Daily Bulletin: Phase 4 of voting over, Narendra Modi to campaign in Bihar, UP; TMC accuses PM of 'horse-trading' after Bengal speech; today's top stories

Fourth phase of polling concludes, campaigners hit trail once again

The fourth phase of the 17th Lok Sabha elections was held on Monday across 72 parliamentary seats in Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal.

Ahead of the fifth phase, Bharatiya Janata Party’s star campaigners Narendra Modi and Amit Shah will be addressing rallies once again. Modi is scheduled to hold meetings at Muzaffarpur (11 am), Bahraich (2.40 pm) and Barabanki (4.25 pm). The BJP chief is expected to address meetings at Dausa (11 am), Alwar (12.40 am) and Bharatpur (2.15 pm) in Rajasthan and Muraina in Madhya Pradesh (4 pm).

TMC files a complaint against Modi for ‘horse-trading’

Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’ Brien on Monday accused Narendra Modi and then registered a complaint with the Election Commission, saying that he has indulged in “horse-trading” for saying at a poll rally that 40 TMC MLAs are in touch with him. “Expiry Babu PM, lets get this straight. Nobody will go with you. Not even one councillor. Are you election campaigning or horse trading! Your expiry date is near. Today, we are complaining to the Election Commission. Charging you with horse trading,” Brien tweeted.

Modi while addressing an election rally at Sreerampur in Hooghly district on Monday said that 40 TMC MLAs were in touch with him and will desert their party once BJP wins the general elections.

SC likely to hear Modi, Shah poll code violation plea

The Supreme Court is likely to hear a plea  by Congress MP Sushmita Dev alleging that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah have been violating the Model Code of Conduct during their campaigning for Lok Sabha polls.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said it would hear Dev’s petition on Tuesday.

Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Dev, has alleged that Modi and Shah have been violating the Model Code of Conduct and that the Election Commission has not been acting on her complaint.

SC likely to hear Rahul Gandhi contempt case

The Supreme Court is also likely to hold a hearing on a contempt case against Congress president Rahul Gandhi for his “chowkidar chor hai” remark on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Rahul, on Monday, filed his reply before the court.

In his affidavit filed before a bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Rahul reiterated his stand but did not apologise and expressed only regret for his comment.

“The answering Respondent (Rahul) has not done nor remotely intended to do anything to lower the majesty of this Hon’ble Court in any manner whatsoever,” the reply read.

Saradha chit fund case also in SC today

The Supreme Court is also likely to conduct a hearing on the Saradha chit fund case. In the last hearing, the CBI had alleged non-cooperation by West Bengal Police, claiming that the state police did not hand over all call records of relevant individuals involved in the chit fund cases and had tampered with evidence . Former Kolkata Police commissioner Rajeev Kumar had sought time to reply.

In February, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee had launched a ‘Save the Constitution’ protest in Kolkata after the CBI had tried to question Kumar. Alleging a coup against her government, Mamata had conducted a dharna .

Jet Airways employees consortium to raise Rs 3,000 cr

The Jet Airways employees’ consortium has proposed to take over the airline with at least Rs 3,000 crore expected from outside investors for the bid, according to two staff unions. This is the first time that employees have come together with a proposal to run the more than 25-year-old Jet Airways, which temporarily suspended operations on 17 April.

Two associations representing pilots and engineers, SWIP and JAMEVA, have written to State Bank of India (SBI) chairman Rajnish Kumar proposing that they would take over the airline and can bring in up to Rs 7,000 crore.

The Society for Welfare of Indian Pilots (SWIP) and the Jet Aircraft Maintenance Engineers Welfare Association (JAMEVA) have written a letter to the SBI chief asking the lead lender to consider “employee consortium” as an intending bidder for the carrier.

RCB, RR look to keep playoffs hopes alive in IPL 2019

Royal Challengers Bangalore, Rajasthan Royals will take on each other in the bottom-of-the-table clash in IPL on Tuesday. Rajasthan, with 10 points from 12 games, and Bangalore, with eight points from 12 matches, still have a theoretical chance to make it to the playoffs. But both sides need to win their remaining two matches. Also, they would require table-toppers Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals to defeat their respective opponents. The loser of the match on Tuesday will be eliminated from IPL 2019.

New data to give insight into Facebook’s influence on elections

Facebook has announced a new set of research projects that will look into the impact of its platform of elections. According to a blog post by Facebook, 60 academics will be given access to “privacy-protected Facebook data” which will include APIs for CrowdTangle, its Ad Library and an anonymized URL dataset. Facebook has also said that it will not be interfering with the research.

Moonlight director pushes Avengers: Endgame for 2020 award season

Acclaimed filmmaker Barry Jenkins has praised Marvel Studios’ latest offering Avengers: Endgame for its emotional quotient as well as technical elements, pitching the film as a major contender for the 2020 award season. In a lengthy post on Twitter, the director of 2017’s Oscar-winning feature film Moonlight, hailed the performances by Brie Larson as Captain Marvel and Mark Ruffalo as Hulk.