3 Things Express Audio

This is the Catch Up on 3 Things for the Indian Express and I'm Flora Swain.
It’s the 19th of April and here are the top stories of the week.

The first phase of the Lok Sabha elections are underway with voters in 102 parliamentary constituencies across 21 states casting their ballot to elect the new government. The 18th Lok Sabha elections will be held in seven phases, between April 19th 19 and 4th June, involving close to 97 crore voters. The results will be declared on the 4th of June, twelve days before the term of the current House expires.

A Delhi Court today extended Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s judicial custody on Monday, till 23rd of April in connection with the excise policy case. The Enforcement Directorate had sought a 14-day extension of the Delhi CM’s custody. He will now be produced in court with co-accused K Kavitha on the next date. In more news, the Supreme Court today sought the ED’s response in a plea filed by Kejriwal against his arrest in the same case. Also, former Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia’s judicial custody has been extended till 26th of April.

The two men who fired shots outside Bollywood actor Salman Khan’s residence in Mumbai’s Bandra area early Sunday, took several precautions to evade the police, including disposal of phones and use of multiple travel modes. The Mumbai Police personnel, arrested them from inside a temple in Gujarat on Monday with the help of human and technical intelligence. The duo, belonging to Champaran in Bihar, were allegedly working on the directions of Anmol Bishnoi, the younger brother of the jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, who had claimed responsibility for the firing soon after the incident.

The lone woman crew member from Kerala, who was among 17 Indians on board Israeli-affiliated container ship seized by Iran’s military near the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf of Oman, returned to Kerala on Thursday. She was received by the Regional Passport Officer at the airport. The Ministry of External Affairs said, quote, “With the concerted efforts of the Indian Mission in Tehran and the Iranian government, Indian deck cadet Ann Tessa Joseph from Kerala’s Thrissur, who was among the Indian crew members of container vessel MSC Aries, has landed safely at the Cochin International Airport today afternoon.” Unquote.

This week, the United Arab Emirates struggled to recover from the heaviest recorded rainfall ever to hit the desert nation on Tuesday, as its main airport worked to restore normal operations even as floodwater still covered portions of major highways and roads. Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest for international travel, allowed global carriers on Thursday morning to again fly into Terminal 1 at the airfield.

This was the Catch-Up on the 3 Things by The Indian Express.

What are the biggest narratives dominating these polls? What is at stake for the BJP and the opposition parties? And how do these polls differ from the ones we witnessed in 2019? To answer these questions and more, veteran journalist and contributing editor for The Indian Express, Neerja Chowdhury, joins us.

Hosted and produced by Shashank Bhargava
Edited and mixed by Suresh Pawar

This is the Catch Up on 3 Things for the Indian Express and I'm Flora Swain.
It’s the 18th of April and here are today's headlines.

The first phase of the Lok Sabha elections will kickstart tomorrow with voters in 102 parliamentary constituencies across 21 states slated to cast their ballot to elect the new government. The 18th Lok Sabha elections will be held in seven phases, between April 19th 19 and 4th June, involving close to 97 crore voters. The results will be declared on the 4th of June, twelve days before the term of the current House expires.

The Election Commission of India informed the Supreme Court today that the manufacturer of the electronic voting machines does not know which button is going to be allotted to which political party or which machine is going to be allotted to which state or constituency. A senior official of the commission also informed the bench that the voting unit comprises a ballot unit, control unit and a VVPAT unit, which is basically a printer.

Former Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia’s judicial custody has been extended till 26th of April 26 in the money laundering case related to the now scrapped excise policy. Sisodia had moved an interim bail application before the Rouse Avenue Court earlier citing campaigning for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The Enforcement Directorate had then told the apex court that it would conclude the trial in the next six to eight months. Almost six months have passed, but the charges have still not been framed against him in the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy case.

A school run by a missionary congregation in Telangana was vandalised by a group of villagers of another community after some students wearing saffron-coloured religious attire were allegedly told that their parents had to seek prior permission if they wanted to come to school without wearing uniforms. The video of the subsequent vandalism by a mob of saffron-clad villagers shouting ‘Jai Sri Ram’ slogans is being widely shared on social media. According to the police, the students were observing ‘Hanuman deeksha’, a penance for 41 days.

The Enforcement Directorate said today it has provisionally attached properties worth Rs 97.79 crore belonging to businessman and actor Shilpa Shetty’s husband, Raj Kundra, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in the Bitcoin investment fraud case. ED’s investigation revealed that Kundra received 285 Bitcoins from the mastermind and promoter of the Gain Bitcoin Ponzi Scam Amit Bhardwaj for setting up a Bitcoin mining farm in Ukraine.

This was the Catch-Up on the 3 Things by The Indian Express.

First, Indian Express’ Deputy Editor Liz Mathew tells us on why the BJP is concerned about achieving the goal of winning 400 seats, what it plans to do in its third term, and what concerns voters have right now.

Next, Indian Express’ Diplomatic Affairs Editor Shubhajit Roy explains what has caused the latest tensions between Iran and Israel, and why India is concerned about it. (13:24)

And finally, we discuss the unprecedented rainfall witnessed in the UAE, and what might have caused it. (21:18)

Hosted by Shashank Bhargava
Written and produced by Shashank Bhargava and Niharika Nanda
Edited and mixed by Suresh Pawar

The headlines this evening from The Indian Express.

How much has the BJP veered away from the Vajpayee style of governing? Could you really have called Vajpayee a moderate and LK Advani, a hardliner? And what can be learned from the sense of unity in the BJP? In this episode, Sandip talks to political scientist Dr Vinay Sitapati about his latest book, Jugalbandi: The BJP before Modi, in which he deals with these questions, and writes about the movement which led to Vajpayee and Advani coming to power.

Edited and mixed by Suresh Pawar.