DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE SATURDAY, JUNE 1, 2024, NEW DELHI, LATE CITY, 22 PAGES `7.00 (`8 BIHAR & RAIPUR, `12 SRINAGAR) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 It’s a wrap LAST PHASE TODAY: ENTIRE PUNJAB, HIMACHAL AMONG 57 SEATS Interim bail set to end today, Kejriwal: Proud of going to jail to save country EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, MAY 31 A DAY before his interim bail ends, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Friday said he was “proud” of going to jail to “save the country from dictatorship” even as he asked the people of the national capital to “take care of my parents” just as he, as the “son” of each household in the city, sought to take care of them. In a video address, Kejriwal, who is supposed to surrender in TiharJailonJune2,saidthework being done in Delhi by his governmentwillnotstop.Hesaidhe will leave for jail from his residenceat3pmonSunday.Healso said it was possible that he would be “tortured” in jail. “We are all fighting dictatorship together. If something happens to me to save the country, if I even lose my life, do not be sad,” the Chief Minister said. “I have always fulfilled my duty as a son of your family. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 EXPRESS NETWORK ALLAHABAD HC RESERVES ORDER ON SUITS OVER MATHURA DISPUTE PAGE 11 PMseatVaranasi, TMCAbhishek’s DiamondHarbour amongPhase7 LSconstituencies ANJISHNU DAS GDP crosses 8% in FY24 as services, manufacturing power Q4 growth to 7.8% NEW DELHI, MAY 31 VOTES WILL be cast Saturday in 57parliamentaryconstituencies spread across eight states and a Union Territory in the seventh and last phase of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, bringing to an end pollingin whathasbeen the second-longest elections after the first in 1951-52. As the polls close, all eyes will be on the exit polls Saturday evening and the results on June 4. The last phase will see voting for all 13 seats in Punjab and all four seats in Himachal Pradesh. Theotherstatesthatwillvoteare Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal — polling spans all seven phases — and Jharkhand and Odisha. The Union Territory of Chandigarh too will vote Saturday. Voting for Assembly polls in Odisha will be completed Saturday — Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim, which are also electing new Assemblies, have already completed the polling process. The 57 seats include Varanasi, represented by Prime Minister Narendra Modi; Diamond Harbour, the seat of TMC general secretary and sitting MP Abhishek Banerjee; Bathinda,representedbyformer Union Minister and SAD MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal; Patna Sahib, the constituency of former Union Minister and BJP MP RaviShankarPrasad;and,Mandi where Himachal Pradesh minister Vikramaditya Singh of the Congress is up against actor Kangana Ranaut who is contesting on a BJP ticket. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Election officials reach Tashigang, the world’s highest polling station, in Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh on Friday, the day before the seventh and last phase of Lok Sabha elections. PTI RELATEDREPORTS,PAGES6,7 In key state UP, close contests shape up in over two dozen constituencies BHUPENDRA PANDEY & MAULSHREE SETH LUCKNOW, MAY 31 AS VOTING concludes in the Lok Sabha elections Saturday, one of the crucial states in focus will be Uttar Pradesh. The outcome in UP will be key to the target the BJP has set for the NDA’s return. But the ruling alliance appears to be in a close fight in at least27constituencies—inwest, central, and east UP — of which 20 are among the 64 seats that the NDA won in 2019. The reasons for this vary from local sentiments against sitting MPs, caste equations, and the choice of candidates of the Opposition INDIA bloc. The 20 constituencies which theNDAcurrentlyholdsandand where it faces a tough fight from DECISION PHASE7 Totalseats 57 2024 Candidates 904 Electors in Phase 7 10.06 cr (10.39%) Share ( %) of voters in total VOTESHARE (Phase7) NDA INDIA Others 39.03% 37.52% 23.45% 2019 Seatsgoingtopollsand 2019turnout(%) Overall 57 65.29% Statecompletingpolling Punjab 13 65.94% UttarPradesh 13 58.46% WestBengal 9 78.8% Bihar 8 51.34% Odisha 6 74.61% HP 4 72.42% Jharkhand 3 71.54% Chandigarh 1 70.61% Election Commission data compiled by Anjishnu Das the INDIA bloc are: Ayodhya, Chandauli, Bansgaon, Kheri, Pratapgarh, Kairana, Aligarh, Back in India, Prajwal arrested, sent to SIT custody until June 6 FatehpurSikri,Firozabad,Pilibhit, Mohanlalganj,Amethi,Kannauj, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE BENGALURU, MAY 31 KANYAKUMARI, DAY 2 Prime Minister Narendra Modi meditates at the Vivekananda Rock Memorial in Kanyakumari on Friday. ANI PAGE9 A BENGALURU court on Friday handed over custody of rape accused MP Prajwal Revanna to a Karnataka Police Special Investigation Team (SIT) until June 6. Prajwal (33), the JD(S) MP fromHassan,wastakenintocustody from Bengaluru International Airport after he arrived on a Lufthansa flight from Munich in the early hours of Friday.Hehadleftthecountryon April 27 — a day after his Lok Sabha constituency went to the polls — as videos showing sexual assault, allegedly involving him, started being circulated in THE WORLD Suspended JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna after his arrest in Bengaluru, Friday. PTI the public domain. On Friday morning, Prajwal was taken for a medical examination at the Bowring Hospital before he was presented at the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 HUSH MONEY TRIAL: TRUMP GUILTY ON 34 FELONY COUNTS BIDEN PARTIALLY LIFTS BAN ON UKRAINE USE OF U.S. ARMS IN RUSSIA PAGE 14 Police in two countries probe Bangladesh MP’s murder, one missing link: Where’s the body? PAGE 1 ANCHOR SWEETY KUMARI KOLKATA, MAY 31 A FRIENDLY entry into a duplex flat on the outskirts of Kolkata, a ‘murder’ near the kitchen, a missing body and a suspected gold smuggling racket. As investigators from the West Bengal police and their Dhaka counterparts attempt to join the dots in the alleged murder of Anwarul Bangladesh MP Anwarul Azim Anar feared killed; (left) a team searches a canal near New Town, Kolkata, for his body. File Azim Anar, 56, a three-time Bangladesh MP of the ruling Awami League party, there are, for now, more questions than answers. For one, the body is yet to be recovered and the probe has so far hinged on drops of blood found in a flat in New Town, on theoutskirtsofKolkata.Andifthe MP’s body was skinned and dismembered, as the investigators suspect it was, they are still to trace the weapon used in the crime or the body parts. What makes their job tougher is that CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 18 polling staff die on duty as heatwave grips UP and Bihar EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE LUCKNOW, PATNA, MAY 31 AT LEAST 18 polling staff deployed for the final phase of the Lok Sabha elections have died of heat-related ailments in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in the past 24 hours, authorities said Friday, as large parts of north India continued to remain in the grip of a heatwave. While 10 polling staff died of heat-relatedissuesinBihar,eight died in Mirzapurdistrictof Uttar Pradesh, officials said. According to a press note released by the Mirzapur district administration, three members of a polling party deployed CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Robust economic growth, says FM; third year of 7%-plus growth rate AANCHAL MAGAZINE & RAVI DUTTA MISHRA NEW DELHI, MAY 31 INDIA’S REAL Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by a surprise 7.8 per cent in JanuaryMarch, taking the full-year growth rate to 8.2 per cent in financial year 2023-24, the third consecutive year of 7 per centplus growth, data released by National Statistical Office (NSO) on Friday showed. Boosted by manufacturing, construction, publicadministration, defence and other services, theQ4growthrateof 7.8percent turnedouttobewayhigherthan the highest estimate of 7.3-7.4 per cent by economists. And the full-year growth rate of 8.2 per cent is higher than the RBI-projected 7 per cent and the NSO second advance estimate of 7.6 per cent for 2023-24. Earlier this month, Chief Economic Adviser V Anantha Nageswaran had said there was a “high possibility” of GDP growth touching 8 per cent in FY24. Commenting on the latest E E X P L A I NE D Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal in a video message, Friday. PTI Buoyant startfor ● new govt COMING AS IT does three days ahead of election results, the high growth rate of 8.2% in FY24 together with the Rs 2.11 lakh crore RBI dividend to the Centre, will allow the new government to keep its deficit under check as investment by the private sector hopefully picks up during the current year. GDP numbers, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said it reflects “robust economic growth”. “It is worthwhile to note that the manufacturing sector witnessedasignificantgrowthof 9.9 percentin2023-24,highlighting the success of the Modi government’s efforts for the sector. Manyhigh-frequencyindicators CONTINUED ON PAGE 2