- 7 weeks ago
The big talking point of this episode of News Today is Congress MP and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi's vote 'chori' allegations.
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00:00Good evening, you're watching News Today. I am Preeti Chaudhary. Our top talking points this evening, India's election process under the scanner, the BJP versus opposition war continues. Also, the ban on end-of-life vehicles, good or bad. We're going to get you the latest on that. But first up, as usual, allow me to take you through the headlines.
00:22BJP counters Rahul's vote-choree claims as Sonia Gandhi's name first appeared on voter rolls in 1983, years before she officially became an Indian citizen.
00:42Lawyer's U-turn after Rahul's plea in Pune court claiming threat to life, Congress says affidavit filed without consulting Rahul.
00:50Statement to be withdrawn tomorrow.
00:58Supreme Court's full order on stray dogs accessed authorities to build shelters for 5,000 strays in eight weeks.
01:06Top court says under no circumstances should the dogs be released after being sterilized, dewormed and immunized.
01:14Chinese foreign minister set to visit India, Wongi bilateral slated with NSA Ajit Doval, India and China to also hold border talks.
01:30Controversy over meat ban call on Independence Day.
01:33A Southdeen Ovesi, Aditya Thakere and Ajit Pawar slam move call it callous and unconstitutional.
01:40Tamil Nadu doctorate student and DMK leader's wife refuses degree from Governor Arun Ravi at convocation.
01:52BJP alleges low-grade politics by DMK.
01:58Suresh Reina appears before the Enforcement Directorate for questioning an illegal betting app case.
02:04He's ex-cricketer under lens for endorsing the app.
02:11Flurry of threats from Pakistan after Bilalol and Aasem Munir.
02:16Shahbaz Sharif says Pakistan will not allow India to snatch even a single drop of its water.
02:22And United States hails counter-terror talks with Pakistan claims successful U.S.-Pakistan talks on terror.
02:36U.S.-Pakistan discussed ways to counter-threat.
02:39All right, let's begin with the latest news break that is coming in.
02:53Viewers, earlier on it wasn't published.
02:56There was a fair amount of speculation, but all of that led to rest.
02:59Now the full Supreme Court order copy on stray dogs has been published.
03:03The court emphasized how this is achieved is for the authorities to determine.
03:09Practically, that means the MCD, including creating a dedicated force if necessary.
03:14But stressed that there should be no lethargy or compromise in the execution of this task.
03:20It warned that any individual or organization obstructing the rounding up of stray dogs will face the strictest of action.
03:27The court made it clear that sentiments should not interfere with this process as the directions are issued in larger public interest to ensure people, especially infants, children and the elderly can move freely without the fear of dog bites, which could and may lead to rabies or potentially fatal disease.
03:46The court further mandated that stray dogs be placed in dog shelters or pounds, which must be adequately staffed to ensure sterilization, deworming, immunization and overall care.
03:58These facilities must be monitored by CCTV to prevent unauthorized release of dogs and cruelty or neglect.
04:05If animals will not be tolerated, dogs must not be staffed or left unmonitored.
04:09And at least two responsible personnel should be present at all times under proper duty, should you.
04:16Vulnerable or weak stray dogs should be kept separately from the possible and timely medical care between veterinarian staff must ensure that.
04:28Alright, so that's the latest news break that is coming in, viewers.
04:31And I want to cut across to Shrishti Oja because, Shrishti, earlier on there was a fair amount of speculation on what this order was.
04:37Because today, it was contended in court that even though the order wasn't published, dogs were being rounded up already.
04:45Would you take us through the main key points and the highlights of the order as now it's been published?
04:51What's important to note, Shrishti, that the Supreme Court has laid down the guidelines, practically what needs to be followed.
04:58But, it is with the prerequisite authorities to determine how they will do it.
05:03The know and how will need to come from the MCD here.
05:07Well, yes, Shrishti, a lot of development has happened today as far as the stray dog issue, the stray dog case before the Supreme Court is concerned.
05:16Let me first take you through the order details, the specific directions that have come in from the top court.
05:22Firstly, the court has clearly directed Delhi government, MCD, NDMC and also the authorities of Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurugram and Faridabad to, at the earliest, start picking up stray dogs from all localities.
05:34How they do it is something for the authorities to look into.
05:36Court has clearly said there should not be any lethargy or compromise in undertaking this exercise.
05:41If any individual or any organization comes in the way of this exercise, court has said that it will take strictest of actions.
05:48Clearly, again, court has said no sentiments should be involved in this entire exercise because these directions are being issued by the top court for larger public interest.
05:57And this action should also inspire confidence in minds of people that they can now move freely on the streets.
06:03Court has said that immediately dog shelters have to be created by authorities in eight weeks.
06:08But it has also added that it's a progressive exercise.
06:11Therefore, the authorities have been asked to start by creating shelters for, let's say, 5,000 dogs in the next eight weeks.
06:18As far as the well-being of dogs is concerned, the court has said that it is mindful that this entire exercise of rounding up and relocation of dogs has concerns of their well-being as well.
06:28Which is why, as you also pointed out, specific directions have been ensured, clearly stating that stray dogs will not be left completely unmonitored.
06:36There should be no overcrowding in the shelter homes.
06:41They should not be subjected to any cruelty and they should also not be staffed.
06:45As far as the second aspect, which is also very important now, Preeti, is that we saw this issue being mentioned before the top court today.
06:52After which, a three-judge bench has now been constituted to hear these cases again tomorrow, a newly constituted bench with different judges.
07:00Total of four matters are listed, including a PIL that has been filed against the rounding up of dogs.
07:07And also 2024 case, which was mentioned earlier on the issue of dog bites.
07:14So, it will be crucial to see whether the top court considers this particular bench tomorrow, considers revisiting its recent order.
07:21Because it's not something that we see happening, it's something that's extremely rare.
07:26There's one bench modifying another bench's order, but what's also been pointed out that there are two conflicting SE orders as far as dog bites are concerned.
07:34Which is, which basically gives this new bench a scope to interfere in some manner if it wants to.
07:40Considering this present order has divided nation, divided open and nationwide, the court's move tomorrow will definitely be closely watched.
07:48Two questions. You know, Srishti, I just want to ask you two very quick questions.
07:51Number one, the Chief Justice of India today said he would look into it. What does it actually mean?
07:56And in what capacity will he look into the case? Because a lot of animal rights activists are taking that as, you know, something that the order can be re-looked at.
08:07What does that mean? Number one. Number two, with this order published, starting tomorrow, rounding up of stray dogs across the NCR region is going to start, correct?
08:17Well, answering the second question first, Priti, yes. As per this particular order, the directions have to be followed immediately.
08:25The court has itself called this an immediate action. The directives that have come in from the Supreme Court, so the rounding up and creation of shelters has to happen now that the order is out.
08:34As per as the first question is concerned, as I pointed out earlier, the matters were mentioned, the matters, two different cases regarding the stray dog issue were mentioned before the top court for listing.
08:46We saw the court say that, the CGI say in fact, that the matter, the bench has already, another bench has already issued some directions.
08:54Post which, an hour back, we saw a new bench has been constituted, a three-judge bench has now been constituted by the CGI to hear this issue again tomorrow.
09:05Whether or not they modify this particular order or the order stays intact is something that we know tomorrow.
09:11All right, Priti, appreciate you joining us with that quick update. I want to quickly move in to the next news break that we are getting in view.
09:17As a short while back, we had heard that Rahul Gandhi had approached the court with a threat to his life.
09:21Strange things are known to have happened and similarly, Rahul Gandhi has now withdrawn his threat to life affidavit.
09:29Why so? The Congress says that the affidavit was filed without Rahul Gandhi's consultation.
09:35The Congress Party has made it clear that a lawyer will withdraw the statement tomorrow.
09:41The affidavit claimed threat to Rahul Gandhi over Sabarkar remarks.
09:45Mind you, the affidavit was submitted in court by Rahul Gandhi's lawyer
09:50and now the Congress seems to maintain that it was done without Rahul Gandhi's consultation
09:56and now that affidavit is going to be withdrawn.
10:01Well, a little strange there, but that's the latest news break that we are getting in.
10:05So Rahul Gandhi's legal team that submitted the affidavit claiming there was a threat to his life
10:09will now withdraw the same affidavit as they had not consulted with Rahul Gandhi.
10:15This is what the Congress says.
10:16Meanwhile, I want to take you now to our big news point of the day.
10:20A massive political storm brewing over the voter-less survey in Bihar
10:24with both the ruling BJP, the NDA government and the opposition trading serious allegations.
10:30While the top court today backed the Election Commission's move as voter-friendly,
10:35the controversy has sparked sharp protests and counterattacks,
10:38including fresh claims, social media posts and street-level agitations.
10:42All of that in the backdrop viewers of Rahul Gandhi and the Congress maintaining vote-chory fraud
10:48or the allegations they had made against the Election Commission.
10:51The BJP, too, on that hit back with Anurag Thakur holding a press conference today.
11:12The storm over the Bihar voter-less survey has exploded.
11:21The Supreme Court on Wednesday observed that the special intensive revision being carried out in Bihar
11:26by the Election Commission is voter-friendly.
11:30It pointed out that the SIA process only allows any of 11 documents
11:35while the standard Electoral Roll revision only accepts seven ID proofs.
11:42On the political front, just a day after the Congress announced a nationwide campaign
11:47against alleged rigging of voter lists, the BJP hit back by targeting Sonia Gandhi.
11:52Party leader Amit Malviya, in a message on X, claimed the Congress MP's name
11:57was included in the voter list in 1980 when she was still not an Indian citizen.
12:02He said that entry was deleted following an outcry in 1982
12:08and that she accepted Indian citizenship a year later in 1983.
12:15The BJP also dismissed Rahul Gandhi's charges of election-less fraud
12:18in the Mahadevpur Assembly segment of Bengaluru's Central Lok Sabha seat,
12:23citing similar listings and constituencies won by the Gandhis.
12:26The BJP claimed there were over 2 lakh doubtful voters in Rai Bareilly,
12:32multiple entries in the voter list of the constituency.
12:35The party alleged that three people who were over 100 years old
12:38were added as new voters in Vainard.
12:40The BJP said there were over 93,000 doubtful voters in Vainard
12:44and claimed that 52 voters were found at one address in the constituency.
12:48The BJP said there was only a two-man vote.
12:50The vote was made out of 3.5-3.5-3.5-3.5-3.5-3.5-3.5-3.5-3.5-3.5-3.5.5-3.5.6.5.
13:03vote in three pooling booths.
13:33The Congress, meanwhile, is turning up the heat with its vote-chari campaign, posting videos and memes on social media.
13:52The Grand Ole Party's nationwide protests will begin with candlelight marches in all districts on the eve of Independence Day.
14:03Bureau Report, India Today.
14:33India might and the NDA.
14:36Is BJP rattled or unfazed?
14:38Is the Election Commission caught in the political crossfire?
14:42Let's take all these questions to our panelists this evening.
14:45Arati Radhika Jairat, Senior Journalist with me.
14:47Salman Saws, Spokesperson Congress.
14:50Sanju Verma, National Spokesperson.
14:51Bharatiya Jamta Party.
14:52Mr Saws, let's begin with what happened in the top court today.
14:55The Congress has maintained you have full faith in the top court of the country, which is the Supreme Court.
15:01The Supreme Court today has observed that the special intensive revision carried out in Bihar is inclusive and friendly to the voters.
15:09How does that now add up and how will the Congress reconcile to its claim of voter suppression?
15:19I think what we have to understand is that this whole business of suppressing certain voters, adding voters, this has been going on for some time.
15:30This is not a one-off situation.
15:32And our governments, as you know, they're longstanding.
15:37This is not the first time we have, you know, raised concerns about how the rights of the voting public are being, you know, subverted, how elections in this country are being subverted.
15:49I take you back to 2018, Preeti.
15:52In 2018, the Congress Party raised concerns about almost 60,000 voters in Madhya Pradesh in the 2018 election.
16:02And by the way, who went to meet the election commission to, you know, raise this complaint?
16:09It was, of course, Kamal Nadji, who is our state president, but also Jyotara Aditya Sindhya, who is now a BJP minister.
16:16And what did they say?
16:18They said there are lax upon lax of, you know, fraudulent voters.
16:23And what happened?
16:24The election commission initially was very reluctant and said, no, this is not happening.
16:28Nothing's happened, et cetera.
16:29It went to the Supreme Court.
16:31And then the election commission had to take out almost 25 black voters because they admitted that there were mistakes.
16:41And they call them mistakes.
16:43We think that there's a concerted campaign.
16:45As far as Bihar is concerned, just today, just today, you must have seen this viral video now with Rahul Gandhi Ji hosting seven voters from Bihar who are supposedly dead.
16:57Who have been excluded.
16:59And this is just a sliver of what is going on in this country.
17:02And let me just say one thing to the election commission, to the bureaucracy at large and to the ruling establishment.
17:09You're always asking people to do things, show papers, KYC this, KYC that, show that you're a citizen.
17:16But Mr. Soz, let me come back to the question that I asked you.
17:19Allow me to ask the same question again, sir.
17:21You have always maintained, your party has always maintained, you have supreme faith in the Supreme Court of the country.
17:26I would just like to quote on what the Supreme Court of the country said today.
17:30Election commission has increased the number of documentation for identification, which you contested.
17:35And now I'm quoting the courts again.
17:37Hence, expanding access rather than restricting it.
17:40Primarily stating that the SIR process is voter friendly and is being carried out in the state of Bihar in a fair manner.
17:50That is what seemingly the top goal of the country said.
17:54Yes.
17:54Look, we awaited the court's final judgment of this because there are extremely serious issues happening in the Bihar SIR.
18:0365 black voters have been thrown off the rolls.
18:08And we've just shown you seven today who are supposed to be dead.
18:12So I think the last word has not been said.
18:16Okay, fair point.
18:18The last word on that has not been said.
18:19I'm just going by the virtue of an observation.
18:21Fair point.
18:22I want to bring in Sanju Varma into this conversation.
18:24And now I just want to shift the goalpost a little bit, Sanju Varma, for what is happening not in Bihar and the SIR,
18:31but what happened today in the national capital where you, your party, held a press conference at the back of the claims of vote Tory
18:38and voter fraud of the Congress Party, the allegations of that.
18:42You had Mr. Anurag Thakur do two things, and we can take them separately if you choose.
18:46Let's go one by one.
18:48Putting out details of Sonia Gandhi from 1980, where she was added to the voter list, then she was removed because there was an outcry,
18:55and then she became the citizen in 83.
18:57So alleging that there was voter fraud by the Congress in 1980.
19:01How does that correlate, Sanju Varma, to what the Congress is saying today?
19:06Once again, we are harking back to the 1980s to try and prove a point against a party's allegation today.
19:12How does that even match up, ma'am?
19:16You know, Preeti, the audio is very patchy.
19:18I first wanted to make sure I'm audible, loud, and clear.
19:21Ma'am, we can hear you.
19:22If you can hear us, we're going to try and correct that as well.
19:24Go ahead.
19:26Okay.
19:26You know, Preeti, I will come to every single question that you posed.
19:31First and foremost, let me make one thing very clear.
19:34Rahul Gandhi's constant argument has been,
19:37these are his exact words.
19:47So let me just remind Rahul Gandhi, and I have to go back to history,
19:51because Rahul Gandhi seems to have forgotten his history lessons.
19:54In Bengal, Congress party ruled for 3030 years from 1947 to 1977.
20:00Uttar Pradesh, the Congress party ruled for 39 years from 1950 to 1989.
20:05Bihar, the Congress party ruled for 42 long years from 1947 to 1989.
20:11Maharashtra, between 1960 and 2025.
20:14In the last 65 years, for 54 years, the Congress party was in power.
20:19In Karnataka, between 1956 and 2025, in all these 69 years, for 44 years, the Congress party was in power.
20:28Again, between 1989 and 2017, out of these 28 years, for 11 long years, the Samajwadi party was in power.
20:36Between 1990 and 2005, for 15 long years, the RJD was in power.
20:41Between 1967 and 2025, in all these years, for 21 long years, it was the DNK which was in power in Tamil Nadu.
20:49So, my limited point, and the first point is, that the Congress party and its alliance partners have been ruling different states for decades together.
21:00But, BJP has never said that the Congress party engaged in vote chori.
21:06That's my first point.
21:07And my second point, in a very limited, Preeti, I heard, you know, for three, four minutes, Salman Sos was speaking.
21:12Please give me some more time.
21:13The other point, which I want to make very quickly, is this, Preeti.
21:18Let's be very clear.
21:19Rahul Gandhi keeps saying that, you know, wherever the voter margin is thin, that seat would have actually gone to the Congress, but the BJP won.
21:27So, let me correct Rahul Gandhi with data.
21:29In Sakoli, in Maharashtra, during the 2024 Assembly elections, Congress Maharashtra Chief Nana Patole won Sakoli with a margin of just 208 votes, defeating the BJP.
21:42The BJP candidate did not cry on India Today on Preeti Chaudhary's show.
21:47And let me tell you one more thing.
21:49Okay.
21:50This is why I'm on social media, 30 seconds more.
21:53In 2018, from Badami, Siddharamaya, a heavyweight in the Congress party, had a victory margin of 1,696 votes, lower than NOCA, which posted more than 2,000 votes.
22:06Did we cry against Siddharamaya?
22:08All right.
22:09Okay, ma'am.
22:10Let me come back with a counter and I'll go back to our panelists then.
22:13But the fact is, still hasn't answered the question, but what went down in 1980?
22:18What implication does that happen in 2025?
22:20Number one.
22:20Number two, ma'am, it's a very basic question.
22:24All the examples that you quoted, the example that Anurag Thakurji quoted today of Rai Bareilly and Wyanar, you have the proof.
22:30Take it to the Election Commission.
22:31Then you have exactly the same case that the Congress has.
22:34Okay, Preeti, I'm so glad you made this point.
22:39My simple argument is this.
22:43Rahul Gandhi has been engaging in shoot and scoot politics for the longest time.
22:48He's demonized the Election Commission.
22:50Election Commission, one minute, Preeti.
22:51Election Commission sent a letter to Rahul Gandhi saying, we are willing to engage with you and clear every doubt to have.
22:58On the 12th of June, 2025, he bothered not to respond.
23:02Election Commission sent a letter on the 17th of July, 2025.
23:06Rahul Gandhi chose not to respond.
23:09As recently as 9th August, the Election Commission sent a letter to Rahul Gandhi via Jairam Ramesh.
23:15Rahul Gandhi chose not to respond.
23:16Are you telling me?
23:17No, please.
23:18Are you telling me?
23:19I need to bring in other people.
23:20Are you telling me?
23:2210 seconds, Preeti.
23:23Are you telling me?
23:24Sanju Verma, BJP, Anurag Thakur, JP Nadda, sabko proof dikhanek is darurat hain.
23:30But Rahul Gandhi is above the law of the land.
23:33No, ma'am.
23:33Sorry, Preeti, it does not work that way.
23:35Ma'am, I'm not telling you that.
23:36What I'm telling you is you have the proof.
23:37You're saying that there are bogus voters in Rai Bareli and duplicate voters in Vayanat.
23:42Take that list to the EC and say, why is there duplication?
23:46That's what I'm trying to say.
23:47I'm not saying that you need to forbish.
23:50Now, of course, I did ask the BJP spokesperson that question.
23:55I wish Rahul Gandhi was on my show instead of Mr. Sauce.
23:57I would have asked him that question.
23:58Aarti Radhika Jairath, I want to get to you.
24:00And the question I want to ask you is, the entire claim of institutionalization of voter
24:06theft by the Congress clearly has given a rallying point to the India Alliance.
24:10As a political journalist who tracked, you know, politics for so long, do you reckon this charge
24:18is sticking?
24:19The proof of that, Preeti, will come in the Bihar elections, whether the charge has actually
24:26stuck, whether voters have responded to this, you know, campaign or not.
24:31So I think we have to wait because right now it's difficult to assess what has been the impact.
24:37Of course, the very obvious impact has been that the opposition has united.
24:44In fact, after many months of disarray, where we've seen the opposition speak in different
24:48voices, we find the opposition together on the same platform.
24:53The other thing that has happened for the opposition is that for the first time in a long,
24:59long time, opposition leaders have taken to the streets the demonstration they held outside
25:05the election commission, you know, was street politics being revived after I don't know how
25:10many years. And, you know, that expression on Achilles Yadav's face as he jumped the barricades
25:18is really worth capturing because he looked very thrilled with himself. So, I mean, these are the
25:23benefits for the opposition. But whether this campaign actually catches on or not, we'll have to see
25:30when the Bihar election campaign begins and what the voters' response is.
25:34I think right now the Bihar voters are just very confused by this whole SIR that is going on.
25:41And they're still trying to make sense and still trying to gather their documents and still trying
25:45to ensure that their names are on the voters' list. And, you know, Preeti, I think one thing we must
25:50understand in all this, that for the poor of India, their vote is very, very precious because that is
26:00the only tool they have to make the government accountable, to change a government if they want
26:06to, to express a protest against a non, you know, against a dysfunctional MLA if they want to. So it's
26:13a very, very precious thing. And, you know, I think that the election commission, the only thing I would
26:20say is that the election commission has been very opaque in its responses to Rahul Gandhi. Listen,
26:26if he's, if he hasn't got the proof, if his charges are all wrong, I think the election commission can
26:32easily, you know, sort of prove him wrong. And that's what the election commission needs to do,
26:37because you must restore faith of the people in the election system.
26:42So there is, that's fair enough. Journalistic inquisition. You'd hope that the election commission
26:47of this country is going to come out and have a press conference and point by point rebut what Rahul
26:51Gandhi says. It's not that they're not doing it. They're doing it by the virtue of tweets and maybe
26:57a press conference is warranted with questions being taken. But Salman Sars, I want to, I want to bring
27:01you in back into this conversation once before I ask you that question. We're very happy to have you.
27:06We would have been very happy to have Rahul Gandhi as well, but it's fine that we have you.
27:09We're very glad that you're with us. But Salman Sars, the question that I want to ask you is,
27:14you know, that atomic detonation that Rahul Gandhi spoke of and conducted that two and a half hour
27:19press conference, where he went point by point. Prime FSI seemed very impressive because he was
27:24throwing out these names. He was throwing out these case studies, which really made you wonder and think
27:29that the election commission has so much to answer. And at the back of it, it's not just come in from
27:35the Bharatiya Janata Party. It hasn't just come in from the election commission.
27:38There have been ground reports which seem to suggest some of those figures, some of the data
27:43that Rahul Gandhi has given out, case studies, doesn't quite stick. It's happened in the case
27:48of the T-shirt that your party was wearing, where Minta Devi was concerned. It's happened in the case
27:52of Shakundrani, where the misuse of Form 6 that Rahul Gandhi spoke of. It's happened in the case of
27:58Mahadevpura voter fraud. A couple of examples that have been debunked, not by the BJP or the
28:04election commission, but even the press. Does that discredit you a bit?
28:11Not at all. In fact, if you look at how much traction this news story now has, the BJP is also
28:18now talking about Ulchori. So we welcome BJP to come join us and let's get to the bottom of this.
28:24But they cannot. The reason they cannot is because they're complicit in this.
28:29Is this not the political part? And by the way, Preeti, before Sanju Arba says,
28:34you don't give me enough time, please look at how this is her tactic. She'll always say,
28:37you don't give me enough time. And then when lo and behold, by the end of it all,
28:40she has taken double the time than anybody else. But let me just say this. BJP has been complicit.
28:46If it was not complicit, would they change the law by which the chief election commissioner is
28:53selected so that the home minister and the prime minister basically by a two to one majority can
28:58choose anybody, anybody they want. And they go against the Supreme Court judgment on that.
29:03Then this is the same. By the way, how can one have trust in this kind of a system
29:08where I gave you the Madhya Pradesh example. By the way, in Madhya Pradesh,
29:1240 lakh voters were added in a decade, far exceeding the population growth in the state.
29:19In Maharashtra, more recently in 2024, you had 76 lakh people voting after the 5 p.m. deadline.
29:27There were 41 lakh people voted, 41 lakh voters were added in five months.
29:33Far more than the 31 lakh voters who were added in five years. And the election commission says there's
29:41nothing to show here. The election commission, if you look at what they said this time,
29:45by the way, the election commission has responded through tweets given through sources to some media
29:53houses. We know that. But they don't have the guts. They don't have the guts to come out in the open,
29:58publicly have a press conference, and then refute what we are saying. That is what we want. And I want
30:04to make sure that the election commission, all the election commissioners, they understand,
30:09and all those in government must understand that the BJP is not going to be in power forever.
30:15You have to adhere to the constitution of this country, and the people are supreme.
30:20Okay, fair point. You know what I really hope, because these charges of time and not so much time,
30:26I hope I could have borrowed my timer. I'm going to suggest Rajdeep gets a timer on his show.
30:30Ma'am, you'll get equal time. Okay, I'm timing it now. Equal time. Go ahead. Let him allow him,
30:36and I'll come to you. You're all getting equal time. Just ten seconds.
30:38Just ten seconds. Finish your point. Finish your point.
30:41Justin, the point is that when the EC and all government institutions want poor people in this country
30:49to show them documents, why don't you show that you are a citizen? We want to tell the election commission,
30:54you show us the voter data in electronic form so that we can actually, we can all start with
31:00Varanasi. We want to start with Varanasi. Just like Anurad Dhaka today said that he went to
31:06Vailar. How did he get the data?
31:07You're giving him feedback.
31:08Okay, fair point, fair point.
31:10How did he get the data?
31:11Salman Sars, fair point. I want to bring in Sanju Verma back into this conversation because
31:15I quoted a few examples to Salman Sars where the press, including your party, have debunked what Rahul Gandhi
31:21stated and the points he made. Sanju Verma, I have enough examples and let's start with Varanasi,
31:26ward number 51, Mahadevpura, house number 60, house number 153, where we have sent out reporters
31:34who have confirmed what Rahul Gandhi said. So clearly there is a problem. It might not be the
31:39expanse of what Congress is seeming to suggest. They might have got a few numbers wrong here and
31:43there, but there is a problem. The sheer fact you yourself today held a press conference said that
31:49there are duplicate voters in Rai Bareilly, duplicate voters in Wayanad should worry you.
31:54You should go to the election commission and tell them that this doesn't cut it.
31:59You know, Preeti, now I heard you and you know, I heard Mr. Soh speak for three minutes.
32:04I will not complain that Preeti doesn't give time. I always say she's very fair and she gives ample
32:07time to every panelist. Let me say what the problem is, Preeti. The problem is not with the election
32:13commission. The election commission, you know, has been upheld by the Supreme Court,
32:17which today said that voter revision periodically is necessary. Yesterday also the election commission
32:23was upheld when the Supreme Court said that Aadhaar is not a conclusive proof of citizenship.
32:30The Congress had its face not covered in a flattering light when Justice, previous CGI Sanjeev
32:36Khanna and prior to him, both said the same thing. How is it that EVMs are working when the Congress
32:43wins Karnataka and Telangana, but EVMs are faulty when the Congress loses Lok Sabha 2024? In fact,
32:51you know, CGI Chandra Chod went to the extent of saying stop creating sphere and skepticism in the
32:56country by consistently doubting the country's electoral process. Now, let me come to the moot point.
33:03When Rahul Gandhi makes allegations and this is not to Preeti, what do journalists tell Sanju Verma?
33:09You know, Sanju Verma, you have to make sure that the election commission, you know, debunks the lies
33:15of Rahul Gandhi. There has to be some element of truth. Now, when Anurad Thakur makes, you know,
33:24certain allegations in a press conference, even then it is Sanju Verma who's told, you know, Sanju Verma,
33:30if you have the proof, go to the court. I mean, Rahul Gandhi will not go to the court.
33:34I mean, Rahul Gandhi will be dismissed after the Supreme Court, Rahul Gandhi will be dismissed after the Supreme Court,
33:38Rahul Gandhi will be dismissed after the election commission. But Sanju Verma, BJP, Anurad Thakur,
33:44J.P. Nadda, Amit Shah, Prime Minister Modi, these people will have a gun to the head and they have to be accountable.
33:51Democracy cuts both ways. No, Preeti, my three minutes are not over. My final point is this.
33:57I will repeat this at the expense of being repetitive very quickly.
34:02In Telangana, prior to 2023 assembly elections, 22.5 lakh voters were deleted. Congress won,
34:09Telangana, BJP lost. BJP did not cry on Preeti Chaudhary show. So, in a half lakh voters were
34:16deleted in Karnataka assembly elections. The Congress won, BJP lost. Sanju Verma did not cry on
34:22Preeti Chaudhary show. And my final point, in, in, in Himachal Pradesh, 47,000 voters were deleted.
34:29Our overall loss margin was just 37,000 votes. Did I come and cry on your show that we lost Himachal Pradesh?
34:35No, but like I said, you know, you, you said not journalists like you, but the fact is,
34:39many journalists like me will say, don't go to the court, but go to the EC. Because if you have
34:43records which seem to suggest there's bogus or duplicate voters in Rai Bareilly, you need to go
34:48to the election commission. And I want to bring in Aarti Jairat in, and after that, I will give you both
34:5230 seconds by the clock to make your concluding statements. I want to bring in Aarti Jairat.
34:56Aarti Jairat, the fact is, you know, the politics can go on. The Congress has made grave charges.
35:01And some of which at least is incorrect, the charges which have been found by journalistic
35:09inquisition on ground, but some of it is correct. So the onus now is on the election commission,
35:15which needs to answer on a number of occasions, on a number of questions. And do you think, Aarti Jairat,
35:20that the EC now, instead of anything else, come out and hold a press conference where they take questions?
35:26Yes. Absolutely. That's what I've been trying to say, that the onus is on the EC. The EC must be
35:34transparent. You know, at the end of the day, it is the most important body in India because it is
35:40a body that keeps our democracy intact. And it is for the EC to answer these questions. I don't know why
35:47Amit Malia and all these BJP leaders are answering on behalf of the EC. It is the allegations are not
35:55against the BJP. The allegations are against the EC. And if the EC is wrong, I mean, if the
36:00allegations are wrong, it's for the EC to disprove them. And surely the EC has all the data at its
36:07fingertips, it can do it. And therefore, I would request as a journalist who's been covering elections,
36:14and you know, Priti, in the past, the EC would always hold press conferences. They didn't hold press
36:20conferences only at the time of announcing the election dates. TN Session was always
36:26available to hold a press conference. You know, he is regarded as the strongest and the man who
36:30actually put, you know, the elections on track. So, you know, I don't know why today the EC hides
36:37behind tweets and anonymous source stories. Fair point. I would think, you know, many would suggest
36:41why should the EC, there are, you know, ad nauseum allegations made, but if the EC needs to hold 100
36:46press conferences, it should hold 100 press conferences to clear the doubt. This allegation is
36:49coming from the leader of opposition who holds a statutory post. It's not just, you know, anybody.
36:57It's not, it's not, yeah. I want to give in the last 30, 30 seconds, and I am going to so time it
37:02this time so that none of you exceed the time. Salman Saus, go final comments, 30 seconds,
37:06sir. Your time starts now. I agree with Aarti Jairan that, you know, the EC has to respond. The EC has
37:13to be transparent. By the way, Prime Minister Modi, when he was candidate Modi had urged the election
37:18commission at that time to say that you're a neutral umpire. Act like it. And I think what I would
37:24suggest to the Prime Minister is, he should now write to the election commission and say that
37:28the leader of the opposition has made some very serious charges. And we also are concerned about
37:32this. And we should, we should do a full check. We should do, have machine readable can devote to
37:38roles. And let us start with Varanasi. If the Prime Minister now does that, that would be one,
37:42one way to basically get, get past this crisis. All right, sir. Hard cut. 30 seconds are over.
37:4830 seconds are over. I'm going to reset my clock. I'm going to start your time. Sanju Varma, go now.
37:54Thank you, Preeti. With no offense to Aarti Jairan. She's a senior journalist. She says,
37:58why is the BJP defending the election commission? Because Rahul Gandhi says election commission or
38:02BJP milen huye hai ji. That is why BJP has every right to come here and defend its standpoint. And
38:08I don't see any reason why we can't defend election commission if there are some journalists who
38:12behave like Congress's official spokespersons. I'm not pointing at you, Aarti, so don't start fuming.
38:18But let me just say very clearly, I have said this ad nauseum on Preeti Chaudhary's show.
38:23Himmat hai Rahul Gandhi, you started making those reckless allegations. Walk the talk. Resign from
38:29Rai Baredi. Okay, ma'am. Hard cut. Hard cut. Hard cut. Time is over. Aarti Jairan, I apologize. I don't
38:35have the time to come to you. I'm going to leave it at that. But I'm sure we're going to get you back
38:39on the show. Thank you for joining us, all three of you. I'm going to quickly cut across to the other
38:44story that we've been tracking very closely and especially with Independence Day coming in on
38:49the 15th of August. Once again, the spotlight on that. A massive political row has erupted over
38:55civic bodies across the country ordering meat shops and slaughterhouses to remain shut on Independence Day.
39:01The opposition has described the ban as an act of food policing.
39:09The BJP and the opposition are locking horns yet again, this time over meat ban announced in many
39:15cities on Independence Day. A political row has erupted after several civic bodies ordered
39:22meat shops and slaughterhouses to remain shut on August 15th. Hyderabad MP and AIMIM chief Assaduddin OAC
39:33has slammed the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation for directly closures on August 15th and 16th,
39:40which happens to be Krishna Ashtami. OAC called the meat ban a violation of citizens' right to liberty,
39:47livelihood, culture and religion.
39:51...
40:05And it is not just Hyderabad. Similar bands have been imposed in
40:21in multiple districts across Maharashtra, including Shambhaji Nagar and Kalyan.
40:26Leaders across party lines have condemned the ban, calling it a crackdown on food habits.
40:51The Maharashtra government, however, insists it has no intention of regulating food choices.
41:03Chief Minister Devinder Fadnavez claims this is not a new order and that such bans have existed since 1988.
41:12It is not a new order and it is not a new order.
41:17In the city of Maharashtra, there are a lot of people who are living in the city.
41:21In the middle of the year, there is no need to accept the ban.
41:28There is no need to accept the ban.
41:32If the ban is in the city of Maharashtra, there is no need to accept the ban.
41:37BJPLI and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has taken a different stand.
41:44He has criticised local bodies for what he calls an infringement on people's right to choose their food.
41:51So as this meat of the matter continues to sizzle, there are key questions that remain answering.
42:01Should food be political fodder?
42:06So as this meat of the matter continues to sizzle, there are key questions that remain answering.
42:17Should food be political fodder?
42:19And in the land of liberty, why our plates are being policed?
42:23Bureau Report, India Today.
42:28All right.
42:29Meanwhile, maintaining his 25-year dominance in the Constitution Club of India,
42:33India's management, BJP MP Rajiv Prathaproody, defeated his own party leader, Sanjeev Balian,
42:40in one of the most keenly contested elections.
42:43Rudy claims to have won by over 100 votes in the high-voltage BJP vs. BJP contest.
42:53It was BJP vs. BJP in the election to pick the governing council of the Constitution Club.
42:59The spotlight was on Rajiv Prathaproody and Sanjeev Balian.
43:03Both of whom have served as ministers in the Narendra Modi government.
43:08One are Thakur from Bihar.
43:10The other are Jhaad from Uttar Pradesh.
43:13Balian, a two-term former Lok Sabha MP, was challenging the hold of Rudy,
43:17who has had a 25-year run at a club that caters to current and former lawmakers.
43:23What made the contest for the post of Secretary Administration close was the fierce campaign.
43:28BJP's MP from Jharkar, Nishikand Dubey, openly canvassed against Rudy.
43:33Dubey's jibe at pilots as members of the club was hard to miss.
43:51After all, Rudy is an active commercial pilot.
43:54All the big names had flocked to vote on Tuesday.
43:58Amit Shah, JP Nanda, Piyush Goyal, Sonia Gandhi, Malika Arjun Khadier.
44:06Over 680 valid votes were cast out of the total electors of 1295 current and former MPs.
44:13Well past midnight, Rudy declared victory.
44:22The buzz in the corridors of power is that the big leaders within the BGP had taken sides.
44:49While voters from the BGP camp were split, the support of opposition MPs ended up tilting the scale in Rudy's favour.
44:57We are a report, India Today.
45:02Well what was most interesting is because it was one party pitched against the same party.
45:07BJP versus BJP.
45:08Sanjeev Balian versus Rajiv Prathap Rudy.
45:10With that, I want to quickly cut across to another issue that has come in from the Supreme Court
45:15that changed the dynamics where Delhi NCR was concerned.
45:18Owners of older petrol and diesel vehicles in Delhi NCR have received a breather of sorts
45:23after the Supreme Court on Monday ordered that no coercive action be taken for now against them.
45:29The intent of relief applies to diesel vehicles over 10 years old and petrol vehicles over 15 years old
45:35and will remain until the Apex Court hears the matter again in four weeks.
45:40Meanwhile, the Delhi government argued that the age-based ban 10 years for diesel,
45:4415 years for petrol is arbitrary as it does not consider how well the vehicle is maintained
45:50or how much it pollutes.
45:52It further requested the court to review the 2018 ruling that ban vehicles based solely on age
45:58in light of changed circumstances, improved regulations and better scientific tools.
46:04All of this, viewers, in the backdrop of how vehicles were being picked up,
46:10end-of-life vehicles were being picked up and taken to jump yards and scrap yards.
46:16I want to quickly go to our big questions that we are asking our panelists.
46:21Can ban on old cars curb pollution?
46:24Old vehicles ban unscientific pollution fight.
46:28What is the real solution to it?
46:30Cutting across to Anumita Roy Choudhury, Executive Director,
46:35Centre of Science Environment, CSE, Vimlendu Jha, Environmentalist.
46:39Vimlendu, let's begin with you because you're a big advocate of the NGT order
46:43that end-of-life vehicles, especially 10 years of diesel, 15 years of petrol,
46:48should be kept off the Delhi NCR roads.
46:51Data, Vimlendu, doesn't seem to suggest as these vehicles being the primary contributor to pollution though.
46:57Sorry, I'm not able to hear you properly, Preeti.
47:03Vimlendu, can you hear me?
47:05Yes, I can hear you now.
47:06Am I clear?
47:06Vimlendu, you've been an advocate of the NGT order that end-of-life vehicles be taken off from the Delhi NCR region.
47:14Having said that, Vimlendu, data doesn't quite seem to suggest that these are the vehicles
47:18that are the primary contributor of pollution where Delhi is concerned.
47:22No, to the contrary, Preeti. Actually, data suggests very, very clearly that almost 50% of air pollution contribution in Delhi
47:29is because of vehicular and majority of that is private vehicles.
47:35But not end-of-life vehicles.
47:36Of course. But at the end of the day, we also have data to prove that end-of-life vehicles,
47:41which primarily means 10-year-old diesel vehicles and 15-year-old petrol vehicles,
47:45they actually, if you look at comparison between BS2 and BS6, BS2 is primarily 10-year-old diesel vehicles,
47:52there's 16 times more NOx levels emission that we get from BS2-level vehicles.
47:58Similarly, if you look at ICCT and several other studies that have been done nationally by the government or internationally,
48:05it clearly talks about that there's no comparison between old and new.
48:09And there's also no comparison between road-worthy and air-worthy.
48:14In the air regime that we all are living in, where average air quality index is almost 300, 400, 500 in that sense,
48:22you know, we are not looking at some holy certificate that almost like a, you know, dead PUC van that gives you
48:31and that becomes like a holy certificate to tell you that your vehicle is fit.
48:34But every scientific data, imagine, by the way, in London, you have to pay 1,800 rupees per day more
48:39if your vehicle is older than 10 years.
48:42In Singapore, the vehicle gets deregistered if your vehicle is older than 10 years.
48:47And imagine the air quality index of a Singapore or a Paris or London and Delhi.
48:51And therefore, I think this is stemming out, this entire frustration is coming out of this middle class,
48:56you know, affection, nostalgia, love, inconvenience for a vehicle.
49:00Of course, one day they would like to complain about bad air, but at the same time,
49:05they don't want to let go of their BMW and Mercedes.
49:08How can an old vehicle with old technology, an old combustion system, old fuel sensors be better than the new ones?
49:16And at the end of the day, you know, what is more important?
49:20You know, fine, a middle class aspires to find a vehicle, but also a middle class aspires to live longer
49:25and have an asthma-free lung in that sense.
49:29So it's a question of priority rather than convenience.
49:33It's a debate that shouldn't even have happened.
49:35Fine, four weeks from now, Supreme Court is actually going to take a decision.
49:39Hope it's not middle class that prevails over the lungs and the overall, you know,
49:44life expectancy that we're talking about.
49:47But 10 years of life goes, that is government's own admission.
49:51Is that more important than the vehicles?
49:53Well, you know, that's a question we can pose to Anumita Roy Choudhury there.
49:57But Anumita, many look at it what the Delhi government started as a populist measure
50:02to please the middle class where Delhi was concerned.
50:05And even though there is no direct correlation to the end-of-life vehicles contributing to the pollution
50:12like the figures that Wimbledon gave, overall it is vehicular pollution, you know,
50:17that makes Delhi suffer the most where bad air is concerned.
50:23So there is no disagreement over the fact that all vehicles which were originally designed
50:38to meet much weaker emission standards and with wear and tear, they pollute more and emit more.
50:46And therefore, we require a fleet replacement and renewal strategy.
50:52But the question that we are raising, that to address that issue, to reduce the pollution contribution
51:00from the older fleet, is blanket, age, ban the solution and the answer.
51:07And that's where we are saying that that is not the most appropriate way to address this.
51:13It is the strategy and much more refined strategy is needed to address that issue.
51:20So when I say that, I want to say that now scientific studies are also pointing out that overall older vehicles
51:27do pollute more than the newer.
51:29But it is more important to identify and detect the worst polluters.
51:35And those polluters can also be in the relatively newer age bracket as well due to some technical default or some other reason.
51:44So it is therefore we need an on-road, a much more advanced on-road emissions monitoring and roadworthiness test
51:53to identify the unfit and grossly polluting vehicles.
51:59That's the first strategy.
52:00And second is that come up with incentives and disincentives like scrappage incentive
52:06to promote more voluntary scrappage and incentivize people to replace these older vehicles with zero emission electric vehicles and so forth.
52:16And we must keep in mind that the government of India has already come up with rules
52:21that how the commercial vehicles, for instance, they need to must go to the automated testing centers
52:28for more advanced testing for identification of unfit and end-of-life vehicles.
52:34But implementation of that has remained very weak still.
52:37So we need strategy to address the problem because otherwise we will be shifting the problem around.
52:43I'm going to give the both of you 30 seconds each because Vimblendu, the fact is with one brushstroke,
52:50you can't put all the end-of-life vehicles together.
52:52There are some that are in great condition and it's some, you know, how people keep it.
52:57You know, you need to look in a little deeper and maybe make some distinction in this.
53:02So no doubt, Piti, but imagine when your city is in ICU, you cannot offer it paracetamol.
53:09It needs surgery and it needs everything that needs to be done.
53:13Indeed, as in alongside looking at private vehicle regime, we need to look at public transport.
53:18As in, the main question that we need to ask is that why is our public transport regime so dilapidated?
53:23We need safe, you know, affordable, last mile, efficient public transport.
53:28And perhaps once we have that, there may not be a need to really aspiration of buying private vehicles.
53:34But as of now, I think, you know, based on that logic, as in just because 40 years we've been driving that vehicle,
53:4040 years farmers have been burning stubble.
53:42How many then on, based on that logic, we should not do anything, wait for October, November and then wait for next year too.
53:49Okay, can I, just 30 seconds, Ms. Chaudhary, make your final points.
53:54So what we are asking for, come up with the right strategy, and which is identify the grossly polluting vehicles with,
54:03and Supreme Court has already asked for the remote sensing monitoring, which is much more advanced than the QC system.
54:09So identify them and then find a way to get rid of them.
54:14So it is not a blanket ban that is practical, and we can't just keep dumping our vehicles on other regions who are also battling pollution.
54:24All right, I appreciate both of you for joining us.
54:26Very strangely, you can link it to the dog fight, literal dog fight that is going on in the NCR and Delhi region,
54:33where the order of the Supreme Court seemed to suggest that you have to keep out all 9 to 10 lakh dogs away from the streets in the next eight weeks in shelters.
54:42So it's a similar kind of debate that is playing out there.
54:45We're going to leave it at that.
54:46Thank you for joining us.
54:47And we're going to leave you with these visuals.
54:49It does seem, congratulations are in order for Arjun Tendulkar, Sachin Tendulkar's son, the Master Blaster's son, is engaged.
54:57Arjun Tendulkar puts a ring on it, literally.
55:00Engaged to a family friend, hitched to top, Business Honcho's granddaughter, Sanya Chanduk.
55:07And those are the visuals that come in of the happy couple.
55:11We leave you with these images.
55:13Thank you for joining us.
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