Top news of the day: EC denies extra time to Jairam Ramesh to prove allegations against Amit Shah; Markets close at record highs as exit polls predict NDA victory, and more

Jairam Ramesh denied extra time to prove allegations, markets close at record highs, and more in The Hindu’s top news of June 03, 2024.

The Election Commission of India on June 3 refused to grant additional time to Congress leader Jairam Ramesh to back his claims that attempts were made to influence 150 District Magistrates and Collectors ahead of the June 4 vote count for Lok Sabha elections. The poll panel asked Mr. Ramesh to submit details by Sunday evening of the allegations that he made in a social media post recently. He wrote to the EC on Monday seeking a week more to submit his reply.

Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Monday dared the opposition to share evidence of allegations that returning officers and district magistrates were influenced to vitiate the poll process so the panel could take action against them. The opposition should also tell the Commission about those trying to influence the poll process before the counting of votes begins, Mr. Kumar said at a press conference. He was flanked by Election Commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and S.S. Sandhu. Mr. Kumar also referred to various memes doing rounds on social media, describing the Election Commission as ‘laapata (missing) gentlemen’, asserting that he and fellow Commissioners were “never out” and were “always here”. He said that India created a world record with 64.2 crore voters, including 31.2 crore women, participating in the Lok Sabha elections this year, with over 68,000 monitoring teams and 1.5 crore polling and security personnel involved.

Benchmark stock indices Sensex and Nifty rallied more than 3% to close at lifetime highs on June 3 following across-the-board buying as exit polls predicted a massive win for the BJP-led NDA in the general elections. The 30-share BSE Sensex soared by 2,507.47 points or 3.39% to settle at a new closing peak of 76,468.78, marking its biggest single-day gain in three years. During the day, the barometer jumped 2,777.58 points or 3.75% to hit a record intra-day peak of 76,738.89. The NSE Nifty climbed 733.20 points or 3.25% to finish at 23,263.90. During the day, it soared 808 points or 3.58% to hit a fresh intra-day all-time high of 23,338.70.

Citing the Conduct of Election Rules, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar on said the count of postal ballots will start first across all counting centres and asserted that there was “no doubt about it”. Responding to questions at a press conference here, he said after half-an-hour of the start of the postal ballot count, the counting of votes recorded in the electronic voting machines will commence. A delegation of the opposition parties had on Sunday met the Commission to demand that postal ballot count should start first and the results of postal ballots should be announced first.

Two BJP candidates and some party workers moved the Calcutta High Court on June 2, alleging that false police cases were being lodged against them to prevent them from attending the counting of votes for Lok Sabha elections 2024. Justice Amrita Sinha granted them permission to file the petitions and said that the matters would be taken up after 2 p.m.

The Supreme Court on June 3 directed the Centre to hold an emergency meeting of its Upper Yamuna River Board with the States of Delhi, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh to address water scarcity in the national capital amidst soaring temperatures crossing the 50-degree Celsius mark. A Vacation Bench of Justices P.K. Mishra and K.V. Viswanathan ordered the meeting to be held on June 5. Meanwhile, New Delhi continued to face a severe water crisis with people waiting in long queues to collect water from the water tankers in different parts of the city on the day. Residents in Chilla Gaon, Chanakyapuri and Geeta Colony depend on water tankers to supply drinking water. While speaking to ANI, residents expressed their difficulties due to the water crisis. They said it was difficult to get adequate water.

The Supreme Court on June 3 stayed a Bombay High Court judgment directing the State of Maharashtra to grant gangster-turned-politician Arun Gulab Gawli, who is serving life imprisonment in a murder case, the benefit of a premature release policy. A Vacation Bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and Sandeep Mehta froze the implementation of the High Court decision of April 5 while Maharashtra, represented by senior advocate Raja Thakre and Aaditya A. Pande, described Gawli as a “hardened criminal” who took to politics.