1. TN Campaign Ends on Bitter Note: Tax Men Raid Kanimozhi Home, Find Nothing
Income Tax personnel and Tamil Nadu election flying squads searched a house late on Tuesday evening, 16 April, in Thoothukudi where DMK Lok Sabha candidate Kanimozhi, who is a Rajya Sabha MP, had been staying since the start of her poll campaign. The search, on the last day of campaigning in Tamil Nadu which votes 18 April, saw the team return empty-handed because the “intelligence input” that cash was stored in the house turned out to be incorrect.
The search triggered a political row with Kanimozhi saying she was being targeted because she represents the Opposition alliance.
(Source: The Indian Express)
2. Jet Airways May Ground All Flights, Govt Moves to Check Fares
The future of cash-strapped Jet Airways (India) Ltd hung in balance on Tuesday, 16 April, with the management saying late in the evening that it was awaiting “emergency liquidity support” of Rs 400 crore from a consortium of banks led by the State Bank of India, failing which it would have to temporarily suspend its already thinned operations.
Earlier in the day, civil aviation minister Suresh Prabhu called for a review of issues related to struggling Jet Airways, including rising fares on other airlines and flight cancellations.
“Directed Secretary @MoCA_GoI to review issues related to Jet Airways, especially increasing fares, flight cancellations etc,” Prabhu said in a tweet. After a review, the aviation regulator asked airlines to reduce prices on 10 routes.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
3. Vellore Poll Cancelled, Voters Say What’s New About Use of Money
Election to the Lok Sabha constituency of Vellore in Tamil Nadu was cancelled on Tuesday, 16 April, two days before the state votes, on a recommendation from the Election Commission in the wake of cash seizures, allegedly from the premises of DMK candidate Kathir Anand, son of party treasurer Duraimurugan.
President Ram Nath Kovind issued an order to rescind the Vellore parliamentary election and a government notification said the Commission was “fully satisfied that the current electoral process in Vellore has been seriously vitiated on account of unlawful activities of certain candidates and some workers of the political party”.
Bypolls to two assembly seats, Ambur and Gudiyattam, will be held on April 18 as scheduled.
(Source: The Indian Express)
4. IIT Audit Finds 4 Mumbai Bridges Unsafe, Curbs Likely
A team from IIT-Bombay has declared as unsafe the road overbridges (ROBs) at Byculla, Chinchpokli and Currey Road and recommended a speed limit of 30kmph for all vehicles and a ban on trailers weighing over 16 tons on them. The trailer ban will be imposed on the ROB at Ghatkopar too.
The team studied 299 overhead structures on Central Railway after the Gokhale Road overbridge crash at Andheri in July.
In a move that could add to traffic and pedestrian woes, footpaths at Byculla will be closed for excavation girder inspection, while pavements will remain shut at Chinchpokli and Currey Road bridges for repairs.
(Source: The Times of India)
5. PM Modi Blames Congress for Bastar Naxal Attack: Lifting Their Spirits
A week after Dantewada BJP MLA Bhima Mandavi was killed by Maoists in Bastar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday, 16 April, called the Congress “supporters of Maoists and Naxalites” and said that such attacks were taking place because the Congress was “lifting Maoist” spirits through their manifesto.
Addressing two rallies in Korba and Bhatapara in Chhattisgarh before polling on 23 April, Modi began his speech by condolences to Mandavi saying his sacrifice will always be remembered. Mandavi, his driver and three security personnel were killed last Tuesday when their convoy was attacked by Maoists in Dantewada.
(Source: The Indian Express)
6. AAP, Congress Set to Open Fresh Talks for Delhi Alliance
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday, 16 April, said it will initiate fresh talks with the Congress to “convince” the latter to agree to an alliance in Haryana and Chandigarh, apart from Delhi. The AAP, however, said its candidates for the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi will start filing their nomination papers beginning on Thursday given the uncertainty surrounding an alliance between the two parties.
AAP’s top leadership – Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh and Gopal Rai — met on Tuesday afternoon to discuss how the party would present to the Congress its case for an alliance covering 18 parliamentary seats in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. These include the seven in Delhi, 10 in Haryana and one in Chandigarh.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
7. Violations Pile up a Day After EC Gag on Leaders
The Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and several other political parties went to the Election Commission (EC) on Tuesday, 16 April, with a flurry of fresh complaints against each other’s leaders, a day after the poll watchdog handed out gag orders to four prominent politicians for controversial speeches they made in an increasingly bitter campaign.
The spate of new allegations, like the ones that led to the campaign bans for Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, Union minister Maneka Gandhi, BSP chief Mayawati and SP leader Azam Khan, relate to violations of campaign rules that prohibit soliciting votes on the basis of religion, as well as one new instance where a state-level politician used strong expletives.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
8. EC Makes It Clear: NaMo TV Must Follow ‘Election Silence’ Rule
The BJP-sponsored NaMo TV will have to comply with the 48-hour ‘election silence’ ahead of every phase of voting, the Election Commission (EC) is learnt to have told the Delhi Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) on Tuesday, 16 April.
The EC has also told the Delhi CEO that all expenditure incurred on programmes and advertisements on NaMo TV should be identified appropriately and attributed to candidates or political parties.
The two-day silence period for the second phase of voting on 18 April started Tuesday evening. According to a senior official in the Delhi CEO’s office, a direction to comply with Section 126 (i) (b) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, was sent to the BJP within hours of receiving the EC’s communication.
(Source: The Indian Express)
9. Shatru’s Wife Joins SP, May Take on Rajnath
Days after Shatrughan Sinha snapped ties with BJP to bolster Congress in Bihar, his wife Poonam joined SP in Lucknow on Tuesday, 16 April. While Shatrughan is pitted against Union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad in Patna Saheb, Poonam is likely to take on home minister Rajnath Singh who filed his nomination from Lucknow on Tuesday.
Congress is fielding Acharya Pramod Krishnam, head priest of an ashram in Sambhal, from Lucknow.
(Source: The Times of India)
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