13052024-TTB-01.qxd 5/13/2024 12:11 AM Page 1 13 CHANDIGARH | GURUGRAM | JALANDHAR | BATHINDA | VOL. 144 NO. 132 | 16 PAGES | ~5.00 | REGD. NO. CHD/0006/2024-2026 ESTABLISHED IN 1881  DELHI THOUSANDS FLEE AS RUSSIA PRESSES RENEWED BORDER ASSAULT IN KHARKIV WORLD /thetribunechd NC, PDP, APNI PARTY CLAIM THEIR WORKERS HELD ON POLL EVE J&K WEAN FARMERS OFF SONIA SPENT 70% OF MPLAD WATER-GUZZLING PADDY, FUND ON MINORITIES: SHAH SPRING MAIZE INFOCUS IN RAEBARELI INDIA VOTES monday | 13 may 2024 /thetribunechd www.tribuneindia.com 4th 96 LS seats up for grabs in fourth phase Canada arrestscase Indian in Nijjar today; Assembly poll in Andhra, Odisha Tribune News Service Kannauj test for Akhilesh | Adhir vs Yusuf in Baharampur | Hyderabad to seal Owaisi’s fate First poll in Srinagar after370revocation; no BJP face in fray Tribune News Service New Delhi, May 12 The stage is set for the fourth phase of polling for 96 Lok Sabha seats on Monday, where 17.7 crore voters will cast their ballot across 1.92 lakh polling stations in 10 states/UT to seal the fate of 1,717 candidates. All 25 Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh and 17 in Telangana will vote in this phase. Besides, polling will also be held for all 175 Assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh in the fourth phase. The fourth phase will see the commencement of polling for the Assembly elections as well as the Lok Sabha elections in Odisha. The polling will be held continued on page 8 1,717 IN THE FRAY Total voters: 17.70 crore Male: 8.97 crore Female: 8.73 crore Aged over 85: 12.49 lakh Differently abled: 19.99 lakh SRINAGAR: As Srinagar enters a HIGH-STAKES BATTLE Former Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav (Kannauj); Union ministers Giriraj Singh (Begusarai, Bihar), Nityanand Rai (Ujiarpur, Bihar) and Raosaheb Danve (Jalna, Maharashtra); AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi (Hyderabad), Andhra Congress chief YS Sharmila (Kadapa), Union minister Ajay Kumar Mishra Teni(Kheri, UP), TMC’s suspended MP Mahua Moitra (Krishnanagar, West Bengal) Security personnel accompany election officials to their designated polling stations in Srinagar. REUTERS 24x7 free power, quality education, 2 cr jobs: Kejri unveils ‘10 guarantees’ Tribune News Service AAP’S PROMISES crucial electoral battle on May 13, marking the first Lok Sabha poll in a Valley seat after the August 2019 abrogation of Article 370, it is for the first time in decades that the BJP has not fielded any candidate from the constituency. Established in 1962, the Srinagar seat has 21 Assembly segments and over 17.4 lakh voters. This time, 24 candidates from various parties, besides Independents, are in the fray, among them NC’s Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi, PDP’s Waheed Ur Rehman Parra and Apni Party’s Muhammad Ashraf Mir. INSIDE SC TO TAKE UP SOREN’S BAIL PETITION TODAY NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court will take up on Monday JMM leader and former Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren’s petition challenging his arrest by the ED in a money laundering case linked to a land scam. TNS 24x7 free electricity Quality education for free Provision for better healthcare Land from China to be reclaimed Scrapping of Agniveer scheme MSP as per Swaminathan report Full statehood for Delhi 2 crore jobs in next one year Crackdown on corruption Simplification of GST New Delhi, May 12 AAP convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday unveiled ‘ Kejriwal ki 10 Guarantees’ (Kejriwal’s 10 guarantees) under the umbrella of the INDIA bloc, promising round-the-clock free power for the poor, setting up of world-class schools and a robust healthcare system among others. Asked whether he was in the running for the Prime Minister’s post, Kejriwal responded with a firm “no”, clarifying his focus was on ensuring the guarantees promised by AAP would be fulfilled if the Opposition continued on page 8 ~32-cr seizure, ED summons J’khand minister on May 14 Boost for Raja Warring as Bains brothers join Cong Record 95% clear Haryana Class X boardexamination Ranchi, May 12 The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned Jharkhand Rural Development Minister and Congress leader Alamgir Alam for questioning in a money laundering case on May 14, official sources said. Chandigarh, May 12 In a boost for the Congress in Ludhiana, Simarjit Singh Bains and Balwinder Bains of the Lok Insaaf Party today joined the party in the presence of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi. Both of them are former MLAs. While Simarjit had represented the Atam Nagar segment, Balwinder was an MLA from Ludhiana South. Sources said talks were going on for the past few weeks to make the duo join the Congress as it would boost the prospects of the Congress candidate, Amrinder Raja Warring. He is pitched against Hisar, May12 Living up to expectations, girls have yet again outperformed boys in the matriculation examinations. The Board of School Education Haryana, Bhiwani, announced the result here today. It was an unprecedented result in terms of pass percentage as 95.22 per cent of the students who appeared as regular students have been declared successful. This is the highest pass percentage in the Board’s history in matriculation, except during Covid when all students were declared pass without holding the examinations. — TNS Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann in New Delhi. MANAS RANJAN BHUI ❝ I have to go back to jail after 20 days. If you choose jhadu (AAP symbol), I won’t have to go back to jail. Arvind Kejriwal, DELHI CM ALAM’S AIDE AMONG TWO ARRESTED AFTER RECOVERY The agency had last week arrested Alam’s personal secretary and state administrative service officer Sanjeev Kumar Lal (52) and the latter’s domestic help Jahangir Alam (42) following the seizure of continued on page 8 Rahul Gandhi with Simarjit Bains and Balwinder Bains (left). BJP’s Ravneet Bittu, SAD’s Ranjit Singh Dhillon and AAP’s Ashok Parashar Pappi. Sources said the Bains brothers had joined the party on the condition that they would be given the Congress ticket during the next Assembly elections. — TNS India’s Russian oil buy had US blessing: Garcetti Washington had earlier warned New Delhi against trade relations with Moscow Sandeep Dikshit Tribune News Service New Delhi, May 12 US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti has claimed the US had allowed India to buy Russian oil. “We allowed the purchase to take place to ensure the prices did not go up globally,” he said, while speaking at an event organised by the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington last week. Due to this “arrangement”, global oil prices didn’t shoot up and “India delivered on DIDN’T WANT PRICES TO GO UP We allowed the purchase to take place to ensure the prices did not go up globally… We achieved what we wanted due to this arrangement and India delivered on that. Eric Garcetti, US AMBASSADOR TO INDIA ❝ that,” he added. Earlier last month, a visiting US Treasury official had also said the US had not asked India to cut Russian oil imports. “It is important to us to regulate the oil supply. But what we want to do is limit Putin’s profit from it,” US Treasury Assistant Secretary Eric Van Nostrand had said. Of late, US officials have maintained the G7, European Union and Australia do not want Russian oil to be sold above $60 per barrel in order to curtail Moscow’s profit margin. This alliance also bans the use of Western insurance when tankers carry Russian oil priced above $60 a barrel. If the statements by Garcetti and Van Nostrand are taken at face value, these mark a departure from the earlier aggressive observations by US officials on the issue of India increasing the purchase of Russian commodities like timber, coking coke and crude oil. White House Deputy NSA Dalip Singh had ruffled many continued on page 8 Today’s issue is of 16 pages, including four-page Delhi Tribune. c m y b New Delhi, May 12 The police in Canada have charged a fourth Indian with the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Ontario province’s Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) said in a statement on Saturday that the man, 22-year-old Amandeep Singh, was already in the custody of the Peel Regional Police in Ontario for unrelated firearm charges. “The IHIT pursued the evidence and gained sufficient information for the BC Prosecution Service to charge Amandeep Singh with firstdegree murder and conspiracy to commit murder,” said the police statement. The police said he had been charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the Nijjar case. Amandeep gave his places of residence as Brampton, Surrey and Abbotsford, all in Canada. Investigators say no further details of the arrest can be released due to the ongoing investigation and court processes. The police had earlier arrested three Indian nationals — Karan Brar, Kamalpreet Singh and Karanpreet Singh — in Edmonton and YOUTH CHARGED WITH FIRST-DEGREE MURDER ■ The police said Amandeep Singh (22) had been charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder ■ He gave his places of residence as Brampton, Surrey and Abbotsford; no further details were released due to the ongoing investigation charged them with firstdegree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the Nijjar case. Nijjar was gunned down in June last year. However, the police has said its investigations have not concluded and they are probing the role of “others”, including officials of the Indian Government. “The investigation does not end here. We are aware that there are others out there who played a role in this homicide and we remain dedicated to identifying and arresting each one of them,” said Superintendent Mandeep Mooker, heading the IHIT, at a press conference last week. Citing sources, a report in Global News said the suspects had entered Canada on continued on page 8 IN BRIEF Bomb scare at 8 Delhi hospitals, IGI Airport NEW DELHI: Delhi Fire Services on Sunday said eight city hospitals and IGI Airport received bomb threats through emails, 11 days after over 150 schools received a bomb scare of unprecedented scale. TNS PoK tense as cop killed in protest over inflation NEW DELHI: Tension prevailed in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir as a police officer was killed and over 100 hurt in clashes over high prices of wheat flour and power over two days. BACK PAGE Two held for circulation of Prajwal’s sex videos BENGALURU: A Karnataka SIT probing sexual abuse charges against JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna on Sunday arrested two persons for the leak and circulation of explicit videos. PTI