The Evening Wrap: 81.1% voter turnout in Tripura Assembly polls

The voting for the Tripura Assembly elections closed at 4 p.m., informed the Election Commission on Thursday. CPI(M) leader and former Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar and TIPRA chief Pradyot Bikram Manikya Deb Barman alleged that “BJP miscreants” indulged in violence in some parts of the State. “In some places, miscreants on behalf of (the) BJP are causing trouble and stopping people from casting their votes. But the people are trying their best to cast votes,” Sarkar said. The TIPRA chief alleged that “Dhanpur and Mohanpur have witnessed violence by the ruling party”. The Election Commission of India confirmed that “one CPI(M) supporter” was “beaten outside Kalacherra polling station in 36-Shantirbaazar” in South Tripura district. “He was taken to hospital by our officials. He is not able to tell the names of attackers. Suo Motu FIR has been lodged in Shantirbaazar PS. We will arrest the culprits soon,” the Chief Election Officer (CEO), Tripura, said in a tweet. According to Election Commission, there are 28.14 lakh eligible voters in this year’s polls of which 14,15,233 are men, 13,99,289 are women and 62 belong to the third gender. Voting is underway at 3,337 polling stations across the Northeast State. Massive security deployment is in place in the State, where a triangular contest—between the BJP, the Left Front-Congress combine and new entrant Tipra Motha — is on the cards in a majority of the 60 Assembly seats. Of these 60 seats, 20 straddling a tribal council are reserved for the State’s 19 Scheduled Tribes, while 10 are reserved for the Scheduled Castes. Jignesh Mevani demands SIT probe into IITB student’s death Congress MLA and Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani on Thursday demanded probe by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) into the death of a student of the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay to find out whether it was a case of murder, caste discrimination or ragging. After meeting the Ahmedabad-based family members of Darshan Solanki (18), who allegedly committed suicide by jumping off the seventh floor of a IIT hostel building on Sunday, Mevani said the Dalit community suspects it to be a case of murder, caste discrimination or ragging. The Congress leader from Gujarat said the Dalit community has given a call for a nationwide candle march on February 19 in support of Solanki, who was a first-year student of BTech (chemical) course. A Mumbai Police team visited Solanki’s house here on Thursday to record the statements of his family members in connection with his death. Mevani said, “Darshan’s father Ramesh Solanki told me that he was not even allowed to see the face of his dead son when he went there to collect the body. He was told different things over phone by the institute, and the IIT Bombay professors told different stories. The entire issue appears suspicious.” He claimed officials were not ready to hand over the papers regarding the accidental death case registered at a police station in Mumbai to the student’s father, and the dean and other officials of the IIT did not behave with him in the sensitive manner required in the given situation. “Since the incident is suspicious, the student’s family members and the Dalit community believe this could be the case of murder, caste-based discrimination and ragging,” Mevani said. He said the government should form an SIT comprising “non-corrupt police officers with integrity” to conduct a probe into the case and to find out the truth. Mevani also appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene into the matter, meet the grieving family members and order the kind of investigation demanded by them. He said Solanki was a bright student who managed to secure admission in the prestigious institute at a time when improper implementation of the reservation policy has led to only a few students from the Dalit and tribal communities getting admission in such institutes. “Probably, Darshan was a victim of the similar form of discrimination experienced by Rohith Vemula and Payal Tadvi due to which he committed suicide at the IIT Bombay,” Mevani claimed. Vemula, a research scholar of the University of Hyderabad, allegedly hanged himself in a hostel room in 2016. Tadvi, a second-year gynaecology student of TN Topiwala National Medical College in Mumbai, allegedly committed suicide in her hostel room in 2019. Any committee other than JPC will be exercise in ‘exoneration’: Congress on Adani issue The Congress on Thursday said a thorough investigation into the Adani issue is necessary, holding that any committee other than a JPC will be nothing but an “exercise in legitimisation and exoneration”. Congress General Secretary Communications Jairam Ramesh said the proposal before the Supreme Court for setting up of a committee by the government can hardly ensure transparency. In a statement, he said, a Supreme Court bench on February 13, while hearing petitions on the Adani-Hindenburg matter, discussed the creation of a committee of experts to examine the regulatory regime post the allegations made by the U.S.-based short-seller. He said it had directed the Government to give its submissions in this regard by February 17. “Where the allegations are of close, intertwined proximity between the ruling dispensation, the government of India and the Adani Group, the setting up of a committee with terms of reference proposed by the Government of India can hardly carry any insignia or reassurance of independence or transparency,” he said. “It is an exercise initiated by the two principal actors—the government and the Adani Group — to cover up, avoid, evade and bury all genuine scrutiny. It is becoming clear that the proposed Committee is part of a carefully orchestrated exercise by these vested interests to prevent any real investigation into the Adani Group’s relationship with the ruling regime,” the Congress leader alleged. “If the Prime Minister and his government are to be held accountable, any committee other than a JPC will be nothing but an exercise in legitimisation and exoneration,” he claimed. Ramesh said given the nature of the allegations, it is imperative that the “link” between Adani and the ruling regime is examined in the full light of day by elected officials accountable to the public. “An evaluation of the regulatory and statutory regime by experts is in no manner equivalent to an investigation by a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC). Such a committee, however competently staffed, cannot be a substitute for a thorough investigation into the political-corporate nexus that has come to light in the last two weeks. It simply does not have the authority, resources, or jurisdiction to examine the issues that the Opposition has raised,” he said asserting that a JPC probe on Adani issue is necessary. He claimed several JPCs have been constituted in the past to inquire into matters of public importance such as irregularities in securities and banking transactions as well as the stock-market scam of 2001. These reports have been crucial to prosecutions that have followed and have provided the bedrock for legislative changes to prevent similar manipulative practices, he claimed. The Congress has been demanding a JPC probe into the allegations against the Adani Group by U.S.-based short-seller Hindenburg Research. The Adani Group has dismissed the allegations as baseless. Centre unlikely to make overtures to protesting Ladakhi leaders With the Centre unlikely to make overtures to civil society groups in Ladakh, who have been demanding Statehood and constitutional safeguards, the leaders said on Thursday that the path to agitation will continue. Former BJP MP Thupstan Chhewang, one of the tallest leaders in Ladakh, told The Hindu that too many industries were dangerous for the ecologically fragile region and they want “controlled tourism” as seen in Bhutan, which levies $200 per day as a sustainable development fee for international tourists and ₹1,200 per day for Indian tourists. Chhewang said there was a threat on the China front too as Chinese troops had reached places in Ladakh where they had not been present before. Several patrolling points or areas in Eastern Ladakh have become inaccessible to security personnel as part of an agreement after Indian and Chinese troops engaged in violent clashes in Galwan in June 2020 that led to the killing of 20 Indian soldiers and at least four Chinese soldiers. A day after hundreds from Ladakh participated in a protest at Jantar Mantar in Delhi, the leaders said at a press conference on Thursday that they expected to hear something from the government but no one had approached them so far. A senior government official said the Centre agreed to form a committee to examine the issues of employment, and protection of land and culture. “Ladakh is undergoing a crisis. We do not have any democracy. People are at the mercy of bureaucrats in the absence of elected representatives. Ladakh is strategically important. You have Pakistan on one side and China on the other,” Sajjad Kargili, social activist and a member of the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA), said. Sonam Wangchuk, education reformer and a popular voice from Ladakh, said that Ladakhis did not want industries. “Glaciers are melting fast. According to a study by Kashmir University, 17 glaciers in proximity to highways have melted at an accelerated pace,” he said. Kargili added that in the past three years, only Raj Niwas (the Governor’s residence) has seen development, and “not a single infrastructure” has been created for the people. Amid intensified protests, the Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh, R.K. Mathur, was replaced with Arunachal Pradesh Governor, 83-year-old Brigadier (Retd.) B.D. Mishra on February 12. “Removing the L-G is not a solution. He will also act on the directions of the Ministry of Home Affairs. The new L-G is quite old and since he is from an Army background, we expect that he will understand the strategic importance of Ladakh,” Thupstan said. He added that Ladakh has many postgraduate and Ph.D. scholars but the only jobs the administration has advertised so far is those of gardeners and peons. On August 5, 2019, the special status of the former State of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of the Constitution was read down by the Parliament, and the State was bifurcated into two Union Territories, J&K and Ladakh, the latter without a Legislative Assembly. More than three years on, the Leh and the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA), an apex body, have come together to demand Statehood, the inclusion of Ladakh under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, filling of vacancies, and two seats to the Lok Sabha and one seat to the Rajya Sabha for the region. The leaders have rejected the high-powered committee constituted by the MHA on January 2, saying they will only speak to Home Minister Amit Shah from now on. Kargili and Thupstan were part of the committee formed by the MHA. Shashi Tharoor virtually rules out contesting possible CWC polls Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Thursday virtually ruled out contesting the CWC polls if the party decides to hold them, saying he is not considering any further elections after having fought the AICC presidential polls and it is “for others to step forward”. In an exclusive interview with PTI on the Congress’ upcoming plenary session in Chhattisgarh’s Raipur, Tharoor said the convention comes at an “inflection point” in the party’s history as it is being held after the presidential polls and the Bharat Jodo Yatra, and ahead of the 2024 elections. The Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram said the plenary could not have come at a more opportune time and gives the party members an opportunity to focus on what “we have gained and what the party faces in terms of challenges for the future”. Asked if it was essential for the party to have polls for the Congress Working Committee (CWC) at the party’s plenary session and if he had raised this issue with the party leadership, Tharoor said, “I had made the point that elections are healthy for the party and participated in one election myself and now that I have lost, I don’t think it is my business to tell the party leadership what to do. Let them take the steps that they judge are appropriate.” He stressed the majority view in the All India Congress Committee (AICC) is the view that will prevail. “I am fairly confident that if a majority of the delegates want an election they will hold one and if the majority feels that they would rather not rock the boat at this time and just move ahead, then that too will be a possible option,” the former Union minister said. “I just feel that by having contested once, making my point and not winning the majority, or not even coming close to the majority of delegates, I have in a sense forfeited the right demanding the same thing,” he said. Tharoor said that he was “stepping back a little bit” from the demand of CWC polls, asserting that he was doing so not because he was withdrawing his words but because he had made his point and it was now for those who won the presidential polls and are in-charge of the party”s fortunes to decide on it in consultation with the majority of the delegates. Tharoor said that his own view very simply was that as far as the principle is concerned he had demonstrated during the presidential elections that polls can have a very useful contribution in galvanising the party. According to the party constitution, the working committee shall consist of the president of the Congress, the Leader of the Congress Party in Parliament and 23 other members of whom 12 members will be elected by the AICC, as per rules prescribed by the CWC and the rest shall be appointed by the president. In Brief: The Income Tax department’s ‘survey’ at the BBC office in New Delhi continued for the third straight day on Thursday as officials gathered financial data from select staffers and made copies of electronic and paper data of the news organisation. The operation that began at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) offices in Delhi and Mumbai around 11:30 am on Tuesday has clocked more than 45 hours now, officials said. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. [logo] The Evening Wrap 16 FEBRUARY 2023 [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]( Tripura Assembly elections | Voting closes with 81.10% voter turnout The voting for the [Tripura Assembly elections closed at 4 p.m]( informed the Election Commission on Thursday. CPI(M) leader and former Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar and TIPRA chief Pradyot Bikram Manikya Deb Barman alleged that “BJP miscreants” indulged in violence in some parts of the State. “In some places, miscreants on behalf of (the) BJP are causing trouble and stopping people from casting their votes. But the people are trying their best to cast votes,” Sarkar said. The TIPRA chief alleged that “Dhanpur and Mohanpur have witnessed violence by the ruling party”. [People wait in queues to cast their votes at a polling booth in Agartala during the Tripura Assembly elections.] The Election Commission of India confirmed that “one CPI(M) supporter” was “beaten outside Kalacherra polling station in 36-Shantirbaazar” in South Tripura district. “He was taken to hospital by our officials. He is not able to tell the names of attackers. Suo Motu FIR has been lodged in Shantirbaazar PS. We will arrest the culprits soon,” the Chief Election Officer (CEO), Tripura, said in a tweet. According to Election Commission, there are 28.14 lakh eligible voters in this year’s polls of which 14,15,233 are men, 13,99,289 are women and 62 belong to the third gender. Voting is underway at 3,337 polling stations across the Northeast State. Massive security deployment is in place in the State, where a triangular contest—between the BJP, the Left Front-Congress combine and new entrant Tipra Motha — is on the cards in a majority of the 60 Assembly seats. Of these 60 seats, 20 straddling a tribal council are reserved for the State’s 19 Scheduled Tribes, while 10 are reserved for the Scheduled Castes. Jignesh Mevani demands SIT probe into IITB student’s death Congress MLA and Dalit leader [Jignesh Mevani on Thursday demanded probe by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) into the death of a student of the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay]( to find out whether it was a case of murder, caste discrimination or ragging. After meeting the Ahmedabad-based family members of Darshan Solanki (18), who allegedly committed suicide by jumping off the seventh floor of a IIT hostel building on Sunday, Mevani said the Dalit community suspects it to be a case of murder, caste discrimination or ragging. The Congress leader from Gujarat said the Dalit community has given a call for a nationwide candle march on February 19 in support of Solanki, who was a first-year student of BTech (chemical) course. A Mumbai Police team visited Solanki’s house here on Thursday to record the statements of his family members in connection with his death. Mevani said, “Darshan’s father Ramesh Solanki told me that he was not even allowed to see the face of his dead son when he went there to collect the body. He was told different things over phone by the institute, and the IIT Bombay professors told different stories. The entire issue appears suspicious.” He claimed officials were not ready to hand over the papers regarding the accidental death case registered at a police station in Mumbai to the student’s father, and the dean and other officials of the IIT did not behave with him in the sensitive manner required in the given situation. “Since the incident is suspicious, the student’s family members and the Dalit community believe this could be the case of murder, caste-based discrimination and ragging,” Mevani said. He said the government should form an SIT comprising “non-corrupt police officers with integrity” to conduct a probe into the case and to find out the truth. Mevani also appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene into the matter, meet the grieving family members and order the kind of investigation demanded by them. He said Solanki was a bright student who managed to secure admission in the prestigious institute at a time when improper implementation of the reservation policy has led to only a few students from the Dalit and tribal communities getting admission in such institutes. “Probably, Darshan was a victim of the similar form of discrimination experienced by Rohith Vemula and Payal Tadvi due to which he committed suicide at the IIT Bombay,” Mevani claimed. Vemula, a research scholar of the University of Hyderabad, allegedly hanged himself in a hostel room in 2016. Tadvi, a second-year gynaecology student of TN Topiwala National Medical College in Mumbai, allegedly committed suicide in her hostel room in 2019. Any committee other than JPC will be exercise in ‘exoneration’: Congress on Adani issue The [Congress on Thursday said a thorough investigation into the Adani issue is necessary]( holding that any committee other than a JPC will be nothing but an “exercise in legitimisation and exoneration”. Congress General Secretary Communications Jairam Ramesh said the proposal before the Supreme Court for setting up of a committee by the government can hardly ensure transparency. In a statement, he said, a Supreme Court bench on February 13, while hearing petitions on the Adani-Hindenburg matter, discussed the creation of a committee of experts to examine the regulatory regime post the allegations made by the U.S.-based short-seller. He said it had directed the Government to give its submissions in this regard by February 17. “Where the allegations are of close, intertwined proximity between the ruling dispensation, the government of India and the Adani Group, the setting up of a committee with terms of reference proposed by the Government of India can hardly carry any insignia or reassurance of independence or transparency,” he said. “It is an exercise initiated by the two principal actors—the government and the Adani Group — to cover up, avoid, evade and bury all genuine scrutiny. It is becoming clear that the proposed Committee is part of a carefully orchestrated exercise by these vested interests to prevent any real investigation into the Adani Group’s relationship with the ruling regime,” the Congress leader alleged. “If the Prime Minister and his government are to be held accountable, any committee other than a JPC will be nothing but an exercise in legitimisation and exoneration,” he claimed. Ramesh said given the nature of the allegations, it is imperative that the “link” between Adani and the ruling regime is examined in the full light of day by elected officials accountable to the public. “An evaluation of the regulatory and statutory regime by experts is in no manner equivalent to an investigation by a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC). Such a committee, however competently staffed, cannot be a substitute for a thorough investigation into the political-corporate nexus that has come to light in the last two weeks. It simply does not have the authority, resources, or jurisdiction to examine the issues that the Opposition has raised,” he said asserting that a JPC probe on Adani issue is necessary. He claimed several JPCs have been constituted in the past to inquire into matters of public importance such as irregularities in securities and banking transactions as well as the stock-market scam of 2001. These reports have been crucial to prosecutions that have followed and have provided the bedrock for legislative changes to prevent similar manipulative practices, he claimed. The Congress has been demanding a JPC probe into the allegations against the Adani Group by U.S.-based short-seller Hindenburg Research. The Adani Group has dismissed the allegations as baseless. Centre unlikely to make overtures to protesting Ladakhi leaders With the [Centre unlikely to make overtures to civil society groups in Ladakh, who have been demanding Statehood and constitutional safeguards]( the leaders said on Thursday that the path to agitation will continue. Former BJP MP Thupstan Chhewang, one of the tallest leaders in Ladakh, told The Hindu that too many industries were dangerous for the ecologically fragile region and they want “controlled tourism” as seen in Bhutan, which levies $200 per day as a sustainable development fee for international tourists and ₹1,200 per day for Indian tourists. [Students from Leh, Ladakh stage a protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi over various demands including a separate statehood for Ladakh and inclusion of the Union Territory in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.] Chhewang said there was a threat on the China front too as Chinese troops had reached places in Ladakh where they had not been present before. Several patrolling points or areas in Eastern Ladakh have become inaccessible to security personnel as part of an agreement after Indian and Chinese troops engaged in violent clashes in Galwan in June 2020 that led to the killing of 20 Indian soldiers and at least four Chinese soldiers. A day after hundreds from Ladakh participated in a protest at Jantar Mantar in Delhi, the leaders said at a press conference on Thursday that they expected to hear something from the government but no one had approached them so far. A senior government official said the Centre agreed to form a committee to examine the issues of employment, and protection of land and culture. “Ladakh is undergoing a crisis. We do not have any democracy. People are at the mercy of bureaucrats in the absence of elected representatives. Ladakh is strategically important. You have Pakistan on one side and China on the other,” Sajjad Kargili, social activist and a member of the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA), said. Sonam Wangchuk, education reformer and a popular voice from Ladakh, said that Ladakhis did not want industries. “Glaciers are melting fast. According to a study by Kashmir University, 17 glaciers in proximity to highways have melted at an accelerated pace,” he said. Kargili added that in the past three years, only Raj Niwas (the Governor’s residence) has seen development, and “not a single infrastructure” has been created for the people. Amid intensified protests, the Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh, R.K. Mathur, was replaced with Arunachal Pradesh Governor, 83-year-old Brigadier (Retd.) B.D. Mishra on February 12. “Removing the L-G is not a solution. He will also act on the directions of the Ministry of Home Affairs. The new L-G is quite old and since he is from an Army background, we expect that he will understand the strategic importance of Ladakh,” Thupstan said. He added that Ladakh has many postgraduate and Ph.D. scholars but the only jobs the administration has advertised so far is those of gardeners and peons. On August 5, 2019, the special status of the former State of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of the Constitution was read down by the Parliament, and the State was bifurcated into two Union Territories, J&K and Ladakh, the latter without a Legislative Assembly. More than three years on, the Leh and the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA), an apex body, have come together to demand Statehood, the inclusion of Ladakh under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, filling of vacancies, and two seats to the Lok Sabha and one seat to the Rajya Sabha for the region. The leaders have rejected the high-powered committee constituted by the MHA on January 2, saying they will only speak to Home Minister Amit Shah from now on. Kargili and Thupstan were part of the committee formed by the MHA. Shashi Tharoor virtually rules out contesting possible CWC polls Senior Congress leader [Shashi Tharoor on Thursday virtually ruled out contesting the CWC polls]( if the party decides to hold them, saying he is not considering any further elections after having fought the AICC presidential polls and it is “for others to step forward”. In an exclusive interview with PTI on the Congress’ upcoming plenary session in Chhattisgarh’s Raipur, Tharoor said the convention comes at an “inflection point” in the party’s history as it is being held after the presidential polls and the Bharat Jodo Yatra, and ahead of the 2024 elections. The Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram said the plenary could not have come at a more opportune time and gives the party members an opportunity to focus on what “we have gained and what the party faces in terms of challenges for the future”. Asked if it was essential for the party to have polls for the Congress Working Committee (CWC) at the party’s plenary session and if he had raised this issue with the party leadership, Tharoor said, “I had made the point that elections are healthy for the party and participated in one election myself and now that I have lost, I don’t think it is my business to tell the party leadership what to do. Let them take the steps that they judge are appropriate.” He stressed the majority view in the All India Congress Committee (AICC) is the view that will prevail. “I am fairly confident that if a majority of the delegates want an election they will hold one and if the majority feels that they would rather not rock the boat at this time and just move ahead, then that too will be a possible option,” the former Union minister said. “I just feel that by having contested once, making my point and not winning the majority, or not even coming close to the majority of delegates, I have in a sense forfeited the right demanding the same thing,” he said. Tharoor said that he was “stepping back a little bit” from the demand of CWC polls, asserting that he was doing so not because he was withdrawing his words but because he had made his point and it was now for those who won the presidential polls and are in-charge of the party”s fortunes to decide on it in consultation with the majority of the delegates. Tharoor said that his own view very simply was that as far as the principle is concerned he had demonstrated during the presidential elections that polls can have a very useful contribution in galvanising the party. According to the party constitution, the working committee shall consist of the president of the Congress, the Leader of the Congress Party in Parliament and 23 other members of whom 12 members will be elected by the AICC, as per rules prescribed by the CWC and the rest shall be appointed by the president. In Brief: The [Income Tax department’s ‘survey’ at the BBC office in New Delhi continued for the third straight day]( on Thursday as officials gathered financial data from select staffers and made copies of electronic and paper data of the news organisation. The operation that began at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) offices in Delhi and Mumbai around 11:30 am on Tuesday has clocked more than 45 hours now, officials said. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. First Day First Show Stay up-to-date on all things cinema with the "First Day First Show" cinema & entertainment newsletter. Every week, we bring you movie reviews, news from regional cinema, Bollywood, Hollywood, and beyond, as well as updates from the streaming platforms. Whether you're a cinephile or just looking for your next great binge-watch, we've got you covered. 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