New Delhi,  (PTI) Stepping up the preparations for upcoming assembly polls, the full Election Commission will be visiting Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat beginning Thursday to assess the readiness of the poll machinery in the two states.

Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar and Election Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey will be on a three-day visit to Himachal Pradesh beginning Thursday. They will meet top state government officials to review preparations and ensure that measures are in place for smooth conduct of elections.

On Monday, Kumar and Pandey are likely to visit Gujarat to take stock of the preparedness.

The tenures of the Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat assemblies will end on January 8, 2023 and February 23, 2023 respectively and the poll authority can hold elections anytime within six months of the expiry of the five-year term of any House.

It is usual for the Election Commission to visit poll-bound states before the announcement of polls.

In 2017, Himachal Pradesh went to polls on November 9, while Gujarat exercised its franchise in two phases — December 9 and 14.

BJP has been in power in Gujarat since 1998 and the main opposition Congress came close to defeating it in the previous assembly elections in 2017.

However, over the past five years, several Congress leaders have quit the party to join the BJP and AAP appears to have stolen the march in campaigning for the upcoming elections, seeking to expand its presence in the country.

In Himachal Pradesh, BJP had defeated the Congress in 2017 to come to power. Congress is gearing up to challenge the BJP in the largely bi-polar hill state, where AAP is trying to get a foothold. PTI

Guwahati, Sep 22 (PTI) Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Thursday said freedom of speech is a “non-negotiable and uncompromising” asset of India, and any deviation from it will be a “compromise” on the sovereignty and wholesomeness of the country.

Inaugurating the ‘Lokmanthan 2022’ here, he also said the category of “pseudo intellectuals” are on the rise in India, and they need to be curtailed.

“The freedom of expression in India is non-negotiable and we cannot compromise on it. If we depart from this, we will compromise with the sovereignty and wholesomeness of the country,” Dhankhar said.

The legislature has an important role to play in democracy, the vice president said, but expressed regret that nowadays issues are being discussed on the streets instead of the floor of the assembly.

“Another concerning trend that needs to curtailed is the problem of pseudo intellectuals. Can public space be allowed to be dominated by this category of people with the help of media-created eclipses?” Dhankhar said.

He also said the role of intellectuals is very critical, and they must engage in proactive dialogue, debate and discussion.

“They must reflect the challenges India is facing. They should play on the front foot with a straight bat. I cannot imagine how intellectuals remain silent seeing violation of human rights,” he added. PTI 

Dharamsala,(PTI) Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama has been honoured with the Alice and Clifford Spendlove Prize in Social Justice, Diplomacy and Tolerance, his office said on Thursday.

He is the 15th recipient of the award, founded by Merced native Sherrie Spendlove in 2005 at University of California, Merced.

“In naming the Dalai Lama the latest recipient of the Spendlove Prize, UC Merced recognises a global spiritual leader committed to expressing the importance of happiness, compassion, warm-heartedness, self-discipline, friendship and human solidarity amongst our diversity,” said Professor Nigel Hatton, with the Department of Literatures, Languages and Cultures.

Every year, the Spendlove Prize honours an individual who can serve as a role model and inspirational figure for students, faculty and the community surrounding UC Merced.

The prize has an annual value of USD 15,000 (Rs. 12,09,921).

Former US President Jimmy Carter and Nobel laureate Rigoberta Menchú Tum are among the distinguished Spendlove laureates. PTI 

 Bhopal, Sep 22 (PTI) Four activists of the Popular Front of India were arrested from Madhya Pradesh in a multi-agency operation led by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), officials said on Thursday.

Three of them have been arrested from Indore, a senior police official said.

They were nabbed from Sadar Bazaar and other areas, the official said without giving more information.

The police did not share details of the fourth arrest.

In near simultaneous raids across the length and breadth of the country, a multi-agency operation spearheaded by the NIA on Thursday led to the arrest of 106 activists of the Popular Front of India (PFI) in 11 states for allegedly supporting terror activities in the country, officials said.

The maximum number of arrests were made in Kerala (22) followed by Maharashtra and Karnataka (20 each), Tamil Nadu (10), Assam (9), Uttar Pradesh (8), Andhra Pradesh (5), Madhya Pradesh (4), Puducherry and Delhi (3 each) and Rajasthan (2).

According to the officials, the arrests were made during the raids which have been termed as the “largest-ever investigation process till date”. Formed in 2006, the PFI claims to strive for a neo-social movement ostensibly for the empowerment of marginalised sections of India. It is, however, often accused by law enforcement agencies of promoting radical Islam. PTI

Kolkata, Sep 22 (PTI) A senior Trinamool Congress leader on Thursday said NCP president Sharad Pawar likely consulted Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee before making a statement about her being ready to bury differences with the Congress, to form an alliance of opposition parties ahead of the 2024 general elections.

Speaking to reporters in Mumbai on Wednesday, Pawar had said Banerjee, who is also the TMC supremo, is ready to bury her differences with the Congress in the national interest and come together to form an anti-BJP front before the Lok Sabha polls.

“It is a good statement. Sharad Pawar is a very senior leader of the country, and I don’t think he has made the remarks without consulting our party chief,” TMC leader Sougata Roy told PTI.

The party’s chief spokesperson, Sukhendu Sekhar Ray, however, declined to comment on Pawar’s remark.

“How can I comment on what Sharad Pawar has spoken about?” said Ray.

The relationship between the Congress and TMC hit an all-time low last year, after the latter had slammed the grand old party as “incapable and incompetent”, which had gone into a “deep freezer.” In a jolt to the opposition unity, the TMC had also decided to abstain from the vice-presidential election, as it did not agree with the process the candidate was decided upon without keeping the party in the loop. PTI 

 New Delhi, Sep 22 (PTI) The Bharatiya Janata Party spent over Rs 340 crore in the assembly polls in five states held earlier this year, while the Congress shelled out more than Rs 194 crore for its campaigning in these states, according to the election expenditure reports of the two parties.

According to the report filed by the BJP and put in public domain by the Election Commission, the party spent more than Rs 340 crore on its campaigns for the Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Goa and Punjab assembly elections held early this year.

The BJP’s spending report showed that it spent over Rs 221 crore in Uttar Pradesh, over Rs 23 crore in Manipur, Rs 43.67 crore in Uttarakhand, more than Rs 36 crore in Punjab and Rs 19 crore in Goa.

According to the report filed by the Congress, it spent over Rs 194 crore for campaigning and related expenditure in the five states.

The BJP and Congress are recognised national parties.

Parties contesting Lok Sabha and assembly polls are mandated to file their election expenditure reports before the EC in a stipulated time frame. PTI 

 Bijapur, Feb 26 (PTI) Six Naxals were arrested from separate places in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district and explosives were seized from four of them, police said on Saturday.

Sonu Korsa (35), Munna Hapka (37), Mangal Korsa (26) and Sonu Hapka (27) were apprehended from Padeda-Cherpal area under Bijapur police station limits, while Korsa Sannu (30) was held from a different location in the same area, Additional Superintendent of Police Pankaj Shukla said.

“These arrests took place on February 24 when a joint team of District Reserve Guard (DRG) and local police was out on an anti-Naxal operation. One more ultra, identified as Sukhram Karam (30), was arrested on Friday at a police check post (MCP) set up between Awapalli and Murdanda,” he said.

Two tiffin bombs, detonators, detonating cord, electric wire, Maoist literature were seized from the four held in Padeda-Cherpal area, he added. PTI

 New Delhi, Sep 22 (PTI) Delhi LG V K Saxena on Thursday handed over degrees to MBBS and postgraduate students of Maulana Azad Medical College (MAMC) here, officials said.

Nearly 236 MBBS students who passed out in 2020 and 248 students who completed their courses last year were awarded degrees at the function.

A total of 356 post-graduate students of 2020 and 2021 batches were also awarded degrees.

The annual day of MAMC was organised this year after the coronavirus pandemic enforced a year-long break, they said.

Saxena handed over the degrees to two batches of MBBS students, officials said.

Delhi Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar was also present at the event. PTI

New Delhi, (PTI) The National Investigation Agency on Thursday morning launched a massive nationwide search operation against groups, including PFI, and individuals allegedly supporting terrorists, officials said.  In the “largest ever investigation till date”, the searches are taking place at the premises of those allegedly involved in terror funding, organising training camps, and radicalising people to join proscribed organisations, they said.  “The raids are taking place at the homes of national, state and local leaders of PFI. The state committee office is also being raided.

“We strongly protest the fascist regime’s moves to use agencies to silence dissenting voices,” the outfit said in a statement. PTI 

New Delhi,(PTI) Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Wednesday targeted Uddhav Thackeray for “betraying” the Hindutva ideology, even as he declared himself as the true torchbearer of the ideals of Shiv Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray.

Addressing a Shiv Sena function here, Shinde alleged that it was Uddhav Thackeray who betrayed the Hindutva ideology propounded by Balasaheb Thackeray by joining hands with arch-rivals Congress and NCP.

“We are being called ‘gaddar’ (betrayers). But it is we who took Balasaheb’s ideals forward, while they shortchanged the ideals of Hindutva. Who is ‘gaddar’ and who is ‘khuddar’ (one having self-esteem), the people will decide,” Shinde said.

Shinde, who led a rebellion in the Shiv Sena ranks in June and became chief minister with the support of the BJP, was responding to the allegations made by predecessor Uddhav Thackeray at a rally in Goregaon in suburban Mumbai.

Thackeray, who had dumped the BJP to become chief minister of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government with NCP and Congress as allies, had resigned in the face of rebellion by Shinde who had the support of over 40 of the Sena’s 55 MLAs.

Responding to allegations by the Thackeray faction of accepting bribes to break the Shiv Sena, Shinde said he has a detailed account of “who paid whom” during MVA government and would reveal the details at an appropriate time in Mumbai.

Shinde had called a meeting of the Shiv Sena leaders from across the country here in a bid to revive the party organisation amid a tussle for control of the party with Thackeray.

Both Thackeray and Shinde have been claiming to be the ‘real’ Shiv Sena and have knocked the doors of the Election Commission for allocation of the ‘bow and arrow’ election symbol. The commission is expected to hear the matter on September 27.

The war of words between Shinde and Thackeray has been escalating every passing day ahead of the elections to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation likely to be held later this year.

“Shiv Sena is not a private limited company. We have built this party giving our sweat and blood alongside Balasaheb Thackeray. It is not your estate. If you treat the party workers as your servant, they will desert you… I understood the pain of the party workers and helped them at every step, when you turned your back on them,” Shinde said.

Referring to Thackeray’s charge of calling him an “agent” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Shinde hit back, saying at least he was not the agent of “Dawood Ibrahim and Yakub Memon, who had carried out attacks on Mumbai”.

“Shall we call you agents of Dawood and Yakub for it was during your tenure the grave of Yakub Memon was decorated,” Shinde said.

“Balasaheb Thackeray had wished for the removal of Article 370 and building of Ram temple in Ayodhya. Modi and Shah have done that. Instead of being labelled as the agent of Dawood and Yakub, I would any day like to be called an agent of Modi and Shah,” the chief minister said.

Shinde said the people had showered him with love wherever he went, within or outside Maharashtra.

Taking a dig at Thackeray’s rally in suburban Mumbai, Shinde said those who did not meet party workers for the past several years have now started interacting with the cadre.

“It is because of us that Shiv Sena workers are experiencing better days (acche din). At least he has started meeting state leaders,” Shinde said, referring to the meeting of party leaders with Thackeray held in Mumbai on Wednesday.

Shinde accused Thackeray of “backstabbing” the people’s mandate for the Shiv Sena-BJP in the 2019 assembly election for “sheer lust for power”.

“We went along, thinking that the senior leadership had taken a decision with something in mind… But I was forced to revolt when the troubles of party workers started increasing despite the party being in power. There is a limit to tolerate injustice,” the chief minister said.

Shinde said the voters had reposed faith in Shiv Sena and BJP in the recent gram panchayat elections. “We received overwhelming support from the people, while you (Thackeray faction) were relegated to the sixth position,” he said.

Shiv Sena leaders from the state, who also spoke before Shinde, accused Thackeray of “ignoring the interest of the party workers” and “compromising the ideals of Hindutva” by joining hands with the Congress and NCP. PTI