RNI No.2016/1957, REGD NO. SSP/LW/NP-34/2019-21 Follow us on: @TheDailyPioneer facebook.com/dailypioneer instagram.com/dailypioneer/ Established 1864 Late City Vol. 155 Issue 136 Published From *Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable NATION 6 WORLD 7 SPORT 10 DELHI LUCKNOW BHOPAL INDIA OFFERS SL SUPPORT BHUBANESWAR RANCHI MODI ADDRESSED 142 ENG BEAT PAK IN 4TH RAIPUR CHANDIGARH RALLIES IN ALL TO FIGHT ‘JIHADI TERROR’ ODI, SEAL SERIES DEHRADUN HYDERABAD VIJAYWADA LUCKNOW, SUNDAY MAY 19, 2019; PAGES 12+4 `3 www.dailypioneer.com PM prays at USUALSUSPECTS temple, inspects Bitter campaign SWAPAN DASGUPTA Modi meditates in progress of construction ends, four Union EC must make poll Kedarnath cave projects Mins, PM in fray PNS n DEHRADUN The true devotees sanctity foolproof sacrifice their ego fter engaging in bitter and and arrogance y Sunday evening, the excruciatingly long general Augly spats with his politi- before going to the Belection of 2019 will have come to an end. By the cal adversaries for more than abode of God, not after laying afternoon of May 23, the country will digest the results and six weeks during the Lok Sabha a red carpet. Modi ji, hope slowly come to terms with the overall verdict. election campaign, Prime you know that much In the interregnum there will be the exit polls and a Minister Narendra Modi on — Congress spokesperson PNS n NEW DELHI will go to polls on Sunday in dissection of the role of the Election Commission. There will Saturday landed at Kedarnath Randeep Surjewala tweeted the shadow of controversial be those who will doubt any verdict because they are shrine for a spiritual retreat. urtain will come down on “Hua to Hua” comment of unconvinced of the integrity of the Electronic Voting After walking on a red Opposition. The Congress Cone of the most bitterly Sam Pitroda. Polling will also Machines. Others will claim that the EC failed to provide a carpet to arrive at the temple flayed the Prime Minister for contested parliamentary elec- be held on as many as 13 seats level-playing field. In West Bengal, where the election where he offered prayer and walking on a “red carpet” in tions on Sunday when polling in Uttar Pradesh, nine in West campaign was terribly vitiated and violent, the EC even had inspected the progress of the God’s abode, while other will take place on 59 seats Bengal, eight seats each in to take the extraordinary step of curtailing campaigning by a construction activity, Modi Opposition parties also spread over eight States in the Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, day — an admission of its helpless inability to control things. withdrew himself in a special mocked Modi for posing for seventh phase. Prime Minister four in Himachal Pradesh, Another aspect of the EC’s work will be scrutinised and meditation cave located about picture at the shrine. Narendra Modi is seeking three in Jharkhand and the lone debated in the coming months: The extent to which the body 1.5 kms from the shrine. There “The true devotees sacri- reelection from Varanasi. seat Chandigarh. can be the arbiter of political rhetoric. This is unquestionably he is seen sitting on a bed and fice their ego and arrogance As many as four Union Over 10.01 crore voters a grey area. In the distant past, the EC used to take a propped up by a pillow while before going to the abode of Ministers — Ravi Shankar are expected to decide the fate detached view of verbal transgressions, leaving the final being lost in his meditative God, not after laying a red car- Prasad, Ram Kripal Yadav, RK of 918 candidates. The Election judgment to the courts in the event of an election petition. trance. pet. Modiji, hope you know Singh and Ashwini Kumar Commission has set up more However, in this election it has insisted on a semblance of Modi who caught the that much,” Congress Choubey — are among the 157 than 1.12 lakh polling stations decorousness. Since what is permissible by way of rhetoric attention of people by wearing spokesperson Randeep candidates in Bihar. Seven of for smooth conduct of polls. and what transcends the letter and spirit of the rules is in any a grey long suit, along with Surjewala tweeted. these seats were won by the On Sunday, a bypoll will be event a matter of subjective judgment, the EC has inevitably Himachali cap and saffron Aam Aadmi Party’s Sanjay NDA last time, five by the BJP held in Panaji, necessitated due been drawn into controversy. It is unlikely that there will be clothes, wrapped around his Singh tweeted Modi’s picture and two by the RLSP, which is to the death of former Chief any satisfactory resolution of this matter, either now or in the waist covered himself with a taken as he gestured to pay Prime Minister Narendra Modi meditating in a holy cave near Kedarnath Temple in now with the Minister Manohar Parrikar in future. There will always be sharp political divisions in a saffron shawl while entering obeisance to the deity. “Hail the Rudraprayag district on Saturday PTI “Mahagathbandhan”. One was March. Bypolls will also be held democracy and, when translated into the popular idiom, the cave. Here he sat on a long God of Camera,” he quipped, bagged by the JD(U) headed by in four Assembly constituencies there will always be scope for offence. The larger question meditation in complete isola- referring to the PM. lates the MCC brazenly with morning. Modi arrived at the Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, of Tamil Nadu — Sulur, for the future is to decide once and for all if the EC should tion, but, the “photo op” was CPI(M) general secretary footage of his Kedarnath reli- Dehradun airport, Jollygrant, who then fought separately Aravakurichi, Ottapidaram (SC) get into this debate on free speech at all. My own feeling is not missed. The picture of the Sitaram Yechury alleged that gious activity over TV channels on Saturday morning where he but is now back with the NDA. and Thiruparankundram. that EC interventions should be limited exclusively to PM performing meditation Modi’s visit was a violation of during silent period before was accorded a warm wel- Bypoll will also be held for the Counting of votes will be taken threatening behaviour and incitement of violence. Everything was aptly released and expect- the model code of conduct. polling. And EC continues to come by Uttarakhand Dehri Assembly seat. up on May 23. else should be left to the good sense of the electorate and, edly went viral. “Religion is a matter of per- sleep on the job,” he tweeted. Governor Baby Rani Maurya, All the 13 seats of Punjab Turn to Page 6 in the ultimate analysis, to the wisdom of the courts. The PM’s Kedarnath visit a sonal faith and EC has reiter- After spending the night at Chief Minister Trivendra Singh The more important question centres on the integrity of day before polling has come ated that it cannot be used for Kedarnath, the PM would visit Rawat and others. the poll process. A lot of under attack from the garnering votes. But Modi vio- Badrinath temple on Sunday Turn to Page 6 In West Bengal there was attention has been focussed on money power. large number of complaints Over the years, the EC has but there were hardly any put in place a monitoring Martyr Rifleman booths where repoll was mechanism to ensure that Naidu steps up effort Aurangzeb avenged, candidates and parties ordered. More to the point, stay within the expenditure limit. It is always difficult to three terrorists killed no action appears to have monitor expenditure — MOHIT KANDHARI n JAMMU been taken against polling particularly the use of cash for anti-BJP front staff that either colluded in for voter inducement — lmost a year after precisely. It can safely be TDP chief meets ARifleman Aurangzeb, who the derailment of democracy said that most candidates was returning home to cele- or didn’t report the spend much more than Maya, Akhilesh & brate Eid with his family in they are supposed. The Poonch was killed by terror- malpractices. Unless unofficial estimates of the Rahul to lay strategy ists in June 2018, a joint team exemplary action is taken at real expenditure per of security forces on Saturday constituency often exceeds in case NDA falls avenged his killing by elimi- all levels against officials the permitted amount by nating Showkat Dar of guilty of dereliction of duty, more than 200 per cent. In short of majority Panzgam, along with two southern India the other terrorists of Hizbul the sanctity of the poll expenses are even higher Mujahideen, in a pre-dawn process cannot be made because micro-level PNS n NEW DELHI operation in South Kashmir’s fool-proof bribery has become Pulwama district. customary. Is there a day before the last phase of feasible way in which Apolling on Sunday, leaders expenditure can be regulated without jeopardising the of Opposition parties stepped legitimate publicity expenses of candidates in constituencies up efforts to cobble up a coali- that are truly large? The answer is probably in the negative. tion for the formation of the CEC denies code violation rift, Cong In which case two solutions can be contemplated. First, to next Government. TDP chief remove the ceiling altogether but insist on candidates giving Chandrababu Naidu met with a faithful account of the expenditure, along with the sources leaders of Congress, CPI, NCP of funding. Secondly, to determine a separate limit for and others in the national seeks probe into Lavasa charges expenses on polling day when the huge army of polling Capital and also called on BSP agents have to be fed, transported and even provided chief Mayawati and SP presi- PNS n NEW DELHI charges made by Lavasa, the pocket money.