EC begins examining complaints against PM Modi's wealth redistribution to Muslims remark | Top News of Apr 24, 2024

[00:00:00] Hello, this is your Daily Dose of News from Onmanorama.

[00:00:14] I am your host, Anjou S. Kunjumon and these are the major news stories of Wednesday, April

[00:00:19] 24, 2024.

[00:00:24] The Election Commission started examining complaints against PM Modi's wealth redistribution to

[00:00:30] Muslims remark.

[00:00:34] The Supreme Court reserved its verdict on the pleas seeking cross-verification of votes

[00:00:40] cast using electronic voting machines.

[00:00:45] An official from the World Food Program said the Gaza Strip could surpass famine

[00:00:51] The US Senate voted by a white margin late Tuesday in favour of legislation that would

[00:01:05] ban TikTok in the United States if its owner fails to divest the popular short video app

[00:01:12] over the next nine months to a year.

[00:01:17] Prohibitory orders were imposed in four districts of Kerala ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in

[00:01:23] the state.

[00:01:24] Let's get into the details.

[00:01:29] Amid mounting opposition pressure, the Election Commission has learned to have started

[00:01:34] examining complaints against a speech made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Rajasthan

[00:01:40] in which he suggested that if the Congress came to power, it would redistribute the

[00:01:46] The Congress and the CPI had separately urged the poll panel against Modi's speech on Sunday.

[00:01:55] Modi on Sunday suggested that if the Congress came to power, it would redistribute the

[00:02:00] wealth of people to Muslims and cited former PM Manmohan Singh's remark that

[00:02:06] the minority community had the first claim on the country's resources.

[00:02:11] The Congress, while urging the Election Commission to take action against Modi for his redistribution

[00:02:17] of wealth remarks made in Rajasthan, alleged they were divisive, malicious and targeted

[00:02:23] a particular religious community.

[00:02:28] The Supreme Court on Wednesday reserved its verdict on a batch of pleas seeking

[00:02:33] complete cross-verification of votes cast using AVMs with water verifiable paper

[00:02:40] or the trail after taking notes of answers to queries it had raised before the Election Commission.

[00:02:46] A bunch of justices Sanjeev Ganna and Deepak Gardatta sought answers from an official

[00:02:52] of the poll panel to five questions related to the functioning of the electronic voting

[00:02:57] machines including whether the microcontrollers fitted in them are reprogrammable.

[00:03:05] The bench had said it needed clarification on certain aspects as there was some confusion

[00:03:11] over the answers given by the EC to frequently asked questions about AVMs.

[00:03:20] The Gaza Strip could surpass famine thresholds of food insecurity, malnutrition and mortality

[00:03:26] in six weeks, an official from the World Food Programme said on Wednesday.

[00:03:32] A UN-backed report published in March said that famine was imminent and likely to occur

[00:03:37] by May in northern Gaza and could spread across the enclave by July.

[00:03:44] On Tuesday, a US official said the risk of famine in Gaza, especially in the north,

[00:03:50] was very high.

[00:03:51] Meanwhile, some Palestinian civilians were fleeing their homes in northern Gaza on

[00:03:57] Just weeks after returning because of an Israeli bombardment, which they said was

[00:04:02] as intense as those at the start of the war.

[00:04:06] After a few weeks of relative calm, Israel intensified its attacks overnight on Monday,

[00:04:12] focusing on areas, particularly in the north, from where it had previously withdrawn many

[00:04:17] of its troops, saying Hamas was no longer in control.

[00:04:23] Israel has vowed to eradicate Hamas after the militant group's fighters stormed across

[00:04:27] the border on October 7, killing 1,200 and taking 253 hostages, according to Israeli

[00:04:35] tallies.

[00:04:36] The war now in the seventh month has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, with many

[00:04:42] more feared buried in the rubble.

[00:04:45] The offensive has led to waste much of the densely populated enclave, displacing

[00:04:50] most of its 2.3 million people and creating a humanitarian crisis.

[00:04:58] The US Senate voted by a wide margin late Tuesday in favour of legislation that would

[00:05:04] ban TikTok in the United States if its owner, the Chinese tech firm ByteDance,

[00:05:10] fails to divest the popular short video app over the next nine months to a year.

[00:05:16] Driven by widespread worries among US lawmakers that China could access Americans' data or

[00:05:23] surveil them with the app, the bill was passed by the US House of Representatives

[00:05:28] on Saturday and US President Joe Biden has said he will sign it into law on Wednesday.

[00:05:35] The four-year battle over TikTok, which is used by 170 million people in the United

[00:05:41] States, is just one front in a war over the internet and technology between Washington

[00:05:46] and Beijing.

[00:05:48] Last week, Apple said Beijing had ordered it to remove meta-platforms, WhatsApp and

[00:05:54] threats from its app store in China over Chinese national security concerns.

[00:06:00] Once the bill is signed into law, ByteDance will have 270 days to divest TikTok's

[00:06:06] US operations with a possible three-month extension if there are signs a deal is progressing.

[00:06:15] With only two days left for the Lok Sabha election in Kerala, prohibitory orders under

[00:06:19] section 144 of the CRPC have been invoked in Kasargod, Trishur and Tiruvananthapuram

[00:06:26] districts.

[00:06:27] The restrictions came into effect from 6pm on Wednesday and will continue till 6am

[00:06:33] on April 27.

[00:06:35] The Patanamteeta district collector has also imposed the curbs from 6pm on April 25.

[00:06:42] Election will be held in 20 parliamentary constituencies across the states on April

[00:06:46] 26.

[00:06:47] The public campaign for the polls ended at 6pm on Wednesday.

[00:06:52] As per the order issued by the collectors, gatherings of more than five people, rallies,

[00:06:57] public meetings, possessing lethal weapons and explosives, displaying and burning refugees,

[00:07:04] making provocative speeches and publicly raising political slogans will be prohibited.

[00:07:10] Meanwhile, no restrictions is imposed on silent campaigns during this period.

[00:07:15] Politicians are allowed to seek votes from people at polling centres, shopping

[00:07:20] malls, shops, cinema theatres, tourist ports, wedding functions, funerals and

[00:07:26] houses without affecting law and order.

[00:07:34] Thanks for listening to Daily News Doors hosted by me, Anju S. Kunjumon and produced

[00:07:39] by Vishnu Murulidharan with technical support from Idea Brew Studios.

[00:07:45] Follow on Manorama.com for detailed updates on the latest news and be sure to come

[00:07:50] back tomorrow.