First, Indian Express’ Apurva Vishwanath talks about the concept behind simultaneous polls and the recommendations made by the Law Commission to overcome constitutional and logistical challenges in order to implement this idea.Next, Indian Express’ Vidhatri Rao tells us about recent Indian films that are attempting to capitalize on the dominant political narrative in the country (11:42).And in the end, Indian Express’ Shantanu Chowdhury discussed the exit of two BJP leaders in West Bengal (24:42).Hosted, written and produced by Shashank BhargavaEdited and mixed by Suresh Pawar

Simultaneous polls, political film narratives, and BJP in Bengal

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This is the Catch Up on 3 Things for the Indian Express and I'm Flora Swain.It’s the 17th of May and here are the top stories of the week.The voter turnout in the 96 constituencies across 9 states and a Union territory that went to polls in the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha elections on Monday reached 67.71% as of 10 am on Tuesday. The Election Commission had said the provisional turnout at 11.45 pm on Monday was 67.25%, however, the final turnout would be announced today. Significantly, the turnout in Srinagar, which was the one seat in Jammu and Kashmir that went to polls on Monday, recorded a turnout of 37.98%, which was the highest since 1996.Bhavesh Bhinde, owner of a hoarding in Ghatkopar that collapsed amid rains was arrested on Thursday by the crime branch from Rajasthan’s Udaipur. The director of Ego Media Private Limited, which had the contract for the hoarding on a 10-year lease, was absconding since the incident took place. The death toll from the giant hoarding collapse in Ghatkopar area of Mumbai touched 16, after the bodies of the two more victims were retrieved. The search and rescue operations at the site have been called off. The illegal 100-foot-tall hoarding collapsed Monday due to thunderstorms and gusty winds.Invalidating his arrest in a terror case, the Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the release of Newsclick founder-editor Prabir Purkayastha. The reason the court gave:  Delhi Police failed to inform Purkayastha the grounds of his arrest before taking him into custody. The ruling emphasised that proper procedure and due process are the guardrails against arbitrary action, even in stringent terror cases. The apex court on Thursday said it had not carved out an exception for Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal while granting him interim bail till June 1 to campaign for the Lok Sabha elections and added that “critical analysis or even criticism of the judgment” was “welcome”.On Monday, Delhi police said that AAP Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal called the police control room lleging that she had been assaulted by Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal's aide Bibhav Kumar at Kejriwal’s residence. While the police had said that Maliwal went to the Civil Lines police station, she had not filed an official complaint. While AAP MP Sanjay Singh said that strict action would be taken against Kumar, National Commission for Women (NCW) summoned him for a hearing in the matter.South Africa asked the top UN court on Thursday to order a halt to the Rafah offensive as part of its case in The Hague accusing Israel of genocide in the Gaza Strip, saying the Palestinian people faced "ongoing annihilation". The hearings at the International Court of Justice, also known as the World Court, come after South Africa last week asked for additional emergency measures to protect Rafah, a southern Gaza city where more than a million Palestinians have been sheltering.This was the Catch-Up on the 3 Things by The Indian Express.

The Catch Up: 17 May

First, Indian Express’ Santanu Chowdhury tells us about the fierce poll battle between the Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party in West Bengal, and how the winning margins are likely to narrow this time.Next, Indian Express’ Anonna Dutt shares details about the comprehensive guidelines issued by the National Institute of Nutrition, in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), on what Indians should be eating (15:02).And in the end, Indian Express’ Shashank Nair talks about some of the biggest highlights from the career of Indian football legend Sunil Chhetri, who announced his retirement yesterday (24:25).Hosted, produced and written by Shashank BhargavaEdited and mixed by Suresh Pawar

Polarization in Bengal, what Indians should eat, and Sunil Chhetri retires

This is the Catch Up on 3 Things for the Indian Express and I'm Flora Swain.It’s the 16th of May and here are today's headlines.The Supreme Court today said it had not carved out an exception for Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal while granting him interim bail till June 1 to campaign for the Lok Sabha elections. The apex court added that “critical analysis or even criticism of the judgment” was “welcome”. The remarks came as Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the ED, took “exception” to Kejriwal’s reported comments that he will not have to go back to jail on June 2 if people vote for the Aam Aadmi Party and senior advocate A M Singhvi objected.The Supreme Court today said that the Enforcement Directorate cannot directly arrest a person under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, once a special court takes cognisance of the complaint but will have to approach the special court if it wants his or her custody. Th bench said that after cognizance is taken of the offence punishable under Section 4 of the PMLA based on a complaint under Section 44, the ED and its officers are powerless to exercise powers under Section 19 to arrest a person shown as accused in the complaint. If the ED wants custody of the accused who appears after service of summons for conducting further investigation in the same offence, ED will have to seek custody of the accused by applying to the special court.Days after she approached the police alleging assault at the hands of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s aide Bibhav Kumar, the National Commission for Women (NCW) summoned him for a hearing in the matter. The NCW said it had taken suo motu cognizance of a media post captioned ‘DCW chief Swati Maliwal accuses Arvind Kejriwal’s personal secretary of assaulting her’. The post, according to the NCW, had reported that Maliwal, a Rajya Sabha MP from Delhi and former chief of the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW), had alleged that the private secretary of the Delhi chief minister had brutally assaulted her at the chief minister’s residence.Britain's food watchdog has applied extra control measures on all spice imports from India, becoming the first to ramp up scrutiny of all Indian spices after contamination allegations against two brands sparked concerns among global food regulators. Hong Kong last month suspended sales of three spice blends produced by MDH and one by Everest, saying they contained high levels of a cancer-causing pesticide ethylene oxide. Singapore also ordered a recall of the Everest mix, and New Zealand, the United States, India and Australia have since said they are looking into issues related to the two brands.Sunil Chhetri has called time on his football career for the Indian national team. The Indian football legend said that the match against Kuwait will be his last game in the national colours. He made the announcement and said that the game against Kuwait — which is part of the second round of the FIFA World Cup qualifiers — will be his last game. The match will be played at the Salt Lake Stadium on 6th of June. India are currently second in Group A with four points, behind Qatar.This was the Catch-Up on the 3 Things by The Indian Express.

The Catch Up: 16 May

First, Indian Express’ Apurva Vishwanath explains why the Supreme Court has declared the arrest of the founder and editor-in-chief of NewsClick illegal and what it means for the case.Next, Indian Express’ Sreenivas Janyala discusses why Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy is facing anti-incumbency and the extent to which the opposition alliance threatens his position (09:20).And in the end, we take a look at what Union Home Minister Amit Shah said about Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s interim bail (19:12).Hosted, written, and produced by Shashank BhargavaEdited and mixed by Suresh Pawar

NewsClick founder's arrest was illegal, AP polls, and Amit Shah on Kejriwal

This is the Catch Up on 3 Things for the Indian Express and I'm Flora Swain.It’s the 15th of May and here are today's headlines.Invalidating his arrest in a terror case, the Supreme Court today ordered the release of Newsclick founder-editor Prabir Purkayastha. The reason the court gave: the Delhi Police failed to inform Purkayastha the grounds of his arrest before taking him into custody. The ruling is significant because it emphasises that proper procedure and due process are the guardrails against arbitrary action, even in stringent terror cases. Purkayastha was arrested on 3rd of October 2023 by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police, who alleged that Newsclick received money for pro-China propaganda.One of the 14 people who were trapped after a lift collapsed at a copper mine in Rajasthan’s Neem Ka Thana district passed away today, hours after all of them were rescued. Besides workers, members of a Vigilance team from Kolkata and senior officials of the Khetri Copper Corporation were also trapped following the collapse on Tuesday night. The incident took place in Hindustan Copper Limited’s Kolihan mine, located in the Khetri area. Ambulances have been rushed to the spot and doctors have been asked to be prepared for any emergency.While reacting to the warning issued by the United States a day after India and Iran signed a 10-year contract to operate the strategic Iranian port of Chabahar,  External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar today, asserted that the agreement will benefit the entire region. He said, “We have a long association with the Chabahar port but we could never sign a long-term agreement. The reason being there were various problems on the Iranian end, it’s a JV (joint venture), partners changed, conditions changed. Finally, we were able to sort this out and get the long-term agreement done. A long-term agreement is necessary, because without it, you cannot really improve the port operations, which we believe will benefit the entire region.” Unquote.Coming down heavily on the Uttarakhand government, the Supreme Court today said it was “at pains to say that the state’s approach in controlling forest fires has been lackadaisical,”. It added that though action plans were prepared and finalised, no steps have been taken for their implementation. Hearing a plea raising the issue of forest fires in Uttarakhand, the top court also directed the Chief Secretary to be present before it on 17th of May. Flagging a huge vacancy in the state’s forest department, the Supreme Court said the issue needs to be addressed.As Israel-Hamas war continues to rage on, the Israeli Defence Forces claimed to eliminate Hussain Ibrahim Mekky, a senior field commander in Hezbollah, by an IAF aircraft strike overnight. The IDF made the announcement in an 'operational update' on its official X handle and claimed that Mekky was responsible for "various acts of terrorism" against Israel. Mekky previously served as the commander of Hezbollah's forces in the coastal region, said the IDF post.This was the Catch-Up on the 3 Things by The Indian Express.

Simultaneous polls, political film narratives, and BJP in Bengal

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