1. PM Modi's First Poll Rally in Gujarat on April 10
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is going address poll rallies in Gujarat on April 10. The official confirmation on the PM's poll rally in Anand has come. Besides this, PM will also address a rally in Kutch, north Gujarat and south Gujarat on the same day, party sources revealed.
Anand district BJP unit's media convener Dilip Pandya has released a letter inviting party workers to remain present for the PM's rally on April 10 that will be held at Shastri Maidan in Vallabh Vidyanagar.
A senior party leader said, "The PM's poll rallies in Gujarat will start only after campaign for first phase of polls ends and that will be after April 9. The PM is arriving on April 10 in Gujarat and he will address four rallies in a day, covering major regions."
(Source: DNA Ahmedabad)
2. In Bid to Contest Polls, Hardik Patel Moves Supreme Court Against Gujarat HC Ruling
Congress leader Hardik Patel on Monday, 1 April approached the Supreme Court, seeking a stay on the Gujarat High Court order upholding his conviction in a 2015 rioting case, so as to enable him to contest the upcoming polls.
His lawyers are likely to mention the matter before the Chief Justice of India and seek an urgent hearing.
Patel joined the Congress on 12 March and had reportedly been preparing to contest from the Jamnagar Lok Sabha seat. The last date for filing nominations for the same is 4 April, but the high court upholding the conviction spoiled his plans.
Gujarat votes on April 23.
(Source: Indian Express)
3. Gujarat Ranks 5th in Electoral Bonds Sale
Gujarat ranked fifth in the number of electoral bonds being issued across the country. An RTI filed with the State Bank of India (SBI), the only bank authorised to issued electoral bonds, found that in the year 2018, Rs 18 crore worth of electoral bonds was bought from the SBI branch in Gandhinagar.
It should be noted that only one branch of SBI in each state is authorised to issue these bonds. In the year 2019, the number of electoral bonds being issued for just two months of January and March rose by four times touching Rs 73.5 crores.
Mumbai topped the list, with bonds worth Rs 495 crores issued for the months of January and March, while it was Rs 382 crore for the year 2018. Mumbai was followed by New Delhi (Rs 147 crore and Rs 205 crore respectively for the year 2018 and 2019) and Kolkata (Rs 231 crore and Rs 370 crore for the two years) Chennai came fourth followed by Gandhinagar.
(Source: DNA Ahmedabad)
4. HC Rejects Gujarat MLA's Plea for Direction to EC on Caste Certificate
The Gujarat High Court on Monday, 1 April, rejected an application filed by Independent MLA Bhupendrasinh Khant seeking direction to the Election Commission to not pass any order disqualifying him as a legislator following the invalidation of his caste certificate.
In 2017, Khant had won as an Independent candidate from the Morva Hadaf assembly seat reserved for Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates. The Gujarat government, however, later invalidated his caste certificate saying he was not an ST but instead belonged to the OBC (Other Backward Classes) community.
Khant's petition against the order of the tribal commissioner's scrutiny committee was dismissed by a single bench of the Gujarat High Court in July last year, after which he moved an appeal in the division bench, where the matter is pending.
(Source: PTI)
5. Ahmedabad: Swine Flu at Four Years High in 2019 for the First 3 Months
The health department of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) said on Monday , 1 April, the city, on an average, recorded 14 cases of swine flu daily. A total of 1,322 positive cases were reported in 2019, it said. Also, 28 people died of the flu in the first three months. This is four years high in the case reporting.
In 2015, the civic body had reported 2131 cases in the first three months. In 2016 there were 152 cases, 2017 witnessed 27 cases for three months, while 2018 had reported 19 cases for the first three months of the year.
The health officials said cases of swine flu rose this year and the cases might increase again during or after the monsoon.
(Source: DNA Ahmedabad)
6. Gujarat: Body of Pakistani Fisherman Sent to Border
Three weeks after a Pakistani fisherman arrested by Gujarat police for allegedly crossing into Indian territorial waters died in Ahmedabad Civil Hospital following a heart ailment, his body was sent to the Wagah-Attari border on Monday, 1 April.
However, the body of another fisherman lies in the morgue of a Jamnagar hospital. The development comes a few days after Pakistan media reported last week that a Pakistani national was allegedly tortured to death in India.
A team of policemen have taken the body of Mohammad Amin Amad Chaudhary to the Wagah-Attari border. “The team will hand over the body to Pakistan authorities. All formalities have been completed,” an officer of the Joint Interrogation Centre in Bhuj told The Indian Express.
(Source: Indian Express)
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