Morning Digest: Priyanka to contest from Wayanad as Rahul to vacate seat; goods train in Kanchanjungha accident had permission to cross red signal, and more

The Hindu Morning Digest gives a select list of stories to start the day. Read the top news today on June 18, 2024

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will make her electoral debut from the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat in Kerala in a bypoll, after her brother and former Congress chief, Rahul Gandhi, decided to retain the Rae Bareli seat in Uttar Pradesh. Mr. Gandhi said it was a difficult decision for him as he has an emotional connection with both Rae Bareli and the people of Wayanad.

The locopilot of the goods train that rammed into the rear of Kanchanjunga Express between Rangapani and Chattar Hat railway stations of the Northeast Frontier Railway in West Bengal had the authority to cross all signals in danger. Documents made available to The Hindu revealed that the Station Master of the Rangapani railway station issued Travel Authority (TA-912) authorising the locopilot of the goods to cross all signals in red. 

Indian national Nikhil Gupta, accused of being involved in a murder-for-hire plot against a Sikh extremist on American soil pleaded not guilty in the case at a federal court in New York. Gupta was extradited to the U.S. from the Czech Republic on Friday.

Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi asked the Election Commission of India to put out data on how many EVMs were found faulty throughout the Lok Sabha polls. Mr. Gogoi's statement came a day after a fresh political row erupted more than EVM tampering claims with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and other Opposition leaders citing a media report that alleged that a relative of the Shiv Sena candidate in Mumbai North West Lok Sabha constituency was found using a mobile phone "connected" to an electronic voting machine during the counting of votes on June 4.

The Congress accused the NCERT of working as an “affiliate” of the RSS amid the controversy over revision of NCERT text books. The comments by Opposition leaders come amid changes including removal of certain events like the Gujarat riots and Babri masjid demolition from the NCERT school textbooks. However, NCERT director Dinesh Prasad Saklani had defended the move by calling the changes as part of annual revision process.

AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh has alleged that the water crisis in New Delhi was orchestrated by the Bharatiya Janata Party. Several areas in the national capital have been reeling under a water crisis for weeks, with little to no supply, and shortage being met by private water tankers.

The Bharatiya Janata Party ignalled its poll readiness for Assembly elections in three States and one Union Territory, that of Jammu and Kashmir, where Assembly election is to be held for the first time since the abrogation of Article 370 and removal of statehood. In a communiqué from the BJP, the party stated that Union Ministers Bhupendra Yadav and Ashwini Vaishnaw will be election in-charges for Maharashtra; their Cabinet colleagues Dharmendra Pradhan and Tripura MP Biplab Deb of Haryana; Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma to be in-charge of Jharkhand; and Union Minister G. Kishen Reddy will be in-charge of Jammu and Kashmir.