The Evening Wrap: Charanjit Singh Channi is Cong. CM candidate in Punjab: Rahul Gandhi

Putting a rest to all speculations surrounding the party’s Chief Ministerial candidate for the 2022 Punjab Assembly elections, Congress leader and former party president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday announced the name of Charanjit Singh Channi as Congress’s Chief Minister face. “It’s a decision of Punjab. It’s not Rahul Gandhi’s decision. When you asked me to decide on CM face, I asked the people of Punjab, I asked party candidates, workers, the youth, and the working committee members. And the reply they all gave me that decision I am sharing today. My work is to listen and understand your voice, I may be having an opinion but the opinion of Punjab is more important than my opinion. People of Punjab said that they want a Chief Minister from a poor family. The one who understands poverty and the pain of the poor because Punjab needs such a person. I also have a similar opinion. It was a difficult decision (to choose) the Chief Ministerial candidate, but you (people) made it easy. The Congress Chief Ministerial candidate will be Charanjit Singh Channi." He was addressing a virtual rally in Punjab’s Ludhiana in the run-up to the Assembly polls. Asserting that Congress was different from other political parties, Mr. Gandhi said “Congress party is a system of developing and nurturing leaders; it gradually makes a leader.. I give you, my example.. In the last 5- 7 years I was able to learn that I couldn’t have learned without the Congress party and without the worker of the Congress party. Lata Mangeshkar, legendary singer, passes away at 92 Legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar, known by the affectionate moniker ‘Nightingale of India’, passed away on Sunday aged 92, said medical sources. She passed away at 8.12 a.m. after suffering a multiple-organ failure on Saturday night. Confirming her death, Breach Candy Hospital CEO N. Santhanam attributed the iconic singer’s death to post-COVID-19 complications. The Central government has announced a two-day national mourning. Tributes gushed in from the cinematic world and the country’s political spectrum as the news of the singer’s death broke. Her last rites are to be performed at Shivaji Park in Dadar on Sunday evening. Expressing grief over her demise, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted, “I am anguished beyond words. The kind and caring Lata Didi has left us. She leaves a void in our nation that cannot be filled. The coming generations will remember her as a stalwart of Indian culture, whose melodious voice had an unparalleled ability to mesmerise people. Assembly polls: EC allows public meetings with 50% capacity indoor, 30% outdoor The Election Commission (EC) on Sunday relaxed rules regarding public meetings for the ongoing five State Assembly polls, allowing attendance of up to 50% of the capacity of an indoor venue an 30% of an open ground. The EC said the decision was taken after a meeting with the Union Health Secretary on Saturday and inputs from Chief Secretaries of the poll-bound States. The Chief Secretaries had told the EC that there had been a “significant improvement” in the COVID-19 situation and a “considerable decrease” in positive cases and hospitalisation. The EC said most of the Chief Secretaries and the special observers appointed for the polls had recommended easing restrictions. It said the Health Secretary informed the commission that the number of cases were on the decline in the country and the maximum cases being reported were from non-poll-going states. BSF thwarts major narcotic smuggling bid; three Pak intruders killed along IB in J&K’s Samba Three Pakistani intruders were gunned down on February 6 by the BSF as it scuttled a major narcotic smuggling attempt and recovered 36 kg heroin worth crores of rupees along the International Border in Samba sector of Jammu and Kashmir, officials said. This was the fourth narcotic smuggling bid foiled by the BSF troops along the border this year, while a total of nine Pakistani intruders were eliminated in various such attempts in the past one year, Inspector General of Border Security Force (BSF), Jammu frontier, D.K. Boora said. “We had a very good operation the previous night when the alert troops eliminated a narcotic smuggling attempt from Pakistan. The smugglers tried to take advantage of the darkness and foggy conditions to smuggle the huge quantity of narcotics into this side,” Dr. Boora, who rushed to the border outpost Bainglar where his troops made the biggest recovery this year, told reporters. Displaying the seized items, he said the surveillance equipment picked up the movement of the smugglers and accordingly the troops on the forward duty points were alerted. U.S. airborne infantry troops in Poland amid Ukraine tension Hundreds of U.S elite troops were expected to arrive in southeastern Poland near the border with Ukraine on Sunday on President Joe Biden's orders to deploy 1,700 soldiers there amid fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine. The airborne infantry troops of the 82nd Airborne Division were expected at at the Rzeszow-Jasionka airport. Their commander is Maj. Gen. Christopher Donahue, who was the last American soldier to leave Afghanistan Aug. 30. Mr. Biden ordered additional U.S. troops deployed to Poland, Romania and Germany to demonstrate to both allies and foes America’s commitment to NATO’s eastern flank amid rising tensions between Russia and Ukraine. NATO's eastern member Poland borders both Russia and Ukraine. Romania borders Ukraine. The division can rapidly deploy within 18 hours and conduct parachute assaults to secure key objectives. Based in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, the division's history goes back to 1917. Uttarakhand Assembly elections | EC notice to BJP for tweeting morphed photo of Harish Rawat The Election Commission has issued a notice to the Uttarakhand BJP for alleged violation of the model code and asked it to reply within 24 hours for tweeting a morphed image of former Chief Minister and Congress leader Harish Rawat, in which he has been shown as a Muslim cleric. The action comes after the Congress complained to the poll body on Friday, alleging that the BJP Uttarakhand from its official Twitter handle on February 3 at 9.34 p.m. tweeted a morphed image of Rawat, wherein he has been falsely depicted as belonging to a particular community. Congress leader Randeep Surjewala had spoken to the CEC on February 5 and demanded the registration of an FIR against the BJP, while alleging that it has violated the model code and other provisions of the law, as it seeks to create disharmony on religious grounds between people of diverse faith. The said tweet has since been removed. Can state use ‘national security’ as a ground to limit judicial review — a question common in Pegasus and MediaOne cases The question whether the state can use 'national security' as a ground to limit judicial scrutiny has come up for scrutiny again in the MediaOne TV channel case barely weeks after the Supreme Court, in its Pegasus case order, observed that the Centre cannot expect a ‘free pass’ from the courts as soon as it raises the ‘spectre of national security’. The government has cited national security reasons in the Kerala High Court for cancelling telecast permission to the Malayalam news channel. “It is a settled position of law that in matters pertaining to national security, the scope of judicial review is limited. However, this does not mean that the State gets a free pass every time the spectre of ‘national security’ is raised. National security cannot be the bugbear that the judiciary shies away from, by virtue of its mere mentioning. Although this court should be circumspect in encroaching upon the domain of national security, no omnibus prohibition can be called for against judicial review… The mere invocation of national security by the State does not render the court a mute spectator,” a three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana observed in the Pegasus case order in October 2021. The order is a significant one considering the oft-repeated refrain of the government, while banning or curtailing rights of citizens, that it is being done for the sake of ‘national security’. The debate between liberty and security has been a long, bitterly fought one in the corridors of the court. Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments The number of reported coronavirus cases from India stood at 4,04,43,952 at the time of publishing this newsletter, with the death toll at 5,01,640. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. [logo] The Evening Wrap 06 FEBRUARY 2022 [The Hindu logo] Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. [[Arrow]Open in browser]( [[Mail icon]More newsletters]( Charanjit Singh Channi is Congress CM candidate in Punjab, says Rahul Gandhi Putting a [rest to all speculations surrounding the party’s Chief Ministerial candidate for the 2022 Punjab Assembly elections]( Congress leader and former party president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday announced the name of Charanjit Singh Channi as Congress’s Chief Minister face. “It’s a decision of Punjab. It’s not Rahul Gandhi’s decision. When you asked me to decide on CM face, I asked the people of Punjab, I asked party candidates, workers, the youth, and the working committee members. And the reply they all gave me that decision I am sharing today. My work is to listen and understand your voice, I may be having an opinion but the opinion of Punjab is more important than my opinion. People of Punjab said that they want a Chief Minister from a poor family. The one who understands poverty and the pain of the poor because Punjab needs such a person. I also have a similar opinion. It was a difficult decision (to choose) the Chief Ministerial candidate, but you (people) made it easy. The Congress Chief Ministerial candidate will be Charanjit Singh Channi." [Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi during a rally, ahead of the State Assembly elections, at Rajpura in Patiala, January 7, 2022. File]  He was addressing a virtual rally in Punjab’s Ludhiana in the run-up to the Assembly polls. Asserting that Congress was different from other political parties, Mr. Gandhi said “Congress party is a system of developing and nurturing leaders; it gradually makes a leader.. I give you, my example.. In the last 5- 7 years I was able to learn that I couldn’t have learned without the Congress party and without the worker of the Congress party. [underlineimg] Lata Mangeshkar, legendary singer, passes away at 92 [Legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar]( known by the affectionate moniker [‘Nightingale of India’, passed away on Sunday aged 92]( said medical sources. She passed away at 8.12 a.m. after suffering a multiple-organ failure on Saturday night. Confirming her death, Breach Candy Hospital CEO N. Santhanam attributed the [iconic singer’s death to post-COVID-19 complications](. The Central government has announced a two-day national mourning. [People attend the funeral procession of legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar, in Mumbai on February 6, 2022.]  Tributes gushed in from the cinematic world and the country’s political spectrum as the news of the singer’s death broke. Her last rites are to be performed at Shivaji Park in Dadar on Sunday evening. Expressing grief over her demise, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted, “I am anguished beyond words. The kind and caring Lata Didi has left us. She leaves a void in our nation that cannot be filled. The coming generations will remember her as a stalwart of Indian culture, whose melodious voice had an unparalleled ability to mesmerise people. [underlineimg] Assembly polls: EC allows public meetings with 50% capacity indoor, 30% outdoor The [Election Commission (EC) on Sunday relaxed rules regarding public meetings for the ongoing five State Assembly polls]( allowing attendance of up to 50% of the capacity of an indoor venue an 30% of an open ground. The EC said the decision was taken after a meeting with the Union Health Secretary on Saturday and inputs from Chief Secretaries of the poll-bound States. The Chief Secretaries had told the EC that there had been a “significant improvement” in the COVID-19 situation and a “considerable decrease” in positive cases and hospitalisation. The EC said most of the Chief Secretaries and the special observers appointed for the polls had recommended easing restrictions. It said the Health Secretary informed the commission that the number of cases were on the decline in the country and the maximum cases being reported were from non-poll-going states. BSF thwarts major narcotic smuggling bid; three Pak intruders killed along IB in J&K’s Samba Three Pakistani intruders were gunned down on February 6 by the BSF as it scuttled a major narcotic smuggling attempt and recovered 36 kg heroin worth crores of rupees along the International Border in Samba sector of Jammu and Kashmir, officials said. This was the fourth narcotic smuggling bid foiled by the BSF troops along the border this year, while a total of nine Pakistani intruders were eliminated in various such attempts in the past one year, Inspector General of Border Security Force (BSF), Jammu frontier, D.K. Boora said. “We had a very good operation the previous night when the alert troops eliminated a narcotic smuggling attempt from Pakistan. The smugglers tried to take advantage of the darkness and foggy conditions to smuggle the huge quantity of narcotics into this side,” Dr. Boora, who rushed to the border outpost Bainglar where his troops made the biggest recovery this year, told reporters. Displaying the seized items, he said the surveillance equipment picked up the movement of the smugglers and accordingly the troops on the forward duty points were alerted. [underlineimg] U.S. airborne infantry troops in Poland amid Ukraine tension Hundreds of [U.S elite troops were expected to arrive in southeastern Poland near the border with Ukraine]( on Sunday on President Joe Biden's orders to deploy 1,700 soldiers there amid fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine. The airborne infantry troops of the 82nd Airborne Division were expected at at the Rzeszow-Jasionka airport. Their commander is Maj. Gen. Christopher Donahue, who was the last American soldier to leave Afghanistan Aug. 30. Mr. Biden ordered additional U.S. troops deployed to Poland, Romania and Germany to demonstrate to both allies and foes America’s commitment to NATO’s eastern flank amid rising tensions between Russia and Ukraine. NATO's eastern member Poland borders both Russia and Ukraine. Romania borders Ukraine. The division can rapidly deploy within 18 hours and conduct parachute assaults to secure key objectives. Based in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, the division's history goes back to 1917. [underlineimg] Uttarakhand Assembly elections | EC notice to BJP for tweeting morphed photo of Harish Rawat The [Election Commission has issued a notice to the Uttarakhand BJP for alleged violation of the model code]( and asked it to reply within 24 hours for tweeting a morphed image of former Chief Minister and Congress leader Harish Rawat, in which he has been shown as a Muslim cleric. The action comes after the Congress complained to the poll body on Friday, alleging that the BJP Uttarakhand from its official Twitter handle on February 3 at 9.34 p.m. tweeted a morphed image of Rawat, wherein he has been falsely depicted as belonging to a particular community. Congress leader Randeep Surjewala had spoken to the CEC on February 5 and demanded the registration of an FIR against the BJP, while alleging that it has violated the model code and other provisions of the law, as it seeks to create disharmony on religious grounds between people of diverse faith. The said tweet has since been removed. Can state use ‘national security’ as a ground to limit judicial review — a question common in Pegasus and MediaOne cases The question whether the state can use 'national security' as a ground to limit judicial scrutiny has come up for scrutiny again in the MediaOne TV channel case barely weeks after the Supreme Court, in its Pegasus case order, observed that the Centre cannot expect a ‘free pass’ from the courts as soon as it raises the ‘spectre of national security’. The government has cited national security reasons in the Kerala High Court for cancelling telecast permission to the Malayalam news channel. “It is a settled position of law that in matters pertaining to national security, the scope of judicial review is limited. However, this does not mean that the State gets a free pass every time the spectre of ‘national security’ is raised. National security cannot be the bugbear that the judiciary shies away from, by virtue of its mere mentioning. Although this court should be circumspect in encroaching upon the domain of national security, no omnibus prohibition can be called for against judicial review… The mere invocation of national security by the State does not render the court a mute spectator,” a three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana observed in the Pegasus case order in October 2021. The order is a significant one considering the oft-repeated refrain of the government, while banning or curtailing rights of citizens, that it is being done for the sake of ‘national security’. The debate between liberty and security has been a long, bitterly fought one in the corridors of the court. [underlineimg] Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments The [number of reported coronavirus cases from India]( stood at 4,04,43,952 at the time of publishing this newsletter, with the death toll at 5,01,640. [underlineimg] Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. Today's Top Picks [[Lata Mangeshkar: The Nightingale of Bollywood | In Photos] Lata Mangeshkar: The Nightingale of Bollywood | In Photos]( [[Lata Mangeshkar — her voice worked for any one, any situation and any era] Lata Mangeshkar — her voice worked for any one, any situation and any era]( [[The best of Lata Mangeshkar] The best of Lata Mangeshkar]( [[Lata Mangeshkar rendered a few all-time greats in Tamil films] Lata Mangeshkar rendered a few all-time greats in Tamil films]( Copyright @ 2022, THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. If you are facing any trouble in viewing this newsletter, please [try here]( If you do not wish to receive such emails [go here](