The Evening Wrap: Union Ministers to meet protesting farmers in Chandigarh on February 15

A meeting between Union Ministers and farmer representatives will be held on February 15 in Chandigarh, said Kisan Mazdoor Morcha, Coordinator Sarwan Singh Pandher. The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha are spearheading the “Delhi Chalo” agitation to put pressure on the BJP-led Centre for their demands, including a law on a minimum support price for crops and loan waivers. The Centre yet again made it clear that announcing a guaranteed minimum support price (MSP), the key demand of the farmers, will not be possible. Farmers have been invited for yet another round of dialogue, which will likely be held today. On Tuesday, farmers from Punjab faced tear gas shells — some dropped by a drone — at two border points of Haryana-Punjab as protesters tried to break past barricades that were installed to stop them from heading to Delhi. Till late night, as they were remained stopped at Punjab-Haryana border by Harayana police. Traffic crawled at many places in the Delhi-National Capital Region due to the barricading at border and in several parts of Delhi. Umar Khalid withdraws bail plea from Supreme Court Former student leader Umar Khalid, an undertrial in a Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) case linked to the February 2020 Delhi riots for three years, withdrew his bail application from the Supreme Court on Wednesday. Appearing before a Bench headed by Justice Bela M. Trivedi, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Khalid, sought and got permission to withdraw the bail plea. Sibal referred to “changed circumstances” and said he would seek relief in the trial court. The court permitted him to withdraw the plea. The hearing in the case had been through a persistent series of re-scheduling over the past many months. His case has also travelled across different Benches of the Supreme Court in 2023. A Bench led by Justice A.S. Bopanna had first issued notice on May 18 last year. The next date of hearing, July 12, saw the government seek an adjournment. On July 24, the petitioner’s side had sought time. A month later, on August 9, a Bench of Justices Bopanna and P.K. Mishra said the case “cannot be taken up in this combination [of judges]” and adjourned it. Khalid’s case came up before a different Bench led by Justice Bela M. Trivedi on September 5. The hearing was adjourned on the request of the parties. The Bench said it would give a “last opportunity” on September 12. On October 12, the case was not taken up due to “paucity of time”. Similarly, the case was adjourned in November due to “non-availability of the senior lawyers concerned” and now twice in January this year. Justice Trivedi had earlier pointed out that the hearing of and decision in the case should not be delayed any further. It was a matter concerning liberty. Additional solicitor general of India S.V. Raju had countered that the accused was very the reason why the framing of charges was delayed all these years. The accusations were serious. Khalid is accused of being part of a “larger conspiracy” behind the communal violence. The Delhi High Court had refused to grant bail to Khalid, saying he was in constant touch with other co-accused and allegations against him were prima facie true. The High Court had said the acts of the accused prima facie qualified as “terrorist act” under the UAPA. The High Court had said the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act protests “metamorphosed into violent riots”, which “prima facie seemed to be orchestrated at the conspiratorial meetings”, and the statements of the witnesses indicate Khalid’s “active involvement” in the protests. Khalid has also filed a separate writ petition questioning the legality of certain sections of the UAPA, especially dealing with bail. This petition had been tagged with others who had similarly challenged the draconian nature of the UAPA. Khalid’s plea for bail was to be jointly heard with these writ petitions. No more adjournment letters in after-notice bail cases: Supreme Court Adjournments, denounced as a major factor for pendency, delay in court hearings, and a money-drainer for litigants, is no longer going to be easy in the Supreme Court. A circular issued by the Supreme Court on Wednesday said it would not entertain letters of adjournment from lawyers in bail and anticipatory bail cases for which notice had been earlier issued by the court. Letters of adjournment are last-minute requests by parties for postponement of cases listed before a Bench of the court. The letters are filed in the Registry and circulated to the opposing parties. The case, when called for hearing in the day, is usually adjourned if all the parties agree. Usually, they do as a matter of professional courtesy. The court said such letters seeking adjournment would also not be entertained in cases in which exemption from surrendering has already been granted; cases in which an interim order favouring the party seeking the adjournment is already in operation; and in matters in which suspension of sentence has been sought. This would mean that the parties must necessarily appear in court in these categories of cases and the Bench would take a decision, in its own discretion, on whether to grant an adjournment. In other cases, the circular said the request for adjournment of a case could be circulated till a day prior to the publication of the main list of cases. However, the request should contain the specific reason for seeking adjournment and the number of postponements sought earlier in the case. The circular said a party or counsel can only circulate an adjournment letter once in a case. The court would not allow consecutive adjournments, irrespective of which party in the case is making the request. If a case is adjourned, it should be listed within four weeks. The specific date for the hearing would be given to the parties. No oral mentioning would be permitted to advance the date. Finally, the Supreme Court made it clear that no letter would be permitted for adjourning fresh cases or regular hearing matters. Both the Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association (SCAORA) and the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) had registered their protest against the move. A group of 281 lawyers had written to the Chief Justice of India raising their objections. The court had in turn constituted a committee of judges to prepare a standard operating procedure (SoP) on adjournments. Sonia Gandhi files nomination as Congress Rajya Sabha candidate from Rajasthan Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday filed her nomination papers for the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls from Rajasthan. Her children Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, former chief minister Ashok Gehlot, PCC chief Govind Singh Dotasra, leader of opposition Tikaram Jully were present at the time of the nomination filing in the assembly building. Before filing nomination, Sonia Gandhi met with the party MLAs in the opposition lobby of the assembly. The Congress is comfortably placed to win one of the three Rajya Sabha seats from Rajasthan for which elections will be held. The seat will fall vacant after former prime minister Manmohan Singh completes his six-year tenure in April. It will be Sonia Gandhi’s first term in the Upper House after serving five terms as a Lok Sabha MP. The 77-year-old, who represented Rae Bareli in Lok Sabha, will not contest the next general elections. She was first elected as an MP in 1999 after taking over as the Congress president. In a post on X earlier in the day, Gehlot said, “We heartily welcome the announcement of respected Smt. Sonia Gandhi ji as the Rajya Sabha candidate from the Congress Party, who renounced the post of Prime Minister.” “Today her announcement as Rajya Sabha candidate from Rajasthan is a matter of happiness for the entire State and with this announcement all the old memories have been refreshed,” he added. A total of 56 members of Rajya Sabha from 15 States are retiring in April and the election to the seats will be held on February 27. The last date for filing nominations is February 15. Sonia Gandhi will be the second member of the Gandhi family to enter Rajya Sabha after former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who was a member of the Upper House from August 1964 to February 1967. Gandhi had announced in 2019 that it would be her last Lok Sabha election. Speculation is rife that her daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra could contest from Rae Bareli Lok Sabha constituency after Sonia Gandhi opted out this time. That Sonia Gandhi chose to contest from Rajasthan and not from a southern State like Telangana or Karnataka, where the party is also comfortably placed to win, is also a signal that the Congress’ first family is not abandoning the Hindi heartland. The Congress on February 14 nominated its senior leaders Ajay Maken and Abhishek Singhvi for the Rajya Sabha election to be held on February 27. Party treasurer Maken has been fielded from Karnataka and Singhvi from Himachal Pradesh. The party has its government in both States. Maken had unsuccessfully contested the Rajya Sabha election from Haryana last year. The Congress also nominated former union minister Renuka Chowdhury as Rajya Sabha candidate from Telangana along with local leader M. Anil Kumar Yadav from the southern State where the party came into power in December 2023. Singhvi would file his nomination for the lone Rajya Sabha seat from Himachal Pradesh on February 15, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said. Senior party leader and former Union Minister Anand Sharma was seeking a Rajya Sabha berth from Himachal, which is his home State. Rajya Sabha polls: Nadda from Gujarat, Chavan from Maharashtra in BJP list, Vaishnaw gets support from BJD as well The BJP will nominate to the Rajya Sabha its national president J.P. Nadda from Gujarat, Union Ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw and L. Murugan from Odisha and Madhya Pradesh respectively, and new entrant and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan from his home State, the party announced on Wednesday. The biennial polls are scheduled for February 27. The nomination of Murugan and Vaishnaw makes them the only two exceptions to the BJP high command’s decision that Union Ministers completing their terms in the Rajya Sabha must now fight the Lok Sabha polls. That list included Ministers Rajeev Chandrashekhar, Bhupendra Yadav, Dharmendra Pradhan, Mansukh Mandaviya, and Parshottam Rupala. Interestingly, in the case of Vaishnaw, his candidature has received support from the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) as well, in a repeat from 2019. Given that the BJD could have secured a third seat form Odisha, this move is politically intriguing; in a statement, the party said its decision was meant to benefit Odisha in the fields of railways and information technology, both portfolios held by Vaishnaw. The move has triggered speculation that it may soften the Odisha BJP’s confrontational stance towards the BJD-led government headed by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, especially with simultaneous State and general elections on the horizon. The Congress, now diminished to a non-entity in the State, has started pushing a narrative that the BJD and BJP are two sides of the same coin. From Gujarat, apart from Nadda, the BJP has also fielded diamond baron Govindbhai Dholakia, owner of Sri Krishna Exports, one of the largest diamond companies in Surat. He is also a philanthropist and has built over 250 Hanuman temples in the tribal region of Dangs in southern Gujarat. Local media reports say that he had also given an individual donation of ₹11 crores for the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya. The other two candidates picked by the BJP from Gujarat are Jaswantsinh Parmar, a doctor from Godhara, and Mayank Nayak from Patan in north Gujarat. Both are considered other backward class (OBC) representatives, with Nayak being the former chairman of the Gujarat BJP’s OBC Morcha. From Maharashtra, Chavan’s nomination is not suprising as it was considered part of the deal he made when he joined the BJP. Another nominee from the State is Medha Kulkarni, a prominent Brahmin face of the party in Pune who is currently serving as the vice president of the BJP women’s wing, having represented the Kothrud Assembly seat from 2014 to 2019. The BJP had lost the Kasba Peth Assembly seat to the Congress in a 2023 bypoll, fuelling a perception that the party’s essential Brahmin voters sensed neglect; Kulkarni’s nomination is being seen as an attempt to appease the community ahead of Lok Sabha election. The third nominee is Ajeet Gopchade, who hails from Marathwada’s Nanded district and belongs to the Lingayat community. Murugan’s nomination from M.P. points to his proximity to the BJP high command, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi having attended Pongal celebrations at the Minister’s residence. The other three nominees from M.P. reflect the BJP’s strategy of balancing various community groups ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. Umesh Nath Maharaj, a Dalit, is a prominent religious leader and the head priest (mahamandaleshwar) of Ujjain’s Valmiki Ashram. He is also considered close to the top leadership of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the BJP. Maya Naroliya is president of the M.P. BJP’s Mahila Morcha and hails from the OBC community, while Bansilal Gurjar, who hails from Mandsaur, is currently the national vice-president of the BJP’s Kisan Morcha and also belongs to the OBC block. Not allowing for 100% VVPATs is ‘terrible injustice’ on Indian voter: Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh Calling for greater accountability in using technology in conduct of polls, the Congress on February 14 questioned the Election Commission of India’s “reluctance” to engage with INDIA parties over their demand that the number of VVPATs prescribed be steadily increased towards 100%. The Opposition party also said that not allowing for 100% VVPATs is a “terrible injustice” on the Indian voter. In a post on X, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) parties have been requesting for an appointment to meet the Election Commission since June 2023 on the issue of the greater use of VVPATs (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail) in the election process. “Not allowing for 100% VVPATs is a “terrible anyay” on the Indian voter,” he said. On April 8, 2019, the Supreme Court had requested the EC to increase the number of election booths that undergo VVPAT slip matching,” he noted. “The case is ‘N. Chandrababu Naidu vs Union of India’ yes, the same Chandrababu Naidu who was once known as the high-tech Chief Minister. Mr. Naidu was then the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh,” Ramesh said. “The demand of the INDIA parties is that the number of VVPATs prescribed cannot be static but must increase steadily increased towards a 100%,” he asserted. “The reluctance of the ECI to engage with the INDIA parties on this issue raises even more questions. Shouldn’t the ECI strive for greater accountability and transparency in a technology that it stands by so wholeheartedly?” Ramesh said. “But of course, Mr. Naidu is about to migrate into the NDA, in the meanwhile. Maybe he can convince the Election Commission to give his erstwhile allies an appointment,” the Congress general secretary said. Pakistan stalemate ends; Nawaz Sharif’s party seeks to get partner PPP to join Cabinet A political stalemate in Pakistan, after an inconclusive election, ended with Shehbaz Sharif chosen to lead the country again, while efforts were under way on February 14 to get the second-largest party to join the government to ensure stability. Sharif (72) who was the Prime Minister for 16 months until August, was late on February 13 named as the coalition candidate for next premier by his elder brother Nawaz Sharif, founder and supremo of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), the largest party in Parliament. The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) of former Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the second largest, backed the choice but did not commit to joining the government, indicating it would support a minority government from the outside. Officials in both PML-N and PPP said they had formed internal committees to discuss the modalities of government formation and the agenda included getting PPP to join the administration and take cabinet positions. “They are trying their level best but we are not joining the cabinet up until now,” PPP leader Faisal Karim Kundi said. In briefFormer PM Lal Bahadur Shastri’s grandson resigns from Congress, joins BJP Former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri’s grandson Vibhakar Shastri on February 14 quit the Congress and joined the BJP. Vibhakar Shastri joined the BJP in Lucknow in the presence of party State president Bhupinder Singh and Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak. Delhi Excise policy case | ED issues sixth summons to Arvind Kejriwal in money laundering case The Enforcement Directorate has issued a fresh and the 6th summons to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for his questioning in the Excise policy linked money laundering case, official sources said on February 14. The 55-year-old leader, also the national convener of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), has been asked to depose before the federal agency on February 19. A Delhi court last week had asked Kejriwal to appear before it on February 17 acting on a complaint filed by the ED for disobeying ED summons in this case and noted that prima facie the AAP chief was “legally bound” to comply. This is the 6th summons in this case by the ED to the former Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. [logo] The Evening Wrap 14 February 2024 [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]( Farmers’ protests | Union Ministers to hold discussions with farmer representatives on February 15 [A meeting between Union Ministers and farmer representatives will be held on February 15 in Chandigarh]( said Kisan Mazdoor Morcha, Coordinator Sarwan Singh Pandher. The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha are spearheading the “Delhi Chalo” agitation to put pressure on the BJP-led Centre for their demands, including a law on a minimum support price for crops and loan waivers. The Centre yet again made it clear that announcing a guaranteed minimum support price (MSP), the key demand of the farmers, will not be possible. Farmers have been invited for yet another round of dialogue, which will likely be held today. On Tuesday, farmers from Punjab faced tear gas shells — some dropped by a drone — at two border points of Haryana-Punjab as protesters tried to break past barricades that were installed to stop them from heading to Delhi. Till late night, as they were remained stopped at Punjab-Haryana border by Harayana police. Traffic crawled at many places in the Delhi-National Capital Region due to the barricading at border and in several parts of Delhi. Umar Khalid withdraws bail plea from Supreme Court Former student leader [Umar Khalid, an undertrial in a Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) case linked to the February 2020 Delhi riots for three years, withdrew his bail application]( from the Supreme Court on Wednesday. Appearing before a Bench headed by Justice Bela M. Trivedi, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Khalid, sought and got permission to withdraw the bail plea. Sibal referred to “changed circumstances” and said he would seek relief in the trial court. The court permitted him to withdraw the plea. The hearing in the case had been through a persistent series of re-scheduling over the past many months. His case has also travelled across different Benches of the Supreme Court in 2023. A Bench led by Justice A.S. Bopanna had first issued notice on May 18 last year. The next date of hearing, July 12, saw the government seek an adjournment. On July 24, the petitioner’s side had sought time. A month later, on August 9, a Bench of Justices Bopanna and P.K. Mishra said the case “cannot be taken up in this combination [of judges]” and adjourned it. Khalid’s case came up before a different Bench led by Justice Bela M. Trivedi on September 5. The hearing was adjourned on the request of the parties. The Bench said it would give a “last opportunity” on September 12. On October 12, the case was not taken up due to “paucity of time”. Similarly, the case was adjourned in November due to “non-availability of the senior lawyers concerned” and now twice in January this year. Justice Trivedi had earlier pointed out that the hearing of and decision in the case should not be delayed any further. It was a matter concerning liberty. Additional solicitor general of India S.V. Raju had countered that the accused was very the reason why the framing of charges was delayed all these years. The accusations were serious. Khalid is accused of being part of a “larger conspiracy” behind the communal violence. The Delhi High Court had refused to grant bail to Khalid, saying he was in constant touch with other co-accused and allegations against him were prima facie true. The High Court had said the acts of the accused prima facie qualified as “terrorist act” under the UAPA. The High Court had said the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act protests “metamorphosed into violent riots”, which “prima facie seemed to be orchestrated at the conspiratorial meetings”, and the statements of the witnesses indicate Khalid’s “active involvement” in the protests. Khalid has also filed a separate writ petition questioning the legality of certain sections of the UAPA, especially dealing with bail. This petition had been tagged with others who had similarly challenged the draconian nature of the UAPA. Khalid’s plea for bail was to be jointly heard with these writ petitions. No more adjournment letters in after-notice bail cases: Supreme Court [Adjournments, denounced as a major factor for pendency, delay in court hearings, and a money-drainer for litigants, is no longer going to be easy in the Supreme Court](. A circular issued by the Supreme Court on Wednesday said it would not entertain letters of adjournment from lawyers in bail and anticipatory bail cases for which notice had been earlier issued by the court. Letters of adjournment are last-minute requests by parties for postponement of cases listed before a Bench of the court. The letters are filed in the Registry and circulated to the opposing parties. The case, when called for hearing in the day, is usually adjourned if all the parties agree. Usually, they do as a matter of professional courtesy. The court said such letters seeking adjournment would also not be entertained in cases in which exemption from surrendering has already been granted; cases in which an interim order favouring the party seeking the adjournment is already in operation; and in matters in which suspension of sentence has been sought. This would mean that the parties must necessarily appear in court in these categories of cases and the Bench would take a decision, in its own discretion, on whether to grant an adjournment. In other cases, the circular said the request for adjournment of a case could be circulated till a day prior to the publication of the main list of cases. However, the request should contain the specific reason for seeking adjournment and the number of postponements sought earlier in the case. The circular said a party or counsel can only circulate an adjournment letter once in a case. The court would not allow consecutive adjournments, irrespective of which party in the case is making the request. If a case is adjourned, it should be listed within four weeks. The specific date for the hearing would be given to the parties. No oral mentioning would be permitted to advance the date. Finally, the Supreme Court made it clear that no letter would be permitted for adjourning fresh cases or regular hearing matters. Both the Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association (SCAORA) and the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) had registered their protest against the move. A group of 281 lawyers had written to the Chief Justice of India raising their objections. The court had in turn constituted a committee of judges to prepare a standard operating procedure (SoP) on adjournments. Sonia Gandhi files nomination as Congress Rajya Sabha candidate from Rajasthan Former Congress president [Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday filed her nomination papers for the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls from Rajasthan](. Her children Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, former chief minister Ashok Gehlot, PCC chief Govind Singh Dotasra, leader of opposition Tikaram Jully were present at the time of the nomination filing in the assembly building. Before filing nomination, Sonia Gandhi met with the party MLAs in the opposition lobby of the assembly. The Congress is comfortably placed to win one of the three Rajya Sabha seats from Rajasthan for which elections will be held. The seat will fall vacant after former prime minister Manmohan Singh completes his six-year tenure in April. It will be Sonia Gandhi’s first term in the Upper House after serving five terms as a Lok Sabha MP. The 77-year-old, who represented Rae Bareli in Lok Sabha, will not contest the next general elections. She was first elected as an MP in 1999 after taking over as the Congress president. In a post on X earlier in the day, Gehlot said, “We heartily welcome the announcement of respected Smt. Sonia Gandhi ji as the Rajya Sabha candidate from the Congress Party, who renounced the post of Prime Minister.” “Today her announcement as Rajya Sabha candidate from Rajasthan is a matter of happiness for the entire State and with this announcement all the old memories have been refreshed,” he added. A total of 56 members of Rajya Sabha from 15 States are retiring in April and the election to the seats will be held on February 27. The last date for filing nominations is February 15. Sonia Gandhi will be the second member of the Gandhi family to enter Rajya Sabha after former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who was a member of the Upper House from August 1964 to February 1967. Gandhi had announced in 2019 that it would be her last Lok Sabha election. Speculation is rife that her daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra could contest from Rae Bareli Lok Sabha constituency after Sonia Gandhi opted out this time. That Sonia Gandhi chose to contest from Rajasthan and not from a southern State like Telangana or Karnataka, where the party is also comfortably placed to win, is also a signal that the Congress’ first family is not abandoning the Hindi heartland. The Congress on February 14 nominated its senior leaders Ajay Maken and Abhishek Singhvi for the Rajya Sabha election to be held on February 27. Party treasurer Maken has been fielded from Karnataka and Singhvi from Himachal Pradesh. The party has its government in both States. Maken had unsuccessfully contested the Rajya Sabha election from Haryana last year. The Congress also nominated former union minister Renuka Chowdhury as Rajya Sabha candidate from Telangana along with local leader M. Anil Kumar Yadav from the southern State where the party came into power in December 2023. Singhvi would file his nomination for the lone Rajya Sabha seat from Himachal Pradesh on February 15, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said. Senior party leader and former Union Minister Anand Sharma was seeking a Rajya Sabha berth from Himachal, which is his home State. Rajya Sabha polls: Nadda from Gujarat, Chavan from Maharashtra in BJP list, Vaishnaw gets support from BJD as well The [BJP will nominate to the Rajya Sabha its national president J.P. Nadda from Gujarat]( Union Ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw and L. Murugan from Odisha and Madhya Pradesh respectively, and new entrant and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan from his home State, the party announced on Wednesday. The biennial polls are scheduled for February 27. The nomination of Murugan and Vaishnaw makes them the only two exceptions to the BJP high command’s decision that Union Ministers completing their terms in the Rajya Sabha must now fight the Lok Sabha polls. That list included Ministers Rajeev Chandrashekhar, Bhupendra Yadav, Dharmendra Pradhan, Mansukh Mandaviya, and Parshottam Rupala. Interestingly, in the case of Vaishnaw, his candidature has received support from the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) as well, in a repeat from 2019. Given that the BJD could have secured a third seat form Odisha, this move is politically intriguing; in a statement, the party said its decision was meant to benefit Odisha in the fields of railways and information technology, both portfolios held by Vaishnaw. The move has triggered speculation that it may soften the Odisha BJP’s confrontational stance towards the BJD-led government headed by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, especially with simultaneous State and general elections on the horizon. The Congress, now diminished to a non-entity in the State, has started pushing a narrative that the BJD and BJP are two sides of the same coin. From Gujarat, apart from Nadda, the BJP has also fielded diamond baron Govindbhai Dholakia, owner of Sri Krishna Exports, one of the largest diamond companies in Surat. He is also a philanthropist and has built over 250 Hanuman temples in the tribal region of Dangs in southern Gujarat. Local media reports say that he had also given an individual donation of ₹11 crores for the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya. The other two candidates picked by the BJP from Gujarat are Jaswantsinh Parmar, a doctor from Godhara, and Mayank Nayak from Patan in north Gujarat. Both are considered other backward class (OBC) representatives, with Nayak being the former chairman of the Gujarat BJP’s OBC Morcha. From Maharashtra, Chavan’s nomination is not suprising as it was considered part of the deal he made when he joined the BJP. Another nominee from the State is Medha Kulkarni, a prominent Brahmin face of the party in Pune who is currently serving as the vice president of the BJP women’s wing, having represented the Kothrud Assembly seat from 2014 to 2019. The BJP had lost the Kasba Peth Assembly seat to the Congress in a 2023 bypoll, fuelling a perception that the party’s essential Brahmin voters sensed neglect; Kulkarni’s nomination is being seen as an attempt to appease the community ahead of Lok Sabha election. The third nominee is Ajeet Gopchade, who hails from Marathwada’s Nanded district and belongs to the Lingayat community. Murugan’s nomination from M.P. points to his proximity to the BJP high command, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi having attended Pongal celebrations at the Minister’s residence. The other three nominees from M.P. reflect the BJP’s strategy of balancing various community groups ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. Umesh Nath Maharaj, a Dalit, is a prominent religious leader and the head priest (mahamandaleshwar) of Ujjain’s Valmiki Ashram. He is also considered close to the top leadership of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the BJP. Maya Naroliya is president of the M.P. BJP’s Mahila Morcha and hails from the OBC community, while Bansilal Gurjar, who hails from Mandsaur, is currently the national vice-president of the BJP’s Kisan Morcha and also belongs to the OBC block. Not allowing for 100% VVPATs is ‘terrible injustice’ on Indian voter: Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh Calling for greater accountability in using technology in conduct of polls, the [Congress on February 14 questioned the Election Commission of India]( “reluctance” to engage with INDIA parties over their demand that the number of VVPATs prescribed be steadily increased towards 100%. The Opposition party also said that not allowing for 100% VVPATs is a “terrible injustice” on the Indian voter. In a post on X, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) parties have been requesting for an appointment to meet the Election Commission since June 2023 on the issue of the greater use of VVPATs (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail) in the election process. “Not allowing for 100% VVPATs is a “terrible anyay” on the Indian voter,” he said. On April 8, 2019, the Supreme Court had requested the EC to increase the number of election booths that undergo VVPAT slip matching,” he noted. “The case is ‘N. Chandrababu Naidu vs Union of India’ yes, the same Chandrababu Naidu who was once known as the high-tech Chief Minister. Mr. Naidu was then the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh,” Ramesh said. “The demand of the INDIA parties is that the number of VVPATs prescribed cannot be static but must increase steadily increased towards a 100%,” he asserted. “The reluctance of the ECI to engage with the INDIA parties on this issue raises even more questions. Shouldn’t the ECI strive for greater accountability and transparency in a technology that it stands by so wholeheartedly?” Ramesh said. “But of course, Mr. Naidu is about to migrate into the NDA, in the meanwhile. Maybe he can convince the Election Commission to give his erstwhile allies an appointment,” the Congress general secretary said. Pakistan stalemate ends; Nawaz Sharif’s party seeks to get partner PPP to join Cabinet A political stalemate in Pakistan, after an inconclusive election, ended with [Shehbaz Sharif chosen to lead the country again]( while efforts were under way on February 14 to get the second-largest party to join the government to ensure stability. Sharif (72) who was the Prime Minister for 16 months until August, was late on February 13 named as the coalition candidate for next premier by his elder brother Nawaz Sharif, founder and supremo of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), the largest party in Parliament. The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) of former Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the second largest, backed the choice but did not commit to joining the government, indicating it would support a minority government from the outside. Officials in both PML-N and PPP said they had formed internal committees to discuss the modalities of government formation and the agenda included getting PPP to join the administration and take cabinet positions. “They are trying their level best but we are not joining the cabinet up until now,” PPP leader Faisal Karim Kundi said. In brief Former PM Lal Bahadur Shastri’s grandson resigns from Congress, joins BJP Former Prime Minister [Lal Bahadur Shastri’s grandson Vibhakar Shastri on February 14 quit the Congress and joined the BJP](. Vibhakar Shastri joined the BJP in Lucknow in the presence of party State president Bhupinder Singh and Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak. Delhi Excise policy case | ED issues sixth summons to Arvind Kejriwal in money laundering case The [Enforcement Directorate has issued a fresh and the 6th summons to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for his questioning in the Excise policy linked money laundering case]( official sources said on February 14. The 55-year-old leader, also the national convener of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), has been asked to depose before the federal agency on February 19. A Delhi court last week had asked Kejriwal to appear before it on February 17 acting on a complaint filed by the ED for disobeying ED summons in this case and noted that prima facie the AAP chief was “legally bound” to comply. This is the 6th summons in this case by the ED to the former Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. 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