DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2024, LUCKNOW, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES `6.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 ee Modi Sarkar ki Guarantee Government of India CBC 22201/13/0100/2324 PM Fasal Bima Yojana becomes safety net for farmers ers Scan for more information Hamara Sankalp Viksit Bharat Claims worth ₹1 lakh 50 thousand crore paid to 16 crore farmers 8 AAP-CONG VOTES INVALIDATED BJP takes post of Chandigarh Mayor, AAP and Cong say fraud BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY EXPRESS NETWORK Denied win, alliance candidate moves HC to set aside election, hearing today REMEMBERING THE MAHATMA KERALABJP LEADER’SMURDER: 15PFIMENGET DEATHPENALTY P8 President Droupadi Murmu, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and others pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi on his death anniversary at Rajghat on Tuesday. Renuka Puri AN EXPRESS INVESTIGATION Polls on hold, Mumbai civic body gave Rs 500 crore for city upgrade — all to ruling BJP-Sena MLAs, none to Opp Under BMC policy, up to Rs 35 crore can be given to every MLA. Of Mumbai’s 36 MLAs, 21 from ruling alliance got funds; 11 of 15 Opp MLAs ask and wait WHO GOT HOW MUCH IN MUMBAI PRATIP ACHARYA MUMBAI, JANUARY 30 IN MUMBAI, the country’s financialcapital,withthecivicelections on hold for two years now, the quality of infrastructure in your neighbourhood could very well dependonwhichpartyyourMLA isfrom.For,thepurse-stringshave been opened when the MLA is from the ruling party and closed when they are from the Opposition, an investigation by The Indian Express has revealed. Mumbai has 36 MLAs: 21 of the ruling BJP-Shinde Shiv Sena alliance; and 15 of the Opposition. Under a February 2023 policy that allows MLAs to seek funds from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for civic works, each of the 21 ruling al- Party No. of MLAs BJP 16 5 Congress Budget Session begins today, suspension of 14 Opposition MPs revoked CHANDIGARH, JANUARY 30 THE KEENLY contested election forthepostof MayorintheUnion Territory of Chandigarh descended into chaos Tuesday withtheAAP-Congresscombine questioningthemannerinwhich eight of its votes were declared invalid by the presiding officer, tippingthescalesinfavourof BJP candidate Manoj Sonkar who was declared the winner. AstheangryAAP-Congressalliance, the first tie-up among the INDIA bloc constituents, alleged fraudandboycottedtheelectoral process for the remaining posts, theBJPalsowalkedawaywiththe seatsofSeniorDeputyMayorand Deputy Mayor. BJP’s Manoj Sonkar after he won the post of Chandigarh Mayor on Tuesday. Jasbir Malhi Kuldeep Singh Tita, AAP councillorandalliancecandidate for the post of Mayor, burst into tears after being denied victory. He later moved the Punjab and CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, JANUARY 30 ON THE eve of Parliament’s Budget Session, the suspension of 14 Opposition MPs — 11 from Rajya Sabha and three from Lok Sabha—wasrevokedTuesdayto enable them to attend the customary President’s address to both Houses of Parliament on Wednesday. The decision came hours before senior ministers met Oppositionleadersandfloorleaders and sought their cooperation for conduct of a smooth session. Arecord146OppositionMPs, from both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, were suspended during the Winter Session for disrupting proceedings to press their demand for a statement from Home Minister Amit Shah CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ■ Ruling parties ■ Opp parties `374.58 cr `191.1 cr `126 cr 4 Sena (UBT) Funds disbursed `462 cr Sena (Shinde) Funds sought HINA ROHTAKI `26.51 cr Zero 9 `84.75 cr Zero NCP 1 NA* Zero SP 1 `25 cr Zero Source: RTI ; *NCP’s Nawab Malik was in jail from Feb 2022 to Aug 2023 liance MLAs sought, and promptly got, funds till December 2023, show official recordsobtainedundertheRight to Information Act and investigated by The Indian Express. In stark contrast, not one of the 15 Opposition MLAs (of the Uddhav Bal Thackeray Shiv Sena and Congress) got any money even though as many as 11 of them had asked for funds. The Indian Express spoke to each of these Opposition MLAs to independently verify if they applied for funds, and if the Guardian Ministers approved it. Incidentally, the Opposition MLAs applied for funds around the same time as those from the ruling party, February to December 2023. The money, if sanctioned, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 SP blindsides Cong with Soren back in Ranchi, 2nd surprise within days, meets MLAs with wife; names 16 LS candidates ED seizes cash, SUV ASAD REHMAN & LALMANI VERMA LUCKNOW, NEW DELHI, JANUARY 30 THREE DAYS after the Samajwadi Party (SP) announced that it had allotted 11 seats in Uttar Pradesh to the Congress for the Lok Sabha elections, the Akhilesh Yadav-led party on Tuesday announced candidates for 16 Lok Sabha seats,takingtheCongressbysurprise. With this, the SP became the first major political party to announce candidates for the parliamentary elections. Many state Congress leaders said this was the SP’s “pressure tactic” to get their party to agree to its seat-sharing offer and that the announcement made without informing their leadership had blindsided it. While SP leaders insist that Akhilesh has already “finalised” seat-sharing, the Congress claims talks CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 RELATED REPORT PAGE 7 ABHISHEK ANGAD RANCHI, JANUARY 30 THE WHEREABOUTS of Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren was at the centre of a fierce war of words in the state,withtheoppositionBJPsaying he had gone “missing” and putting up posters to that effect, and the ruling JMM hitting back sharply. It was around 2 pm that Soren emerged and attended a meetingwithhisMLAsinRanchi. Also present at the meeting was his wife Kalpana Soren. Chief Minister Hemant Soren leaves for a meeting with MLAs in Ranchi. PTI Thedramaunfoldedadayafter a team of the Enforcement DirectoratevisitedSoren’sSouth CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Killing in US, village grieves in India: He was kind... So distressing we deleted video PAGE 1 ANCHOR Vivek Saini, 25, was killed by a homeless man whom he helped SAURABH PARASHAR BHAGWANPUR (PANCHKULA), JANUARY 30 VIVEKSAINIwassupposedtofly homefromtheUSonJanuary25 — his first visit since 2022. The 25-year-old had made elaborate planswithhiseldersister,whois A road leading to Saini’s house in Bhagwanpur. Saurabh Parashar settled in New Zealand. The siblings were to meet at the Delhi airport before heading home to their native village in Haryana. Vivekdidcomehomeonthat CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Lucknow