for their Bangalore North candidate Rajeev Gowda. Tamilnadu BJP President Annamalai took part in a road show with Bangalore South candidate Tejasvi Surya today. Senior BJP leader and Union Minister Amit Shah will be campaigning in Bengaluru tomorrow. He will be part of a road show in Bangalore South constituency. The BJP held a protest across the state today against alleged appeasement politics of the Congress Government in the state.

Meanwhile, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has declared that the Neha Hiremath murder case will be given to CID and tried in a special court. It was alleged by the BJP that the murder was due to Love Jihad.

<><><>

Today is the last date of withdrawal of candidature for the third phase of Lok Sabha polls. A total of 94 Lok Sabha seats in 10 States and two Union Territories will go to polls in this phase on the 7th of next month. All 26 Parliamentary seats of Gujarat, 14 seats of Karnataka, 11 seats of Maharashtra, ten seats of Uttar Pradesh will go to poll in this phase. Besides, eight seats of Madhya Pradesh, seven seats of Chhattisgarh, five seats of Bihar, Four seats each in Assam and West Bengal, two seats each in Goa and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, and one seat in Jammu and Kashmir will go to polls in this phase.

<><><>

In Manipur, the re-polling at eleven Polling Station spread across Imphal East and Imphal West districts under Inner Manipur Parliamentary Constituency is going on smoothly. The poll percentage till 11 AM is 37.54 percent.

The Returning Officer of the Inner Manipur Parliamentary Constituency said that incidents of violence, riots and proxy voting were reported in these eleven Polling Stations during the voting on April 19 in the first phase polls of the Lok Sabha Election, 2024 and requested for re-polling. Accordingly, the Election Commission of India directed re-polling at these Polling Stations today from 7 AM to 5 PM.

These Polling Stations are seven in Imphal East district and four in Imphal West district.

<><><>

In Arunachal Pradesh, fresh polls will be held in 8 polling stations of 4 Assembly constituencies on wednesday this week for ther Parliamentary and Assembly elections. The Election Commission of India has declared the polling held on 19th of this month at these polling stations for Parliamentary and Assembly elections as void and fixed a new day for fresh poll.

<><><>

In the second phase of Lok Sabha elections, voting will be held on April 26 on 8 seats of Uttar Pradesh. This includes the important seat of Baghpat. On this seat, Samajwadi Party has fielded Amarpal Sharma from the I.N.D.I Alliance, while on the NDA side, Rashtriya Lok Dal, RLD which has made Rajkumar Sangwan its candidate. Bahujan Samaj Party has fielded Praveen Bainsla.

More from our Correspondent:

“On the Baghpat Lok Sabha seat, 9 lakh 70 thousand 210 voters will decide the fate of 6 candidates on 26 April. Five assembly constituencies come under the Baghpat Lok Sabha seat. This includes three assembly seats of Baghpat district, Baraut, Baghpat and Chhaprauli, Siwalkhas of Meerut district and Modinagar assembly seat of Ghaziabad district. This seat has been dominated by the family of former Prime Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh. 9 times members of this family have been elected MPs from Baghpat but for the last 10 years, this seat has been occupied by BJP. This time, after the alliance between BJP and RLD, the equations have changed on the Baghpat seat. After the alliance, RLD has given ticket to Dr. Rajkumar Sangwan an active party worker, has been associated with the Chaudhary family for a long time. Earlier, SP had given ticket to its old worker, Manoj Chaudhary on this seat, but after the BJP-RLD alliance, SP cut Manoj Chaudhary’s ticket and fielded former Sahibabad MLA Pandit Amarpal Sharma from Baghpat seat. BSP has given ticket to Praveen Bansal. Pandit Amarpal Sharma and Dr. Rajkumar Sangwan both belong to other districts. All major parties have intensified campaigning in favor of their candidates. Om Awasthi, Akashwani News, Lucknow.”

<><><>

The Supreme Court today ordered the medical termination of pregnancy of a 14-year-old rape survivor from Maharashtra. The pregnancy is almost in its 28th week. The Court asked the Dean of Lokmanya Tilak Hospital in Mumbai to set up a team of doctors. The State government has agreed to take care of all the expenses and medical needs.

The apex Court’s order came after the recommendation of a medical team which said the continuation of the pregnancy would affect the physical and emotional well-being of the minor. The doctors had recommended that a certain degree of risk was attached to the medical termination of the pregnancy, but the threat to her life was not higher than delivery at full term.

A bench led by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice J B Pardiwala heard the case of the pregnant minor as a priority. The Supreme Court had earlier ordered her medical examination following her mother’s plea against the Bombay High Court’s decision refusing permission for abortion due to the pregnancy being at an advanced stage. Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati represented the government in this case. According to the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, termination is allowed up to 24 weeks for married women, rape survivors, and vulnerable groups like the differently-abled and minors.

<><><>

The Delhi Fire Department has controlled the fire which broke out at the Ghazipur landfill site in Delhi. The fire, which ignited yesterday evening, continued to burn until this morning. The Delhi Fire Department is currently in the process of cooling down the landfill to prevent it from re-igniting.

<><><>

In Chess, 17-year-old Indian prodigy, Dommaraju Gukesh made history as the youngest-ever player to win the FIDE Candidates tournament in Toronto. In the final round last night, Gukesh held fellow title contender Hikaru Nakamura of USA to a draw with black pieces but his fate was sealed on the other board where Ian Nepomniachtchi and Fabiano Caruana battled for 109 moves before agreeing to a draw.

Gukesh became the youngest-ever Candidates Tournament champion, beating Garry Kasparov’s record, who was 20 years of age when he won this tournament in 1984. With this amazing victory, Gukesh will challenge the reigning Champion Ding Liren of China in the World Chess Championship match.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Anurag Thakur has lauded chess prodigy Gukesh D for his outstanding performance.

<><><>

In IPL Cricket, Rajasthan Royals will lock horns with Mumbai Indians at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur today. The match will start at 7:30 pm IST.

<><><>

Severe heat wave conditions will continue over East India during the next 4 days. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast that heat wave will prevail over parts of Odisha today and over West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh during the next 4 days. The IMD also said that hot and humid weather will continue over West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Karnataka and Kerala till the 25th of this month.

<><><>

THE HEADLINES ONCE AGAIN::

President Droupadi Murmu to confer Padma Awards at Rashtrapati Bhavan this evening.
Top leaders of various political parties hold back to back rallies for second phase of Lok Sabha polls; Withdrawal of candidature for third phase to end today.
Repolling underway at eleven Polling Stations under Inner Manipur Parliamentary Constituency.
Supreme Court allows medical termination of pregnancy of 14-year-old rape survivor.
In Chess, India’s 17-year-old Grandmaster D Gukesh surpasses record of Garry Kasporov to become youngest-ever World Championship contender.
And in IPL Cricket, Rajasthan Royals to lock horns with Mumbai Indians in Jaipur today.