3 Things Express Audio

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.

This is the Catch Up on 3 Things for the Indian Express and I'm Flora Swain.
It’s the 16th of April and here are today's headlines.

Stating that the court will not let them “off the hook” at this stage, the Supreme Court today gave one week’s time to Yoga guru Ramdev and Patanjali Ayurved Managing Director Acharya Balkrishna to tender a public apology in a case against the company for publishing “misleading adverstisements”, claiming cure for some diseases and criticising the allopathy branch of medicines. The bench said, quote, "You are doing good work but you can’t degrade allopathy." Unquote.

At least six people, including two minors, have drowned while two others are under treatment after a boat they were taking to cross the river Jhelum this morning capsized. The children were on their way to school. Water levels in the Jhelum have risen post incessant rains over the last three days. While it is unclear how many children are still missing, two are admitted at Srinagar’s SMHS hospital.

The two suspects, arrested from Gujarat in connection with the shooting outside actor Salman Khan’s Bandra residence on Sunday, have been remanded to police custody till 25th of April. Identified as Vicky Gupta and Sagar Pal, the two men were arrested from Bhuj in Gujarat where they had escaped after the incident. They belong to Champaran in Bihar.

Cricketer Hardik Pandya’s comeback to the Indian team for the T20 world cup might well depend on how well and how often he bowls in the remainder of the IPL. In a meeting between India head coach Rahul Dravid, chairman of the selection committee Ajit Agarkar and captain Rohit Sharma at the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai last week, it’s understood that a decision was taken that Hardik has to bowl regularly if he wants to make a comeback. The Indian Express understands that the major part of the discussion in the two-hour meeting was about the seam bowling all-rounder which the team is looking for in the USA and West Indies, which will host the world cup.

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan has postponed his visit to India this week in view of the evolving situation in West Asia following escalating hostilities between Israel and Iran. The senior Biden administration official was scheduled to hold wide-ranging talks with his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval on the progress in implementation of the US-India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies besides other issues. It was the second time this year that Sullivan has postponed his trip to India.

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