NEW DELHI: India announced Saturday that national polls would begin on April 19, with Hindu-nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi strongly favored to win a third term in the world’s biggest democracy.
Nearly a billion people are eligible to cast ballots in what will be the largest exercise of the democratic franchise in human history, conducted over six weeks.
Many consider Modi’s re-election a foregone conclusion, owing to both the premier’s robust popularity a decade after taking office and a glaringly uneven playing field.
His opponents have been hamstrung by infighting and what critics say are politically motivated legal investigations aimed at hobbling any challengers to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“We will take democracy to every corner of the country,” chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar said at a press conference in New Delhi announcing the voting dates.
“It is our promise to deliver a national election in a manner that we... remain a beacon for democracy around the world.”
Voting will be staggered over seven stages between April 19 and June 1.
Ballots from around the country will be counted all at once on June 4 and are usually announced on the same day.
Modi, 73, has already begun unofficial campaigning as he seeks a repeat of his landslide wins of 2014 and 2019, forged in part by his muscular appeals to India’s majority faith.
In January, Modi presided over the inauguration of a grand temple to the deity Ram in the once-sleepy town of Ayodhya, built on the grounds of a centuries-old mosque razed by Hindu zealots.
Construction of the temple fulfilled a long-standing demand of Hindu activists and was widely celebrated across India with back-to-back television coverage and street parties.
The opposition Congress, which led India’s independence struggle and ruled the country almost uninterrupted for decades after its conclusion, is meanwhile a shadow of its former self and out of office in all but three of the country’s 28 states.
Its leaders have sought to stitch together an alliance of more than two dozen regionalist parties to present a united front against the BJP’s well-oiled and well-funded electoral juggernaut.
But the bloc has been plagued by disputes over seat-sharing deals, suffered the defection of one of its members to the government and has so far been unable to publicly agree which of its leaders will be its prime ministerial candidate.
Several party leaders in the alliance are the subject of active investigations or criminal proceedings, and critics have accused Modi’s government of using law enforcement agencies to selectively target its political foes.
Rahul Gandhi — the most prominent Congress politician whose father, grandmother and great-grandfather all served as prime ministers — was briefly disqualified from parliament last year after being convicted of criminal libel.
He faces at least 10 other defamation proceedings in courts around the country, many filed years ago by BJP officials and slowly snaking their way through India’s glacial criminal justice system.
Gandhi, 53, has criticized the government for democratic backsliding and its chest-thumping Hindu nationalism, which have left many of the country’s 210-million-strong Muslim minority fearful for their futures.
He has also called into question Modi’s probity by highlighting his close ties to tycoon industrialist Gautam Adani, whose business empire saw a market meltdown last year after a US short-seller investment firm accused it of corporate fraud.
But Gandhi has already led Congress to two successive humiliating defeats against Modi and there is no sign his efforts to dent the premier’s popularity have registered with the public.
Published opinion polls are rare in India but a Pew survey last year found Modi was viewed favorably by nearly 80 percent of Indians.
A February poll of urban voters conducted by YouGov showed the BJP comfortably leading India’s manifold opposition parties among 47 percent of those surveyed, while Congress was a dismal second at 11 percent.
“Wherever I go, I can clearly see that Modi will become PM for the third time,” Amit Shah, India’s home minister and Modi’s closest political ally, said in a speech this week.
A total of 970 million people are eligible to vote in the election — more than the entire population of the United States, European Union and Russia combined.
There will be more than a million polling stations in operation staffed by 15 million poll workers, according to the election commission.
India to hold marathon national election from April
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India to hold marathon national election from April
- Over 970 million people are eligible to vote in India’s election, more than populations of the US, EU and Russia combined
- Many consider Modi’s re-election a foregone conclusion, owing to his popularity and a glaringly uneven playing field
Forest fires raze parts of India amid heat, dry weather
- As of 2021, 54.4 percent of forests in India experienced occasional fires, most of them due to man-made factors
- These fires have picked up again this year, with 653 incidents in Uttarakhand alone, government data shows
NEW DELHI: Frequent fires are razing forests in India’s Uttarakhand state in the north and Odisha in the east amid high temperatures and long dry spells, and the blazes have been worsened by people burning the forest to collect a flower used to brew alcohol.
Data from the state-run Forest Survey of India shows that as of 2021, 54.4 percent of forests in India experienced occasional fires, most of them due to man-made factors.
“Agriculture stubble burning, misconceptions and burning of shrubs to shoo away wildlife are major reasons behind the forest fires,” Swapnil Aniruddh, a forest official in Uttarakhand, told Reuters.
After a brief respite during the previous season from November to April, forest fires have picked up again this year, with 653 incidents in Uttarakhand alone, government data shows.
Odisha’s fires have been exacerbated by people setting parts of the forest ablaze to collect Mahua flowers, which are highly sought after as they are used to brew a popular liquor.
During the current season, 10,163 fire points in Uttarakhand have been detected using the government’s imaging radiometer.
Overall, loss of significant forest cover is a big worry for India as it tries to dramatically reduce its climate-changing emissions.
Among the organizations helping to curb the fires is the Indian Air Force, which has used the aerial firefighting ‘Bambi Bucket’ technique of collecting water from a nearby lake to spray over the region.
The situation may get worse, with India’s weather department predicting more heat-wave days than normal between April and June this year, along with a longer dry spell for Uttarakhand.
Pentagon chief pushes for donation of more Patriot systems to Kyiv
- “There are countries that have Patriots, and so what we’re doing is continuing to engage those countries,” Austin told a House Armed Services Committee hearing
WASHINGTON: US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Tuesday he has been encouraging countries with Patriot missile systems to donate them to Ukraine, which has appealed for more of the air defense batteries.
“There are countries that have Patriots, and so what we’re doing is continuing to engage those countries,” Austin told a House Armed Services Committee hearing.
“I have talked to the leaders of several countries... myself here in the last two weeks, encouraging them to give up more capability or provide more capability,” he said, without identifying the countries by name.
Various European Union countries possess the systems, including Spain, Greece, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told NATO members earlier this month that his country needed a minimum of seven additional Patriot or other high-end air defense systems to counter Russian air strikes, urging them to step up their military assistance for Kyiv.
Greek court drops criminal charges against 35 international aid workers
- The case was dropped due to inadequate evidence
- Greece was on the front line of a huge surge of refugees and migrants to Europe in 2015 and 2016
ATHENS: Greece has dropped criminal charges against dozens of international aid workers, ranging from spying to facilitating what authorities had called illegal entry into the country through the island of Lesbos, court documents showed on Tuesday.
Most of the 35 people, accused in 2020 of setting up a criminal organization and providing support to traffickers ferrying migrants, were German nationals. The rest included people from Norway, Austria, France, Spain, Switzerland and Bulgaria. They were arrested and had denied wrongdoing at the time.
The case was dropped due to inadequate evidence, the documents seen by Reuters showed.
“The detailed investigation of the case file has resoundingly quashed the police narrative which was pure fiction,” said Zaharias Kesses, a lawyer representing some of the aid workers.
Greece was on the front line of a huge surge of refugees and migrants to Europe in 2015 and 2016, many through its outlying islands close to Turkiye, including Lesbos. That flow has since ebbed.
The case was based on a 2020 operation by the Greek intelligence service EYP and the anti-terrorism unit with the code name Alkmini, and involved undercover agents who traveled as migrants from Turkiye to Lesbos.
Greek intelligence services were initially involved because the workers, who were using an alarm phone for migrants and asylum seekers in need of rescue at sea, were thought to have passed on information on Greek coast guard movements and vessel equipment.
But a magistrate’s investigation concluded the information and visual material collected were not confidential.
“There is not enough evidence to support the accusations against the defendants,” the documents said.
Top French university loses funding over pro-Palestinian protests
- Regional support for the Paris-based university includes 1 million euros earmarked for 2024
- The university’s acting administrator, Jean Basseres, said he regretted the decision
PARIS: The Paris region authority sparked controversy Tuesday by temporarily suspending funding for Sciences Po, one of the country’s most prestigious universities, after it was rocked by tense pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
“I have decided to suspend all regional funding for Sciences Po until calm and security have been restored at the school,” Valerie Pecresse, the right-wing head of the greater Paris Ile-de-France region, said on social media on Monday.
She took aim at “a minority of radicalized people calling for anti-Semitic hatred” and accused hard-left politicians of seeking to exploit the tensions.
Regional support for the Paris-based university includes 1 million euros earmarked for 2024, a member of Pecresse’s team told AFP.
On Tuesday, the university’s acting administrator, Jean Basseres, said he regretted the decision.
“The Ile-de-France region is an essential partner of Sciences Po, and I wish to maintain dialogue on the position expressed by Mrs.Pecresse,” he told French daily Le Monde in an interview published Tuesday.
In an echo of tense demonstrations rocking many top US universities, students at Sciences Po have staged a number of protests, with some students furious over the Israel-Hamas war and ensuing humanitarian crisis in the besieged Palestinian territory of Gaza.
France is home to the world’s largest Jewish population after Israel and the United States, as well as Europe’s biggest Muslim community.
University officials called in police to clear a protest last week. On Monday, police broke up a student protest demanding an end to Israel’s bombardment of Gaza at Sorbonne, another top French university.
Higher Education Minister Sylvie Retailleau said on Tuesday the French government had no plans to suspend funding for Sciences Po.
Speaking to broadcaster France 2, she estimated the state’s funding for the university at 75 million euros. She said there had been “no anti-Semitic remarks” and no violence had been committed during the demonstrations.
Both Basseres and Retailleau also said there were no plans to suspend Sciences Po’s collaboration with universities in Israel.
Critics on the left have denounced Pecresse’s announcement.
“It’s shameful and an absolute scandal,” said Mathilde Panot, the head of hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) deputies in parliament, adding the behavior of the students was a “credit to the world and a credit to our country.”
Panot and Rima Hassan, a Franco-Palestinian activist who is running on the LFI list for European elections, were on Tuesday questioned in an investigation into suspected justification of “terrorism” over comments on the October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel.
Several hundred people staged a solidarity rally in support of the two women on Tuesday morning.
“In what democracy are counter-terrorism methods used against political activists, community activists and trade unionists?” Panot, 35, told her supporters, who chanted “Resistance” and waved Palestinian flags.
“I want to tell the pro-Israeli lobby organizations behind these complaints that they will not silence us,” added 32-year-old Hassan.
The war started after Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 34,535 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
Palestinian militants also took some 250 hostages on October 7. Israel estimates 129 remain in Gaza, including 34 believed to be dead.
King Charles III resumes public duties as he fights cancer
- The British head of state appeared relaxed as he and his wife Queen Camilla met patients and staff at the University College Hospital Macmillan Cancer Center
- He talked to patients receiving chemotherapy at a day unit
LONDON: King Charles III on Tuesday reportedly told fellow cancer patients “I’m well,” as he carried out his first official public engagement since being diagnosed with the condition.
The British head of state appeared relaxed as he and his wife Queen Camilla met patients and staff at the University College Hospital Macmillan Cancer Center in central London.
He talked to patients receiving chemotherapy at a day unit, including 60-year-old Asha Millen, who has bone marrow cancer.
“I said, ‘How are you?’ and he said, ‘I’m well’,” she told reporters afterwards.
Another patient, Lesley Woodbridge, 63, said the king sympathized with her, and added: “I’ve got to have my treatment this afternoon as well.”
Charles, 75, suspended most of his duties in February after cancer was found while he was being treated for an enlarged prostate the previous month.
The exact nature of his cancer has not been disclosed but doctors said last week they were “very encouraged” by the progress of his treatment as an out-patient and “positive” about his recovery.
His daughter-in-law Catherine, Princess of Wales, 42, underwent abdominal surgery in January and said in March that she was receiving chemotherapy.
Again, no details were given about what type of cancer she has. Kate, as she is widely known, is married to Charles’s elder son and heir Prince William.
Tuesday’s event was the first in a number of planned engagements in the coming weeks and designed to raise awareness of the importance of early cancer diagnosis and highlight innovative research, Buckingham Palace said.
Charles, who succeeded his mother Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022, was officially crowned king on May 6 last year.
He has been seen attending church services since his diagnosis and at selected audiences. He has also continued his official state business.
His treatment will continue but his schedule in the coming weeks will be reduced and subject to medical advice, a spokesperson added.
His engagements will include a state visit by Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako of Japan in June.
The chief executive of University College London Hospitals group, David Probert, said Charles “deliberately went out of his way to meet as many staff and patients as he could.”
Patients were “delighted” to see him, he told Sky News, and described the visit as “incredibly uplifting.”
Members of the public last week welcomed the king’s return to some duties, praising him for raising awareness about cancer, which will affect one in two people, according to Cancer Research UK.
Probert said the king’s announcement had led to a surge in people looking up symptoms and seeking out treatment.
“It’s a huge issue in today’s society,” Keegan Gray, 23, a demolitions manager from New Zealand, told AFP on Friday.
“A lot of people have cancer and a lot of people they keep it to themselves, they’re a bit shy about it,” he added after the news Charles would resume some public duties.
Gray said it was “really beautiful” that the king was raising awareness of cancer and the work of treatment clinics.
Charles and Kate’s cancer diagnoses have created a headache for the royal family, with both having postponed public engagements.
William has also taken a step back to support his wife and their three young children, leaving fewer senior royals to fill the schedule.
Camilla, 76, has stepped in to take over many of her husband’s engagements. Charles’s sister Princess Anne and his youngest brother Prince Edward have also taken on more prominent roles.
Charles’s largely estranged younger son, Prince Harry, is no longer a working royal but is expected in London on May 8 to mark the 10th anniversary of his Invictus Games for disabled military veterans.
He will then join his American wife Meghan on a visit to Nigeria.
