The Evening Wrap: INDIA bloc wins 10 of 13 seats in Assembly bypolls; BJP gets 2

INDIA parties won 10 out of 13 Assembly seats where bypolls were held, while the BJP managed to wrest only two, the Election Commission declared on July 13. The results of the July 10 Assembly bypolls, which were held just over a month after the general election, were encouraging for the Opposition coalition, which had restricted the BJP to 240 seats in the Lok Sabha. While the Congress and Trinamool Congress each won four seats, the Aam Aadmi Party, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and an Independent won one seat each. The best news for the Congress came from Himachal Pradesh, where it won two constituencies: Dehra and Nalagarh, while only Hamirpur went to the BJP. With this, the Congress has returned to its original strength of 40 MLAs in the State. In Uttarakhand, the Congress retained the Badrinath seat. The party also won Manglaur seat from the Bahujan Samaj Party. The bypoll there was necessitated after the death of sitting MLA Sarwat Karim Ansari. In West Bengal, the Trinamool Congress continued to reign supreme, wresting three seats from BJP, namely Raiganj, Ranaghat Dakshin, and Bagda. In all the three seats, BJP MLAs had switched sides. The TMC also retained the Maniktala seat. It was revenge time for the AAP in Punjab, where it trounced Jalandhar West’s sitting MLA Sheetal Angural, who had defected to the BJP. She was defeated by the AAP’s Mohinder Bhagat, who had incidentally been her BJP rival in 2022. In Bihar’s Rupauli seat, Independent Shankar Singh pulled off an upset win over the Janata Dal (United) and Rashtriya Janata Dal candidates. The BJP got some solace from Madhya Pradesh’s Amarwara seat, where Kamlesh Pratap Shah, who had switched sides to the BJP, won a tough contest against Congress candidate Dheeran Sah Sukharam Das Invati. Eight crore new jobs in last three to four years: PM Modi Prime Minister Narendra Modi on July 13 said that as per a report by the RBI, eight crore new jobs were made available in the country in the last three to four years. Modi was speaking at an event in Mumbai’s Goregaon suburb after launching and laying the foundation stone for ₹29,000 crore projects in road, railway and port sectors in the city. “RBI recently published a detailed report on employment. As per the report, around eight crore new jobs were created in the last three-four years. This figure has silenced those spreading fake narrative on jobs,” Modi said. “Skill development and employment are needed in the country and our government is working in this direction,” he said. The upcoming infrastructure projects in and around Mumbai will boost connectivity of the city with nearby areas, he said. “Small and big investors have welcomed our government’s third term with enthusiasm,” he said. “My aim is to make Maharashtra the world’s big financial powerhouse and to make Mumbai a global fintech capital,” he said. Congress’s K.C. Venugopal’s phone under spyware attack Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal on July 13 put out a notice from Apple informing him that a “targeted mercenary spyware attack” had been detected against his iPhone. Earlier this week, Iltija Mufti, daughter of former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, had also gone public with a similar notice. In a post on X, Venugopal, while putting out the notice, said that the Opposition would “oppose this blatantly unconstitutional act and breach of our privacy tooth and nail”. “Thank You PM Modi ji for sending your favourite malicious spyware on my phone also! Apple has been kind enough to intimate me about this special present of yours!” he wrote. The threat notification sent to him highlighted that he was sent a similar notification on October 30, 2023, and this was another attack against his device. “Let’s be clear, the Modi government is acting in a criminal and unconstitutional manner, going after political opponents and invading their privacy in this manner. The message of the Lok Sabha elections was that the people reject any attack on the Constitution and the BJP’s fascist agenda,” Venugopal said. Besides Mufti, Samruddha Bharat Foundation founder Pushparaj Deshpande also posted a similar notification from Apple on July 10. The foundation works closely with the Congress. In October 2023, such notifications were sent to multiple members of the Opposition, including Congress’s Shashi Tharoor, Pawan Khera and Supriya Shrinate, Shiv Sena’s Priyanka Chaturvedi, Trinamool Congress’s Mahua Moitra, AAP’s Raghav Chadha, Sitaram Yechury from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and AIMIM’s Asaduddin Owaisi. Italian police free 33 Indian farm workers from ‘slavery’ Italian police said on July 13 they had freed 33 Indian farm labourers from slave-like working conditions in the northern Verona Province and seized almost €500,000 (about ₹4.5 crore) from their two alleged abusers. Labour exploitation is in the spotlight in Italy following an accident in June in which an Indian fruit picker died after his arm was severed by machinery. In the latest case, police said the alleged gang-masters, also from India, brought fellow nationals to Italy on seasonal work permits, asking them to pay €17,000 (about ₹15 lakh) each and promising them a better future. The migrants were given farm jobs, working seven days a week and 10-12 hours a day for just €4 (about ₹360) per hour, which was entirely docked from them until they settled all their debts, police said, describing the migrants’ treatment as “slavery”. Some were asked to continue working for free to pay an additional €13,000 (about ₹12 lakh) for a permanent work permit “which, in reality, would have never been given to them”, the police statement said. The alleged abusers were charged with crimes connected to slavery and labour exploitation, while the victims will be offered protection, work opportunities and legal residency papers, the police said. Like other European nations, Italy has growing labour shortages often filled via immigration, particularly in lower paid jobs, and has a migrant work visa system that has faced cases of fraud. The country also has a problem with labour law violations. According to 2021 data from national statistics office Istat, about 11% of Italian workers were employed illegally, rising to more than 23% in agriculture. IMD issues red alert for Maharashtra’s Raigad, Ratnagiri; predicts extremely heavy rainfall on July 14 The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on July 13 issued a red alert for the coastal districts of Raigad and Ratnagiri, and Kolhapur and Satara in western Maharashtra, warning of extremely heavy rainfall on July 14. The IMD has issued an orange alert for Thane district for July 14 and a yellow alert for Mumbai, forecasting moderate to heavy showers in the city and suburbs with a possibility of very heavy rainfall at isolated places. A red alert was already in place for Raigad and Ratnagiri for Saturday. As per the IMD forecast, Satara and Kolhapur are likely to record extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places in the ghat areas and moderate rain in the plains on July 13. A yellow alert has been issued for the rest of the State. IMD scientist Sushma Nair said the monsoon activity has increased since July 11 and was likely to continue for two to three days. Imran Khan, wife acquitted in marriage case paving way for possible release A Pakistani court on July 13 overturned the conviction and seven-year prison sentence of former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife in the case of the couple’s alleged 2018 unlawful marriage case, removing the last known hurdle in the way of his release nearly a year after he was jailed, lawyers said. Naeem Panjutha, one of Khan’s lawyers, said the court announced the verdict in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, where the former Premier is being held. The acquittal comes two weeks after another appeals court upheld the February 5 conviction and sentence of Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi. The court in its brief order said if the couple is not wanted in any other case, they should be released. Bibi is Khan’s third wife and a spiritual healer. She was previously married to a man who claimed that they divorced in November 2017, less than three months before she married Khan. Islamic law, as upheld by Pakistan, requires a three-month waiting period before a new marriage. Bibi has said they divorced in August 2017 and the couple insisted during the trial that they did not violate the waiting period. It was unclear how the government would respond to the court order. Authorities have registered multiple cases against Khan since 2022 when he was ousted from power through a vote of no-confidence in the Parliament. The latest development came a day after Pakistan’s Supreme Court ruled that the party of Khan was improperly denied at least 20 seats in Parliament, in a significant blow to the country’s fragile governing coalition. Israeli attack on southern Gaza kills 71; strike said to target head of Hamas military wing An Israeli attack on the south of the Gaza Strip on July 13 killed 71 people and injured scores, the Health Ministry in Gaza said, while an Israeli official said it targeted the head of Hamas’ military wing. The Israeli official identified the target of the strike in Khan Younis as Mohammed Deif, believed by many to be the chief architect of the October 7 attack that killed some 1,200 people in southern Israel and triggered the Israel-Hamas war. Deif has topped Israel’s most-wanted list for years and is believed to have escaped multiple Israeli assassination attempts in the past. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity pending a formal announcement, said Rafa Salama, another top Hamas official, was also targeted in the strike. The official did not have details on whether the two targets were killed. The Gaza Health Ministry said at least 289 others were injured in the attack and that many of the injured and dead were taken to nearby Nasser Hospital. At the hospital, Associated Press journalists counted over 40 bodies and witnesses there described an attack that included several strikes. It remains unclear if the attack landed inside Muwasi, an Israeli-designated humanitarian zone, which stretches from northern Rafah to Khan Younis. The coastal strip is where hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians have fled to in search of safety, sheltering mostly in makeshift tents. In Brief:Krejcikova beats Paolini to win Wimbledon title Barbora Krejcikova held off Italian crowd favourite Jasmine Paolini to win the Wimbledon singles title on July 13, coming through 6-2 2-6 6-4 on a sunlit Centre Court. The Czech doubles specialist had dominated the opening set with a near-perfect display but was then rocked by a dazzling Paolini fightback which sent the showpiece into a decider. A nervous third set swung Krejcikova’s way when she broke serve at 3-3 and she went on to complete victory on her third match point, adding the Wimbledon title to the French Open crown she captured in 2021. Jaiswal, Gill smash Zimbabwe bowlers; India secure series with 3-1 lead Yashasvi Jaiswal’s flair was complemented by skipper Shubman Gill’s poise as young Indian team cantered to a 10-wicket victory over Zimbabwe in the fourth T20 International, taking an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match series. This is the second time that India beat Zimbabwe by 10 wickets after a similar-margin win at the same venue in 2016. Jaiswal and Gill’s approach was in complete contrast as the Mumbai southpaw went hammer and tongs during his unbeaten 93-run knock while the skipper (58 not out) was ready to play the second fiddle in a chase of 153 which was completed in 15.2 overs. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. [logo] The Evening Wrap 13 July 2024 [The Hindu logo] Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. [View in browser]( [More newsletters]( INDIA bloc wins 10 of 13 seats in Assembly bypolls; BJP gets 2 [INDIA parties won 10 out of 13 Assembly seats]( where bypolls were held, while the BJP managed to wrest only two, the Election Commission declared on July 13. The results of the July 10 Assembly bypolls, which were held just over a month after the general election, were encouraging for the Opposition coalition, which had restricted the BJP to 240 seats in the Lok Sabha. While the Congress and Trinamool Congress each won four seats, the Aam Aadmi Party, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and an Independent won one seat each. The best news for the Congress came from Himachal Pradesh, where it won two constituencies: Dehra and Nalagarh, while only Hamirpur went to the BJP. With this, the Congress has returned to its original strength of 40 MLAs in the State. In Uttarakhand, the Congress retained the Badrinath seat. The party also won Manglaur seat from the Bahujan Samaj Party. The bypoll there was necessitated after the death of sitting MLA Sarwat Karim Ansari. In West Bengal, the Trinamool Congress continued to reign supreme, wresting three seats from BJP, namely Raiganj, Ranaghat Dakshin, and Bagda. In all the three seats, BJP MLAs had switched sides. The TMC also retained the Maniktala seat. It was revenge time for the AAP in Punjab, where it trounced Jalandhar West’s sitting MLA Sheetal Angural, who had defected to the BJP. She was defeated by the AAP’s Mohinder Bhagat, who had incidentally been her BJP rival in 2022. In Bihar’s Rupauli seat, Independent Shankar Singh pulled off an upset win over the Janata Dal (United) and Rashtriya Janata Dal candidates. The BJP got some solace from Madhya Pradesh’s Amarwara seat, where Kamlesh Pratap Shah, who had switched sides to the BJP, won a tough contest against Congress candidate Dheeran Sah Sukharam Das Invati. Eight crore new jobs in last three to four years: PM Modi Prime Minister Narendra Modi on July 13 said that as per a report by the RBI, [eight crore new jobs were made available]( in the country in the last three to four years. Modi was speaking at an event in Mumbai’s Goregaon suburb after launching and laying the foundation stone for ₹29,000 crore projects in road, railway and port sectors in the city. “RBI recently published a detailed report on employment. As per the report, around eight crore new jobs were created in the last three-four years. This figure has silenced those spreading fake narrative on jobs,” Modi said. “Skill development and employment are needed in the country and our government is working in this direction,” he said. The upcoming infrastructure projects in and around Mumbai will boost connectivity of the city with nearby areas, he said. “Small and big investors have welcomed our government’s third term with enthusiasm,” he said. “My aim is to make Maharashtra the world’s big financial powerhouse and to make Mumbai a global fintech capital,” he said. Congress’s K.C. Venugopal’s phone under spyware attack Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal on July 13 put out a notice from Apple informing him that a “[targeted mercenary spyware attack]( had been detected against his iPhone. Earlier this week, Iltija Mufti, daughter of former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, had also gone public with a similar notice. In a post on X, Venugopal, while putting out the notice, said that the Opposition would “oppose this blatantly unconstitutional act and breach of our privacy tooth and nail”. “Thank You PM Modi ji for sending your favourite malicious spyware on my phone also! Apple has been kind enough to intimate me about this special present of yours!” he wrote. The threat notification sent to him highlighted that he was sent a similar notification on October 30, 2023, and this was another attack against his device. “Let’s be clear, the Modi government is acting in a criminal and unconstitutional manner, going after political opponents and invading their privacy in this manner. The message of the Lok Sabha elections was that the people reject any attack on the Constitution and the BJP’s fascist agenda,” Venugopal said. Besides Mufti, Samruddha Bharat Foundation founder Pushparaj Deshpande also posted a similar notification from Apple on July 10. The foundation works closely with the Congress. In October 2023, such notifications were sent to multiple members of the Opposition, including Congress’s Shashi Tharoor, Pawan Khera and Supriya Shrinate, Shiv Sena’s Priyanka Chaturvedi, Trinamool Congress’s Mahua Moitra, AAP’s Raghav Chadha, Sitaram Yechury from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and AIMIM’s Asaduddin Owaisi. Italian police free 33 Indian farm workers from ‘slavery’ Italian police said on July 13 they had [freed 33 Indian farm labourers]( from slave-like working conditions in the northern Verona Province and seized almost €500,000 (about ₹4.5 crore) from their two alleged abusers. Labour exploitation is in the spotlight in Italy following an accident in June in which an Indian fruit picker died after his arm was severed by machinery. In the latest case, police said the alleged gang-masters, also from India, brought fellow nationals to Italy on seasonal work permits, asking them to pay €17,000 (about ₹15 lakh) each and promising them a better future. The migrants were given farm jobs, working seven days a week and 10-12 hours a day for just €4 (about ₹360) per hour, which was entirely docked from them until they settled all their debts, police said, describing the migrants’ treatment as “slavery”. Some were asked to continue working for free to pay an additional €13,000 (about ₹12 lakh) for a permanent work permit “which, in reality, would have never been given to them”, the police statement said. The alleged abusers were charged with crimes connected to slavery and labour exploitation, while the victims will be offered protection, work opportunities and legal residency papers, the police said. Like other European nations, Italy has growing labour shortages often filled via immigration, particularly in lower paid jobs, and has a migrant work visa system that has faced cases of fraud. The country also has a problem with labour law violations. According to 2021 data from national statistics office Istat, about 11% of Italian workers were employed illegally, rising to more than 23% in agriculture. IMD issues red alert for Maharashtra’s Raigad, Ratnagiri; predicts extremely heavy rainfall on July 14 The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on July 13 [issued a red alert]( for the coastal districts of Raigad and Ratnagiri, and Kolhapur and Satara in western Maharashtra, warning of extremely heavy rainfall on July 14. The IMD has issued an orange alert for Thane district for July 14 and a yellow alert for Mumbai, forecasting moderate to heavy showers in the city and suburbs with a possibility of very heavy rainfall at isolated places. A red alert was already in place for Raigad and Ratnagiri for Saturday. As per the IMD forecast, Satara and Kolhapur are likely to record extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places in the ghat areas and moderate rain in the plains on July 13. A yellow alert has been issued for the rest of the State. IMD scientist Sushma Nair said the monsoon activity has increased since July 11 and was likely to continue for two to three days. Imran Khan, wife acquitted in marriage case paving way for possible release A Pakistani court on July 13 [overturned the conviction and seven-year prison sentence of former Prime Minister Imran Khan]( and his wife in the case of the couple’s alleged 2018 unlawful marriage case, removing the last known hurdle in the way of his release nearly a year after he was jailed, lawyers said. Naeem Panjutha, one of Khan’s lawyers, said the court announced the verdict in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, where the former Premier is being held. The acquittal comes two weeks after another appeals court upheld the February 5 conviction and sentence of Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi. The court in its brief order said if the couple is not wanted in any other case, they should be released. Bibi is Khan’s third wife and a spiritual healer. She was previously married to a man who claimed that they divorced in November 2017, less than three months before she married Khan. Islamic law, as upheld by Pakistan, requires a three-month waiting period before a new marriage. Bibi has said they divorced in August 2017 and the couple insisted during the trial that they did not violate the waiting period. It was unclear how the government would respond to the court order. Authorities have registered multiple cases against Khan since 2022 when he was ousted from power through a vote of no-confidence in the Parliament. The latest development came a day after Pakistan’s Supreme Court ruled that the party of Khan was improperly denied at least 20 seats in Parliament, in a significant blow to the country’s fragile governing coalition. Israeli attack on southern Gaza kills 71; strike said to target head of Hamas military wing An [Israeli attack on the south of the Gaza Strip]( on July 13 killed 71 people and injured scores, the Health Ministry in Gaza said, while an Israeli official said it targeted the head of Hamas’ military wing. The Israeli official identified the target of the strike in Khan Younis as Mohammed Deif, believed by many to be the chief architect of the October 7 attack that killed some 1,200 people in southern Israel and triggered the Israel-Hamas war. Deif has topped Israel’s most-wanted list for years and is believed to have escaped multiple Israeli assassination attempts in the past. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity pending a formal announcement, said Rafa Salama, another top Hamas official, was also targeted in the strike. The official did not have details on whether the two targets were killed. The Gaza Health Ministry said at least 289 others were injured in the attack and that many of the injured and dead were taken to nearby Nasser Hospital. At the hospital, Associated Press journalists counted over 40 bodies and witnesses there described an attack that included several strikes. It remains unclear if the attack landed inside Muwasi, an Israeli-designated humanitarian zone, which stretches from northern Rafah to Khan Younis. The coastal strip is where hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians have fled to in search of safety, sheltering mostly in makeshift tents. In Brief: Krejcikova beats Paolini to win Wimbledon title [Barbora Krejcikova held off Italian crowd favourite Jasmine Paolini]( to win the Wimbledon singles title on July 13, coming through 6-2 2-6 6-4 on a sunlit Centre Court. The Czech doubles specialist had dominated the opening set with a near-perfect display but was then rocked by a dazzling Paolini fightback which sent the showpiece into a decider. A nervous third set swung Krejcikova’s way when she broke serve at 3-3 and she went on to complete victory on her third match point, adding the Wimbledon title to the French Open crown she captured in 2021. Jaiswal, Gill smash Zimbabwe bowlers; India secure series with 3-1 lead Yashasvi Jaiswal’s flair was complemented by skipper Shubman Gill’s poise as young [Indian team cantered to a 10-wicket victory over Zimbabwe]( in the fourth T20 International, taking an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match series. This is the second time that India beat Zimbabwe by 10 wickets after a similar-margin win at the same venue in 2016. Jaiswal and Gill’s approach was in complete contrast as the Mumbai southpaw went hammer and tongs during his unbeaten 93-run knock while the skipper (58 not out) was ready to play the second fiddle in a chase of 153 which was completed in 15.2 overs. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. 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