NATIONAL 
EXPRESS

Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Assam Anurag Goel has said that the state is fully equipped to conduct the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in a transparent and fair manner. The CEO participating at the Dristipat programme of Akashvni News Guwahati said that 60 companies of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) have already been deployed across the state and additional forces will arrive on time. He informed that GPS will be installed in the vehicles that will carry the EVMs apart from GPS equipped 20 thousand vehicles to be engaged for election purposes. Mr Goel informed that to conduct the election smoothly, the Election Commission has arranged for webcasting of all the sensitive polling stations and using modern technology. ERONET software used to prepare voters lists in the state and the ECI has launched cVIGIL App to report any Model Code Conduct  (MCC) complaint and Election Commission will resolve the issue within 100 minutes of receiving the complaint, added the CEO. The CEO further informed that individuals of third phase voters can still change their polling station, rectify any errors if any 10 days before the nomination deadline. The visually-impaired voters in the state can now cast their votes through the Braille signage features in the EVMs, persons above 85, and those with 45 percent disability can vote from home. Senior citizens and pregnant women will be given priority in voting at polling stations. Those engaged in the election duty in the state to be covered by insurance and will get free treatment under Ayushman Bharat Jan Arogya Yojona apart from food and lodging facilities. The total electorate in Assam was over 2.43 crore as on 8the February, 2024 and of these, 1,21,79,538 were male and 1,21,22,602 female. There are 414 transgender voters and 4854 voters over 100 years. Total 4 lakh 35 thousand young voters in 18-29 age groups have been added to the electoral roll in the state out of the 7,26,783 new voters. There are 28,650 polling stations in the state and there will be 1,409 women-managed polling stations and 262 model polling stations. Webcasting will be held at 15,777 polling stations. Elections to all 14 Lok Sabha seats in the state will be held in three phases on 19 and 26 April, and 7 May. The counting of votes will be on 4 June.

Equity benchmark indices ended lower for the second straight session today due to profit-booking in select banking and auto stocks amid mixed trends from the global markets and outflow of foreign funds. BSE Sensex declined 27 points, or 0.04 percent, to finish at 73,877. The NSE Nifty fell 19 points, or 0.08 percent, to settle at 22,435. Among the Sensex constituents, Nestle India, Kotak Mahindra Bank, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Titan and JSW Steel were among the laggards. On the other hand, NTPC, TCS, Tech Mahindra, Axis Bank ended the day in green. BSE MidCap rose 0.60 percent, while smallcap index gained 1.18 percent. In sectoral indices at the BSE, Utilities sector rose 1.45 percent, Power index jumped 1.20 percent, and Information Technology sector soared 0.80 percent. In contrast, Realty index declined 2.45 percent and Auto sector fell 0.40 percent.

In the forex market, the rupee closed at 83 rupees and 43 paise against the US dollar today. The dollar index, which indicates the US dollar’s strength against a basket of six other leading currencies was trading lower at 104.81 in intra-day trade.

Today, gold was trading up at the Multi Commodity Exchange for June contracts. The precious metal was 272 rupees up to trade at 69,200 rupees per ten grams. Silver futures for May contracts was also up by 984 rupees to trade at 78,020 rupees per kilogram when reports last came in. In the global markets, gold was trading up at 2,292 dollars and 50 cents per ounce at COMEX. Silver was also up at 26 dollars and 39 cents per ounce in the intra-day session.

President Droupadi Murmu will visit Mumbai today, where she will dedicate CAR-T Cell Therapy to the nation at IIT Bombay. The CAR-T Cell Therapy (used to treat cancer patients) has been developed in India by IIT Bombay-incubated Company Immunoadoptive Cell Therapy (ImmunoACT). The CAR-T Cell Therapy product has been developed as a collaborative effort between IIT Bombay and Tata Memorial Centre (TMC). Designed and developed at IIT Bombay, the therapy has undergone integrative process development and manufacturing at ImmunoACT. Clinical investigations and translational studies were conducted by teams at TMH. The CAR-T Cell Therapy product is expected to save many lives at much lower cost compared to the cost of such products available outside India

BJP today hit out at Congress leader Randeep Surjewala for his alleged derogatory remark against Party MP Hema Malini. Briefing the Media in New Delhi, the Party’s spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said that this is a new low to disrespect and demean the dignity of women in Indian politics by the Congress party. He alleged this is not just merely an isolated statement by a Congress leader but a structured and well-thought-of dastardly mindset of the Congress party regarding the dignity of women. Meanwhile Congress leader Randeep Surjewala clarified that he never intended to insult or hurt the actor turned politician Hema Malini. A video has come to the fore on social media in which Mr. Surjewala was seen making some objectionable remarks about MP Hema Malini.

Congress Spokesperson Gourav Vallabh today joins BJP. He has resigned from all of the party’s posts this morning. He was inducted into the party in the presence of BJP General Secretary Vinod Twade. Former Bihar Congress President Anil Sharma also joined the BJP on this occasion.

Prime Minister and senior BJP leader Narendra Modi has said that the NDA government is making all efforts to make India a developed country. Addressing a rally in Jamui in Bihar, Mr Modi said India has become the first country to successfully land a spacecraft on the moon’s south pole. He said India has also become the fifth largest economy in the world. He said India also gives befitting reply to those who support and indulge in terror activities.  Mr Modi said those people can never do any good to the youth of Bihar, who asked youth to register their land for recruitment in railways. He said during previous alliance governments only dilapidated trains used to run. But now like the whole country, people of Bihar are also traveling in the Vande Bharat train.

NATO is celebrating 75 years of collective defense across Europe and North America today. At a cake-cutting ceremony in Brussels, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his counterparts will mark the moment the alliance’s founding treaty was signed on April 4, 1949, in Washington. A bigger celebration is planned when NATO leaders meet in Washington from July 9 to 11. The alliance’s ranks have almost tripled over more than seven decades from its 12 founding members. That promise – Article 5 of the Washington Treaty, which has been shipped to Brussels for the ceremony – stipulates that an attack on any one of their number must be met with a united response. It’s only ever been used once, after the Al-Qaeda attacks on U.S. soil in 2001. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on the eve of the anniversary that the NATO was founded on a single, solemn promise: An attack on one ally is an attack on all. Blinken described NATO as a defensive alliance with no designs on the territory of any other country, but with a determination to protect the territory of each of its members and to do it in a way that has been unique in human his. At the other end of the scale lies the operation in Afghanistan. NATO took command of the security effort in 2003 and it became the longest, costliest and deadliest in alliance history. It was marked by a chaotic retreat in August 2021.

Senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi today took oath as Rajya Sabha MP. Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar administered the oath to Mrs Gandhi. She has been elected from Rajasthan.

Prime Minister and Senior BJP leader Narendra Modi will address a public meeting at Rasleela Maidan in Coochbehar, West Bengal this afternoon. He will address the rally at around 3:30 pm.  BJP has fielded Nisith Pramanik from Coochbehar parliamentary constituency, which will go to polls on 19th of April along with Alipurduar and Jalpaiguri. Trinamool Congress supremo and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will address a public meeting at Mathabhanga of Coochbehar at around 12 noon today. Trinamool has fielded Jagadish Chandra Barma Basunia from Coochbehar seat.

In IPL cricket, Kolkata Knight Riders defeated Delhi Capitals by 106 runs at the YS Rajasekhara Reddy Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam last night. Chasing a target of 273, Delhi Capitals were all out for 166 runs in 17.2 overs. For Delhi, Skipper Rishabh Pant scored 55 runs in 25 balls, while Tristan Stubbs scored 54 off 32. For Kolkata, Vaibhav Arora and Varun Chakaravarthy scalped three wickets each. Earlier choosing to bat first, Kolkata Knight Riders scored 272 for seven in 20 overs, making it the second highest total in IPL history. For Kolkata, Sunil Narine scored 85 off 39, while Angkrish Raghuvanshi scored 54 off 27. Anrich Nortje took three wickets for the Capitals. Sunil Narine has been declared Player of the Match. Today, Gujarat Titans will face Punjab Kings at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. The match will start at 7.30 PM