Category Archives: Politics

Politics, Regional

North Bengal civic bodies under line of fire from chief minister Mamata Banerjee

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The Bengal CM reprimanded Gautam Deb, mayor of Siliguri Municipal Corporation for poor performance of the civic body

Avijit Sinha, TT, Siliguri, 25.06.24 : Gautam Deb, the mayor of the Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC), came in the line of fire of chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday.

On one hand, the chief minister reprimanded him for poor performance of the civic body. On the other hand, she asked Deb to be proactive in stopping the highhandedness of land mafias who are grabbing government land and making illegal constructions.
“We are well aware of what is happening in the Sevoke Road, Kawakhali and Dabgram-Fulbari areas. Mafias are grabbing and selling government land. We have initiated a probe and will not spare these people. Gautam (Deb), you are here and you can’t evade your responsibility,” said Mamata, while speaking at the meeting in Nabanna.

She also asked the mayor to not only demolish illegal constructions but also restore the original condition of such land.

“Be tough. Don’t allow such highhandedness. We have information that a section of policemen and some people in the land (and land reforms) department is also linked to these land mafias,” Mamata told Deb.

In Siliguri and surroundings, highhandedness of land mafias is a major issue which has not been addressed in a major way so far. Several complaints have been registered with the police and the administration regaring the operations of land sharks.

“These land mafias have voted the BJP. It is because of their support that the BJP has won,” said Mamata.

Mamata also said four civic bodies in north Bengal performed “worst.”

The SMC, she said, is one of the worst-performing civic bodies in the state in providing drinking water, along with Alipurduar municipality.

The SMC, Mamata pointed out, has also performed miserably in the field of housing (including its failure to control illegal construction), along with Raiganj municipality.

The Dalkhola civic body, on the other hand, has been included in the list of worst-performers in the parameter of cleanliness.

In the course of the meeting, Mamata also sneered at Rabindranath Ghosh, the civic chairman of Cooch Behar, for the decision to increase mutation charges and some other taxes.

“Who are you to increase the taxes? Such an increase cannot be done without the state’s approval,” said Mamata, while addressing Ghosh.

The chief minister was equally critical over the functioning of certain development authorities and said the Siliguri Jalpaiguri Development Authority (SJDA), has been dissolved.

“Hundreds of people have been engaged at these authorities….they simply sit idle. This will not be tolerated. We have dissolved SJDA and handed over the responsibility to the DM (of Darjeeling),” she said.

Courtesy & source- The Telegraph
National, Politics

CBI takes over 5 cases of alleged malpractices in NEET-UG from Bihar, Gujarat and Rajasthan

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Over 2 dozen students detained during march to Parliament
The CBI has re-registered one case each from Gujarat and Bihar and three cases from Rajasthan as its own FIR

PTI, New Delhi, Jun 24 2024 : The CBI has taken over the investigation of five new cases of alleged malpractices in the medical entrance exam NEET-UG that were being probed by police in Gujarat, Rajasthan and Bihar, officials said on Monday.

They said the central agency has re-registered one case each from Gujarat and Bihar and three cases from Rajasthan as its own FIR, while it is also likely to take up another case from Maharashtra’s Latur.
Barring the case from Bihar, the other four appear to be isolated incidents of impersonation and cheating by local officials, invigilators and candidates, the officials said.
The CBI has already registered its own FIR in connection with the case on a reference from the Union education ministry to conduct a comprehensive probe, they said.
After taking over these new cases, the CBI is now probing a total of six cases pertaining to alleged irregularities in NEET-UG, the officials said.
ALSO READ: ‘Abolish NEET, restore state-led exams’: Mamata Banerjee writes to PM Modi
NEET-UG is conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) for admissions to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH and other related courses in government and private institutions across the country.
The examination was conducted on May 5 at 4,750 centres in 571 cities, including 14 abroad. Over 23 lakh candidates appeared for the test.
The first CBI FIR was registered on Sunday, a day after the ministry announced it would hand over the probe into the alleged irregularities in the conduct of the exam to the central agency, a demand raised by a section of students protesting in several cities.
“The ministry of education has requested the CBI to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the entire gamut of alleged irregularities, including conspiracy, cheating, impersonation, breach of trust and destruction of evidence by candidates, institutes and middlemen,” a CBI spokesperson said earlier.
The role of public servants, if any, connected with the conduct of the examination and also into the entire gamut of events and the larger conspiracy will also be under the scanner, officials have said.
Crime, National, Politics

6 held in Deoghar in NEET paper leak case

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 The six arrested from Jharkhand include a man known as Sintu, alias Chintu. The agency is delving into his past and present contacts to ascertain how far he was involved in the paper leak
Activists under the banner of Yuva Shakti stage a protest over the alleged irregularities in NEET 2024 results and UGC-NET 2024 exam cancellation, in Patna, Saturday, June 22: PTI photo

Dev Raj Patna, TT, 23.06.24 : Investigations by the Bihar police’s Economic Offences Unit (EOU) have indicated that a mafia specialising in leaking papers of competitive examinations compromised the NEET-UG and circulated the leaked paper with the help of other gangs in Bihar and Jharkhand.

The EOU arrested six people from Deoghar in Jharkhand late on Friday and brought them to Patna on Saturday for questioning after completing the necessary formalities. This has taken the number of arrests in the case to 19.

“We initially arrested 13 persons in the NEET-UG paper leak case being investigated by us. However, with the progress in our probe, and with technological surveillance and inputs provided by the National Testing Agency (NTA) which conducted the examination, we have arrested six more from Jharkhand. We have seized mobile phones and other electronic gadgets from them,” a senior EOU official told
The Telegraph.

The six arrested from Jharkhand include a man known as Sintu, alias Chintu. The agency is delving into his past and present contacts to ascertain how far he was involved in the paper leak.

“The actual name of this Sintu alias Chintu is something else,” the EOU official said.

“He (Sintu) has been associated with Sanjeev Mukhiya, who we believe to be the kingpin of the NEET-UG paper leak in Bihar and Jharkhand. He is currently absconding, but his son Shiv Kumar — a doctor — is currently in jail in connection with the Teacher Recruitment Exam-III paper leak,” the EOU official added.

The agency has also sent a notice to Pritam Kumar, personal secretary to leader of the Opposition Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, to appear for questioning after he was accused of facilitating the stay of four arrested candidates at the behest of Sikandar Kumar Yadvendu in an inspection bungalow belonging to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) in Patna.

Sikandar is a junior engineer in the water resources department and has been accused in various instances of corruption. He was previously arrested in an LED light scam in Rohtas district and is now on suspension. The EOU considers him a link in the chain of transfer of the illegal NEET-UG papers.

The EOU submitted a status report on its investigations to the Union education ministry earlier this week. This includes the statements and alleged confessions of 13 arrested people, including four examinees.

The agency is preparing another report that will be submitted to the Supreme Court before it takes up the NEET-UG case for further hearing on July 8.
Education, National, Politics

Amid row, Centre sets up 7-member panel headedby Ex-ISRO chief to reform exams, review NTA

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 The petition, filed by 10 students who had appeared for the exam, has also sought a direction to Bihar Police to expedite the investigation in the case

PTI, New Delhi, Jun 22 2024 :A fresh plea has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking directions to the CBI and the ED to investigate alleged irregularities in the medical entrance exam NEET-UG held on May 5.

The petition, filed by 10 students who had appeared for the exam, has also sought a direction to Bihar Police to expedite the investigation in the case and file a report before the apex court.

“The petitioners are fully aware of the ramifications of the cancellation of the examination but there is absolutely no other alternative.

“The NEET UG Examination of 2024 had many other irregularities, in particular, the gross negligence on the part of the authorities to make the question papers available to the candidates on time. In some places, the wrong set of question papers was distributed and later recalled,” the plea said.

The top court had earlier sought responses from the Centre, the National Testing Agency (NTA) and others on a slew of petitions, including those seeking scrapping of the NEET-UG 2024 exam and a court-monitored probe, amid mounting outrage over alleged irregularities in conducting the all-India medical entrance test.

The apex court had also stayed further proceedings on similar pleas pending before different high courts.

The top court, however, had made it clear that it would not stay the counselling process.

The examination was held on May 5 across 4,750 centres and around 24 lakh candidates appeared. The results were expected to be declared on June 14 but were announced on June 4, apparently because the evaluation of the answer sheets was completed earlier.

The allegations of irregularities have led to protests in several cities and sparring between rival political parties.

As many as 67 students scored a perfect 720, unprecedented in the NTA’s history, with six from a centre in Haryana’s Faridabad figuring in the list, raising suspicions about irregularities. It has been alleged that grace marks contributed to 67 students sharing the top rank.

The NEET-UG examination is conducted by the NTA for admissions to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH and other related courses in government and private institutions across the country.

Crime, National, Politics

Arvind Kejriwal to remain in jail for at least 2-3 days as Delhi HC stays bail order in excise policy case

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PTI, New Delhi, Jun 21, 2024 :  Embattled Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will have to remain in jail for now with the Delhi High Court on Friday putting an interim stay on a trial court’s order granting him bail in the money laundering case linked to the alleged excise scam.

    
The AAP national convenor, who was arrested on March 21 by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), could have walked out of Tihar jail on Friday had the high court not granted the interim relief to the central anti-money laundering agency.

“Till the pronouncement of this order, the operation of the impugned order shall remain stayed,” a vacation bench of Justice Sudhir Kumar Jain said and asked the parties to file written submissions by June 24.

The high court said it was reserving the order for 2-3 days as it wanted to go through the entire records.

It also issued notice to Kejriwal seeking his response on ED’s plea challenging the trial court’s June 20 order by which he was granted bail. It listed the plea for hearing on July 10.

The ED’s lawyer mentioned for an urgent listing its petition challenging the trial court’s bail order which was passed late Thursday evening.

Additional Solicitor General (ASG) S V Raju, representing the ED, contended that the trial court’s order was “perverse”, “one-sided” and “wrong-sided” and that the findings were based on irrelevant facts. The relevant facts, he claimed, were not considered by the special judge.

“Material facts were not considered by the trial court. There cannot be a better case for cancellation of bail than this one. There cannot be greater perversity than this,” he argued.

Seeking a stay on the trial court’s order, he contended that the ED was not given adequate opportunity to argue its case.

The application for stay was vehemently opposed by senior advocates Abhishek Singhvi and Vikram Chaudhari, representing Kejriwal. They said Article 21 (protection of life and personal liberty) of the Constitution does not exist for the ED for which the liberty of a person figured low in priority.

Singhvi said the ED argued for 3 hours and 45 minutes before the trial judge.

“This matter lasted for five hours (before the trial court). Nearly 3 hours 45 minutes were taken by Mr. Raju and then trial judge is faulted because she does not repeat every comma and full stop,” he said.

During the arguments, Raju said after the order was passed, when the ED lawyers urged the trial court to keep its order in abeyance for 48 hours to enable them to approach superior courts, the prayer was not considered.

“I was not allowed to argue fully. I was not given proper time of 2-3 days to file written submissions. This is not done. On merits, I have an excellent case. The trial court said finish off in half an hour as it wanted to deliver the judgment. It did not give us full opportunity to argue the case,” he contended, adding, “I am making the allegations with full seriousness.”

Section 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) says an opportunity must be granted to the public prosecutor to present his case but that opportunity was not granted to me, he contended.

He said the trial court did not even look at his reply on the ground that it was bulky and claimed that the trial court came to a conclusion that there was malafide on ED’s part after considering wrong facts and wrong dates.

Raju contended that the trial court has given findings which are contrary to those of the high court while upholding Kejriwal’s arrest.

“If irrelevant facts are considered, that itself is a reason for cancellation of bail. There is evidence that Kejriwal demanded Rs 100 crore but it was not considered by trial court,” he argued.

“End to end money trail was given by us,” he asserted, adding that proceeds of crime were utilised in the Goa assembly poll campaign by the AAP.

“We have made AAP an accused in the money laundering case and the offences thus are covered by section 70 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), which deals with companies. The ED had likened AAP to a company and Kejriwal its director,” Raju argued.

Singhvi urged the court not to stay Kejriwal’s bail order and said it may send him back to jail later if it finds overwhelming and cogent circumstances.

He also questioned the probe agency’s “unfortunate” attempt to malign the judge (by claiming she did not give the ED enough time to argue and did not consider material evidence).

“There is misconception about what a bail hearing should be like. Just because there is a political antagonism involved and that if all the commas etc are not dealt with by the judge, it gives Mr. Raju the right to malign the judge. This whole approach is deplorable and sad. It should never have come from a government authority,” Singhvi argued.

Chaudhari submitted that Kejriwal had surrendered to the jail authorities on expiry of the interim bail period which showed his bonafide conduct.

“If he is out with conditions imposed by the court, what is the prejudice. He is not a terrorist that he will harm the society if he is let out. What will happen if the chief minister of the state comes out on bail?” he argued.

The trial court, in its bail order, held that prima facie Kejriwal’s guilt was yet to be established and that the ED failed to furnish direct evidence linking him to the proceeds of crime in the money laundering case.

The excise policy was scrapped in 2022 after the Delhi lieutenant governor ordered a CBI probe into alleged irregularities and corruption involving its formulation and execution.

According to the CBI and ED, irregularities were committed while modifying the excise policy and undue favours extended to the licence holders.
National, Politics

Defer Implementation Of New Criminal Laws: Mamata Banerjee Writes To PM

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In a letter to PM Modi, the Trinamool Congress chief expressed “grave concern” over the impending implementation of the three laws

PTI, 21 June 2024, New Delhi : West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to defer the implementation of the three “hurriedly passed” criminal laws that are set to be rolled out on July 1, saying it would enable Parliament to review them afresh.

In a letter to PM Modi, the Trinamool Congress chief expressed “grave concern” over the impending implementation of the three laws – The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNA) 2023, The Bharatiya Sakhsya Act (BSA) 2023, and The Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) 2023.

She noted that the three bills were passed in Lok Sabha at a time when 146 MPs had been suspended.

“The outgoing government of yours had passed these three critical bills unilaterally, and with absolutely no debate. That day, almost 100 members of the Lok Sabha had been suspended and a total 146 MPs of the both Houses were thrown out of Parliament,” Banerjee said.

“The Bills were passed in an authoritarian manner in that dark hour of democracy. Matter deserves review now,” she said.

“I urge your esteemed office now to consider at least a deferment of the implementation date. Reasons are two-fold: ethical, and practical,” she said.

She said significant legislative changes should be placed before the newly elected Parliament for fresh deliberation and scrutiny.

“Given the wide-ranging reservations expressed in the public domain regarding the hurriedly passed new laws, fresh Parliamentary review of these attempts would demonstrate a commitment to democratic principles…This approach would afford the newly elected people’s representatives an opportunity to thoroughly examine the proposed,” she said.

Banerjee said the request for postponement also stems from a pragmatic assessment of the challenges and preparatory work required for a smooth transition, particularly concerning the training of law enforcement personnel and judicial officers.

“Any far-reaching legal change requires meticulous groundwork beforehand to ensure effective enforcement and administration and we do not have any reason to avert such homework,” she said.

“I humbly request you to consider our appeal for a deferment of the implementation of The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNA) 2023, The Bharatiya Sakhsya Adhiniyam (BSA) 2023, and The Bhartiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) 2023,” she said.

“We believe this postponement will enable a renewed Parliamentary review/mandate, reinforce public trust in the legal system, and uphold the rule of law in our beloved country,” Banerjee added.

The three new criminal laws will come into force from July 1, Union Law and Justice minister Arjun Ram Meghwal has said. 

Crime, National, Politics

Delhi High Court puts Arvind Kejriwal’s bail order on hold until it hears ED’s challenge

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 The Enforcement Directorate mentioned its plea challenging the trial court order for an urgent hearing before a bench of Justices Sudhir Kumar Jain and Ravinder Dudeja, which said the case file will come to it in 10-15 minutes and after that it will hear the matter

PTI, New Delhi, 21.06.24 : The Delhi High Court on Friday put on hold the trial court order granting bail to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal till it hears the ED’s plea challenging the relief granted to him in the money laundering case linked to the alleged excise scam.


The Enforcement Directorate (ED) mentioned its plea challenging the trial court order before a bench of Justices Sudhir Kumar Jain and Ravinder Dudeja, which said the case file will come before it soon and till then the trial court order shall not be acted upon.

The matter has been listed for hearing during the day.

Additional Solicitor General (ASG) S V Raju, representing the ED, sought a stay on the trial court order passed on Thursday evening, contending that the agency was not given a proper opportunity to argue its case.

He said the trial court pronounced the order around 8 pm on June 20 and the order is not yet made available to them. Even after passing of the order when the ED lawyers urged the trial court to keep its order in abeyance for 48 hours to enable them to approach superior courts, the prayer was not considered, the ASG contended.

“I was not allowed to argue fully. I was not given proper time of 2-3 days to file written submissions. This is not done. On merits, I have an excellent case. The trial court said finish of in half an hour as it wanted to deliver the judgment. It did not give us full opportunity to argue the case,” Raju contended, “I am making the allegations with full seriousness,” he added.

Section 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) says an opportunity must be granted to the public prosecutor to present his case but that opportunity was not granted to me, he contended.

“Let the order be stayed and the plea be heard as early as possible. That order cannot be allowed to stand even for a day,” the law officer said.

The plea was opposed by senior advocates Abhishek Singhvi and Vikram Chaudhari, representing Kejriwal, submitting that the allegations made by the ED counsel were patently incorrect and it was astonishing that they cannot accept anything with grace.

“The noise and heat is not going to solve this problem,” Singhvi said.

He said there are 10 judgments of the Supreme Court which say cancellation or reversal of bail is radically different from grant of bail.

Chaudhari said, “This person (Kejriwal) was released by the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court granted him liberty. This would be a travesty of justice. We are on caveat here and we should be given opportunity to be heard. We would address arguments. An ex-parte order of such a nature…” To this, Justice Jain said, “File is coming to me in 10-15 minutes after proper numbering, thereafter, you can start your arguments. You can argue for as much time as you want to argue”.

The ED had arrested Kejriwal on March 21, shortly after the Delhi High Court refused to grant him protection from arrest on his petition challenging summonses issued to him.

While pronouncing the order on Thursday, the trial court ordered Kejriwal’s release on a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh and imposed certain conditions, including that he will not try to hamper the investigation or influence the witnesses.

The judge had also directed Kejriwal to appear before the court whenever required and to cooperate with the investigation.

On May 10, the Supreme Court had granted interim bail to Kejriwal till June 1 to campaign in the Lok Sabha elections, saying he will have to surrender and go back to jail on June 2. Kejriwal had surrendered before Tihar jail authorities on June 2 and has been there since then.

The trial court had on June 5 denied him interim bail which he sought citing several ailments.
National, Politics, West Bengal

PM must defer new criminal laws: Mamata, Congress turn up Opposition chorus volume

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 After Tamil Nadu CM Stalin, Bengal CM writes to Modi; Manish Tewari demands new laws must go through Parliament again

TT, 21.06.24 : Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday joined the ranks of Opposition leaders who have opposed the three new criminal laws that are to come into effect on July 1.

The new laws, the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita, the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, are to replace the colonial-era Indian Penal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and the Indian Evidence Act of 1872, respectively.

Parliament passed the three new laws – one of the big projects of the new government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi – during the monsoon session in August last year.

“Any far-reaching legal, change requires meticulous groundwork beforehand to ensure effective enforcement and administration and we do not have any reason to avert such homework,” Mamata wrote in her letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday.

Earlier, civil liberty activists such as senior Supreme Court lawyer Indira Jaising have raised concerns over the new laws.

Critics of the government and legal activists say that only 20 to 25 per cent of the provisions are new and that they give too much power to the police. The new laws have provisions that could criminalise dissent, the critics of the government say.

“The new criminal Laws that come into effect from July 1st 2024 lay the foundations of turning India into a Police State. Their implementation must be stopped forthwith and Parliament must re-examine them,” Congress leader Manish Tewari posted on X on Friday, with a link to his article in the New Indian Express headlined ‘New criminal laws must go through Parliament again’.

A few days earlier, Tewari had posted: “The three new Criminal Laws were arbitrarily passed in Parliament after suspending a record 146 MP’s belonging to the opposition. These three Laws therefore reflect the will of only a section of Parliament those who then sat on the Treasury benches. They do not reflect the collective wisdom of Parliament. Even the dissenting views expressed by learned members of the Standing Parliamentary Committee of Home Affairs were not taken on board. The implementation of these Laws from July 1st 2024 will tantamount to throwing a spanner into India’s legal system. The operationalisation of these Laws must be put on hold till the time Parliament does not “ collectively reapply” itself to these three legislation’s

“Certain provisions in these laws represent the broadest assault on Civil liberties since the foundation of the Indian Republic,” he had posted. .

Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin has also earlier this week reportedly written to the Centre on the new criminal laws, urging Prime Minister Modi take the states’ views into consideration.

He had reportedly said that the new laws had been pushed through “without adequate deliberations and consultations”.

He had also pointed to the Constitution.

“These enactments are falling within List III – concurrent list of the Constitution of India and hence extensive consultation ought to have been done with the State Government,” he reportedly wrote. “The States were not given adequate time to express their views and the new laws were passed by the Parliament without the participation of the opposition parties.”

He had pointed to things like Section 103 of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) allegedly having two subsections for two distinct classes of murder with the same punishment.
National, Politics

ECI gets EVM verification requests for eight Lok Sabha seats in 6 states

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PTI, New Delhi, Jun 20, 2024 :  The Election Commission has received eight applications from aggrieved candidates, including those from the BJP and the Congress, for verification of tampering or modification in micro-controller chips embedded in the EVMs post declaration of Lok Sabha election results on June 4.


Terming the suspicion of manipulation of the electronic voting machines “unfounded”, the Supreme Court had on April 26 rejected the demand for reverting to the old paper ballot system.

But at the same time, the top court had opened a window for the aggrieved unsuccessful candidates securing second and third places in the poll results and allowed them to seek verification of micro-controller chips embedded in five per cent EVMs per assembly constituency on a written request upon the payment of a fee to the poll panel.

BJP’s Ahmednagar (Maharashtra) candidate Sujay Vikhe-Patil has sought verification of the machines from 40 polling stations.

Vikhe-Patil had lost to Nilesh Lanke of NCP (Sharad Pawar) faction.

A YSRCP and a DMDK candidate too have applied for the verification, according to data shared by the poll panel.

According to the EC, eight parliamentary seats spread across six states are involved. The total number of polling stations for which verification has been sought is 92.

Candidates who come second or third and seek verification of the EVMs will have to pay Rs 47,200 per EVM set, according to the standard operating procedure issued by the EC on June 1.

According to the EC’s Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), the cost submitted by manufacturers BEL and ECIL to carry out EVM “check and verification” is Rs 40,000 (plus 18 per cent GST) per set of EVM.

“In addition to the cost incurred by the manufacturers, there are also administrative costs like cost of labour to shift the units, CCTV coverage, electricity charges, videography costs and various other operational costs at the district election officer level,” the document said.

It, however, said to make the verification process “more accessible” and inclusive in compliance to the referred mandate of the Supreme Court, it is decided that instead of going purely by the actual economic costs incurred, the administrative expenditure on EVM verification will be treated as “election expenditure and borne by the central or state government, as the case may be”.

“Accordingly, the administrative charges will be waived for the applicants — the same shall not be charged to the applicants,” it noted.

The charges for EVM verification to be paid by the applicant candidate is for the current financial year 2024-25 — till March 31, 2025, it said.

An EVM set has at least one Ballot Unit, one Control Unit and a VVPAT machine.

Separately, YSRCP and BJD candidates from Andhra Pradesh and Odisha respectively have also applied for EVM check following the announcement of assembly results on June 4.

Assembly polls in Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh were held along with the Lok Sabha elections.

In the verification exercise for assembly poll results, total assembly constituencies involved are three where verification has been sought in 26 polling stations.

According to the SOP, the concerned state chief electoral officer (CEO) was required to communicate to the manufacturers the consolidated list of applicants within 30 days of the date of declaration of results — by July 4. The CEOs have already conveyed the same to the manufacturers 15 days ahead of the schedule, the EC said.

The technical SOP enumerating the methodology and steps for checking and verification of burnt memory/ micro-controller of the EVM units will be issued by the EC in due course. 
National, Politics

Delhi Court Grants Bail To Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal In Liquor Policy Case

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Nupur Thapliyal, LiveLaw, 20 June 2024 : A Delhi Court on Thursday granted bail to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the money laundering case connected to the alleged liquor policy scam.


Vacation Judge Nyay Bindu of Rouse Avenue Courts passed the order after reserving it earlier today.


ED’s special counsel Zoheb Hossain prayed for stay of the order till the probe agency exercises its legal remedies. However, the court rejected the request for stay.


Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on March 21. In May, he was granted interim bail by the Supreme Court till June 01 in view of general elections. He surrendered on June 2.


ASG SV Raju appearing for the Enforcement Directorate (ED) submitted that co accused Chanpreet Singh received huge cash amounts from entrepreneurs and paid bills of hotel stay of Arvind Kejriwal.


He said that it is not that the ED was doing investigation in the air and that the central probe agency has concrete evidence in the case.



“Kejriwal says my phone is sacrosanct. Mai password nahi dunga. (I will not give my password). We had to resort to the phone of Vinod Chauhan. He is sitting quiet. Many times it has happened that accused says I will not… An adverse inference has to be drawn from the fact that Kejriwal has refused to give his password. This is a ground for refusing bail under ordinary bail law, forget section 45 PMLA for the time being,” ASG said.

ASG further said that co accused Vijay Nair, who was unconnected with the government and had no business in framing of the excise policy, he was used as a middleman by Kejriwal and that his proximity with the Chief Minister is established beyond doubt.



Rebutting the submissions, Senior Advocate Vikram Chaudhari appearing for Kejriwal submitted that Manish Sisodia’s bail was rejected by the Supreme Court because he was seeking bail in two cases- scheduled case and the PMLA case.


He said that as of date, Kejriwal is not an accused in the CBI case and that on the contrary, the record stands that he was called as a witness.

“It is not for ED to guide the CBI. It is an independent agency which will take the call,” he said.



Chaudhari added: “Why did you not arrest him earlier? Why March 21? What did you want from him? Is the ED an independent agency or is it playing in the hands of some political masters? At the end of the day I am a political entity, I’ve to make such submissions.”


Furthermore, Chaudhari said that co accused Chanpreet Singh does not say anywhere that he has paid for AAP Goa elections or that he collected proceeds of crime.

“It was urged that one token number is recovered from Vinod Chauhan who is in direct touch with Kejriwal. What evidence you have against a sitting CM? What are these two chats which they have extracted? How would these chats even remotely show the transfer of money? It is presumption of ED….Chats are not related to the excise policy, or bribe, or any Goa elections. Just because Vinod Chauhan has a posting order in his phone, it is presumed that the posting is done by me. If this is believed then no one is safe. Just throw it in the air, throw it in media,” he said.


The senior counsel also said that merely because Vijay Nair was occupying a room in Minister Kailash Gehlot’s house, it cannot be speculated that there was some proximity or link between Kejriwal and him.


“Where do they get all that? Vijay Nair in his statement in 2022 stated that he reported to Ms. Atishi and Saurabh Bhardwaj. But ED continues to say that he was under my orders. There is no proof that I have ever instructed him to receive the bribe or do any meeting,” he said.


Yesterday, Chaudhari had said that Kejriwal had not been made an accused in the scheduled offence to date. He further submitted that the Chief Minister was not seeking any special status, although since he was a constitutional functionary, the chair ought to be respected.



He had questioned the credibility of the material put forth by ED, pointing towards statements of witnesses who were granted pardons and turned approvers in the case. He further questioned the timing of Kejriwal’s arrest by ED, submitting that he was arrested soon after the general elections were announced.

On the other hand, ED had submitted that there was no doubt as to the commission of a money laundering offence since cognizance had been taken by the concerned court and the cognizance order had not been challenged.


It was argued that it was for Kejriwal to show that he was not guilty of a PMLA offence, and in that regard, the fact that he holds a constitutional post is not relevant. On the issue of timing of arrest, it was claimed that arrest is the prerogative of the Investigating Officer and timing is irrelevant if a PMLA offence is made out.


Recently, Kejriwal’s plea seeking interim bail for seven days on medical grounds was dismissed by the court. It was said that the extensive campaigning done by him during elections showed that he was not suffering from any serious or life-threatening ailment so as to entitle him to bail under PMLA.


The court also said that Diabetes or even type-2 Diabetes cannot be said to be so serious an ailment so as to entitle Kejriwal to the relief claimed.



A few days ago, the ED filed a supplementary chargesheet in the money laundering case naming Kejriwal as well as the Aam Aadmi Party as the accused. The court reserved the order on cognizance of the seventh supplementary chargesheet filed by the probe agency.


On April 10, the Delhi High Court dismissed Kejriwal’s plea challenging his arrest, observing 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.


AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh are also accused in the case. While Sisodia continues to remain in jail, Singh has been granted bail by the Supreme Court pursuant to a concession given by the ED.


ED has alleged that Arvind Kejriwal is the “kingpin” of the Delhi excise scam and is directly involved in the use of proceeds of crime accounting for over Rs. 100 crores. It is ED’s case that the excise policy was implemented as part of a conspiracy to give wholesale business profit of 12 per cent to certain private companies, although such a stipulation was not mentioned in the minutes of meetings of the Group of Ministers (GoM).


The Central agency has also claimed that there was a conspiracy coordinated by Vijay Nair and other individuals along with South Group to give extraordinary profit margins to wholesalers. Nair was acting on behalf of Kejriwal and Sisodia, according to the agency.
National, Politics

NEET row Opposition accuses govt NTA of destroying future of students

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PTI, New Delhi, July 20, 2024 : Opposition leaders on Thursday launched a scathing attack on the government and the National Testing Agency over alleged irregularities in the NEET exam as well as the cancellation of UGC-NET and accused them of destroying the future of students.

    Some opposition leaders have also demanded the sacking of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and the disbanding of the National Testing Agency (NTA), claiming paper leak is an “anti-national activity” as it plays with the future of students.
    Leading the opposition attack, Rahul Gandhi alleged the main reason for paper leaks is that educational institutions have been “captured” by the BJP and its parent organisation RSS, and paper leaks will not stop unless it is reversed.
    “Prime Minister Narendra Modi has facilitated this capture. This (paper leak) is an anti-national activity as it severely harms the country’s youth, who are the nation’s future and it hurts students,” he said.
    The former Congress chief also alleged the BJP government at the Centre wants to “expand the “Vyapam model” of Madhya Pradesh.
    The scam in Vyapam or Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board broke out in 2013, wherein candidates had bribed officials and rigged exams by deploying imposters to write their answers.
    On Wednesday, the University Grants Commission cancelled the UGC-NET examination, a day after it was held, upon receiving certain inputs from the National Cyber Crime Threat Analytics Unit of the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) over the exam.
    Amid demands by the opposition to re-conduct NEET, Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said isolated incidents of malpractice should not affect lakhs of students who cleared the examination rightfully. He also announced a high-level panel to look into the functioning of the NTA.
    Taking a dig at PM Modi, Gandhi said, “It was being said that PM Modi stopped the Ukraine-Russia war and the Israel-Gaza war, but he is either not able to stop exam paper leaks or doesn’t want to.”
    “The silence is because the prime minister is crippled. Right now the prime minister’s agenda is the Speaker (post). He is not bothered about NEET. He wants his government to scrape through and he gets his Speaker’s post. That’s where his mind is right now,” he said when asked why the government is silent on NEET.
    At a press conference, Gandhi said, “The Opposition is simply not going to allow any of this eye wash that is taking place. We will make sure that we put so much pressure on them, that the issue is resolved.”
    The Congress hit out at PM Modi after the cancellation of the UGC-NET exam, saying every year he conducts a “grand tamasha” of what he calls ‘Pareeksha pe Charcha’ and yet his government cannot even conduct an examination without leaks and frauds.
    Claiming that the integrity of NTA is under severe doubt, party general secretary Jairam Ramesh asked whether the prime minister would speak on this “leak” (“leak pe speak”).
    Party president Mallikarjun Kharge asked when would the prime minister hold “NEET pareeksha pe charcha”.
    Trinamool Congress MP Saket Gokhale, in a post on ‘X’, said, “The examination process structure of our country has crashed. Paper leaks and irregularities are rampant and the useless NTA is complicit in it.”
    He also referred to the cancellation of the UGC-NET exam and said, “The lives and futures of our students are being destroyed every day and the NDA 1.0 govt is shameless to even take responsibility.”
    Gokhale also said, “Incompetent education minister Dharmendra Pradhan has been repeated again despite being an utter failure. The same is with Ashwini Vaishnaw as railway minister and now we saw a train crash just days ago. They need to be sacked.”
    Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav alleged the “paper mafia” was “rigging exams” under the BJP rule. “This could also be someone’s big conspiracy against the country,” he charged on ‘X’.
    While the CPI(M), in a post on X, accused the government of making a mockery of the education system, (RJD) MP Manoj Jha said the NEET exam should also be cancelled.
    CPI(M) Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas raised concern over questions asked in the UGC-NET exam.
    “When NEET to NET collapses… see how saffronisation (is) done; NET qstns (questions) for a Theatre student — Ayodhya pran pratishtha date, how Hanuman is described, the shloka in Ramayana, beheaded but kept alive in Mahabharata, Hindi exponent. How do we intend to mould our next generation?” he said.
    Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan urged the Centre to take immediate steps to resolve the crisis in the National Testing Agency (NTA), saying its “repeated incompetence” in conducting exams such as NEET and the UGC-NET cannot be accepted.
    “The controversy over NEET has barely subsided and now the Ministry of Education has announced the cancellation of UGC-NET, citing compromised exam integrity. This repeated incompetence is unacceptable, leaving students in limbo and wasting public money,” he said on ‘X’.
    Demanding Pradhan’s resignation and scrapping of the NTA, CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury expressed solidarity with the students “in their struggle to safeguard their academic standards from being destroyed by this ND alliance government led by Modi”.
    He said the students who appeared for UGC-NET and NEET, must be compensated by the Centre. “Roll back the recently adopted system of mandatory NET score for PhD admissions. Withdraw proposals to replace existing admission procedures with centralised entrance tests,” he said.
    CPI leader D Raja said, “What’s happening under the Ministry of Education is nothing short of criminal.”
    “They imposed the anti-federal, anti-poor NEET and jeopardised the medical education system of our country, depriving the marginalised of quality medical education. NTA’s incompetency in conducting exams got exposed again after the cancellation of UGC-NET after paper leaks,” he alleged.
    NCP (SP) leader Supriya Sule accused the government of being insensitive towards the issues of farmers, women and students, and sought the formation of a special investigation team to probe the alleged irregularities in the NEET (UG) and other exams.    She said the NDA government cancelled the UGC-NET exam over integrity and fairness concerns.
    “This raises a burning question: Can the NDA government truly ensure fair examinations or will exams be cancelled one after another due to widespread frauds at play? The NDA govt previously claimed no NEET papers were leaked, but the further arrests made by Bihar Police suggest otherwise, yet no action has been taken by the NDA government.”
    AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi slammed the Modi government, saying it was unable to conduct even one exam properly and sought to know what steps it was taking to prevent question paper leaks in future.