DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE SATURDAY, APRIL 27, 2024, KOLKATA, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES `6.00 (`12 IN NORTH EAST STATES & ANDAMAN) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 NOCOMPLAINTOFVIOLENCE, say poll panel officials PHASE2HASBEENTOOGOOD, says PM, confident of NDA win HIGHESTTURNOUTOF79.59% for lone Tripura seat Phase 2: Another dip, 64% Turnout sluggish in Maharashtra, Bihar, UP; voting ends in Kerala & Rajasthan NO INDICATION OF ARTIFICE, DECEIT: BENCH SC says no return to ballot papers, backs ‘secure, user-friendly’ EVMs Rejects plea for 100% verification of votes polled in EVMs with slips from VVPATs 69.64% 60.7% Overall turnout 2019 (88 seats) 2024 LAW SYMBOL LOADING UNIT: FEEDING CANDIDATE INFORMATION TO EVM PAGE 16 States where polling is complete after Phase 2 2019 2024 Kerala (all20seats) 77.84% 67.15% Rajasthan (13seats) 68.42% 64.07% Tripura (1seat) 82.90% 79.59% Manipur (1seat) 84.14% 77.95% ANANTHAKRISHNAN G NEW DELHI, APRIL 26 REAFFIRMING ITS faith in the working of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), the Supreme Court Friday rejected prayers for 100 per cent verification of the votes polled in them with slips printed by the Voter Verifiable Note: Overall turnout figure until 7 pm, state figures until 11.30 pm Source: Election Commission of India THIRD PHASE: MAY 7 EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, APRIL 26 THE SECOND phase of the Lok Sabha elections concluded Friday, with the voter turnout data for 88 constituencies until 10 pm showing a dip — just like in the first phase — as compared to the 2019 elections. According to the Election Commission, provisional turnout was recorded at 64.2%, which was expected to rise, albeit marginally, as electors were still lined up to cast their votes in parts of Rajasthan, West Bengal, Kerala, Karnataka and Maharashtra close to 6 pm. Those who queue up until the last minute before the official polling hours are over are allowed to cast their votes even beyond the polling hours. In 2019, the turnout in 85 of the88seatsthatwenttopollson Friday was 69.64%. Voting comparison for five seats of Assam has rendered difficult since seat J&K HC orders `5 lakh relief for man over ‘illegal detention’ under Public Safety Act BASHAARAT MASOOD SRINAGAR, APRIL 26 QUASHINGTHEdetentionof the former spokesperson of the banned Jamaat-e-Islami under the Public Safety Act (PSA), the Jammu and Kashmir High Court has directed the administration to compensate him for the “illegal detention”. Thisisthefirsttimethecourt haspenalisedthestatefordetentionunderthePSA,whichallows theauthoritiestodetainaperson without trial for up to two years. “This court cannot resist but to hold that the preventive detention of the petitioner is mala fide and illegal, ab origine and ab intra. The petitioner has been made to suffer loss of his liberty for a cumulative period of more than 1,080 days of preventive custody, covered under the span of four detention orders in a row from 2019 to March 2024,” Justice Rahul Bharti said in his judgement. The judgement, pronounced on April 3, was uploaded on Friday. “(The) latest preventive detention of the petitioner is compounding the illegality, attendingthebreachandviolation of the petitioner’s fundamental righttopersonallibertywithimpunity, and that entitles him to compensation. Therefore, this court, drawing support from the judgement of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India... reckons this to be a fit case for this court to exercise its constitutionaljurisdictiontoextendconstitutional remedy for grant of compensation in favour of the petitioner for illegal infringementof hisfundamentalrightto personal liberty,” it stated. boundaries have changed after delimitation last year. During the first phase of voting for 102 seats on April 19, the provisional turnout stood at roughly 63% by the end of day and the final figure, the day after, was 66%. Speaking to The Indian Express, senior officers of the EC pointed that sluggish voting in mainly three states — Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar — was what pulled the overall polling numbers down. Till Friday night, Maharashtra registered a turnout of 59.6%, Bihar 57% and Uttar Pradesh 54.8%, as opposed to 63%, 63% and 62%, respectively, in 2019. A total of 16 crore electors were eligible to cast their votes in these 88 seats. With the second phase, voting for a third of the total 543 seats is over. The states where voting is complete now are Rajasthan, Kerala, Tripura and Manipur – apart from the 10 states and Union CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 At a polling booth in Raiganj on Friday. Shashi Ghosh Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machinesor,inthealternate,areturn to the system of ballot papers. In separate but concurring judgements, the two-judge bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna andDipankarDatta,which“conductedanin-detailreviewof the administrative and technical safeguards of the EVM mechanism” said, “To us, it is apparent that a number of safeguards and protocols with stringent checks have been put in place.” It said “data and figures” placed before it “do not indicate artifice and deceit”. Thebenchgavecandidatesat CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 How ‘400 paar’ got new Nothing changes for voter, twist: Reward for work to runners-up get option to ‘shield’ for OBC, SC, ST seek EVM chip verification VIKAS PATHAK & HARIKISHAN SHARMA BUSINESS AS USUAL NEW DELHI, APRIL 26 BY UNNY ONApril24inMadhyaPradesh’s Sagar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said: “They ask me why 400 paar? I reply — because of your stratagems in the states. Dalitonke,Advisaiyonke,OBCske aarakshan chori karne ka jo khel khel rahe ho. Use lootne ka khel khel rahe ho. Aapke ye khel band karnekeliye,hameshakeliyeband karnekeliye,aapkemansoobonko hamesha hamesha taala lagaane ke liye Modi ko 400 paar chahiye (You are playing games to steal the reservation of Dalits, tribals and OBCs. You are trying to loot DAMINI NATH NEW DELHI, APRIL 26 WHILE THE voting process for electors remains the same, the Supreme Court’'s judgement Friday in the EVM-VVPAT case E has, for the first time,givenrunnersupinanelectionthe ● opportunity to have thevotingmachines checked for tampering. Although the court rejected EXPLAINED VOTER TURNOUT IN PHASE 2 EXPLAINED CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 CBI says cache of arms seized in Sandeshkhali raids, NSG’s bomb disposal squad called in EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE KOLKATA APRIL 26 THE CENTRAL Bureau of Investigation(CBI)onFridaysaid they have recovered a huge cache of arms and explosives during a raid in the Sarberia area of Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal in connection with the January 5 attack on a team of ED officials when they had gone to search the residence of local TMC strongman Shahjahan Sheikh. During Friday’s raids, the CBI also called in NSG’s bomb disposal squad to handle the recovered explosives, sources said. In a statement, the CBI said that five teams, accompanied by Central forces, raided two premises in Sandeshkhali. “The CBI has recovered a large number of arms and ammunition, including foreign-made pistols and revolvers during searches in Sandeshkhali in a case related to violence against Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials,” the CBI said in a statement. NSGcommandosatSarberia inSandeshkahli,Friday. Express “During the investigation, information was received that items lost by the ED team and other incriminating articles may be hidden at the residence of an associate of Shahjahan Sheikh in Sandeshkhali,”theagencyadded. The CBI said they have recovered three foreign-made revolvers, one Indian revolver, one Colt official police revolver, one foreign-made pistol, one CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 DECISION 2024 ● One person, one party trying to destroy Constitution: Rahul ●PMhitsoutatTMC: ‘NothingworksinBengal withoutcut,commission’ ● Eye on Assembly polls, eager not to blunt Art 370 narrative, wary BJP keeps out of Kashmir ● SP names, changes candidates in 10 seats PAGES 3, 7 & 8 them. 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