CMYK FRIDAY www.thestatesman.com 10 JUNE 2022 FIND US ONLINE Scan this with your smartphone twitter.com/TheStatesmanLtd facebook.com/thestatesman1875 Pages 12 |` 5.00|LC KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR JOHNSON SURVIVES KERALA OPP DEMANDS VIJAYAN’S RESIGNATION P4 WEATHER Humid and discomfort weather very likely.Temperature likely to be in the range of 35-28 degrees Celsius. P6 P9 Presidential polls to be held on 18 July: EC RAINFALL: Nil RELATIVE HUMIDITY Counting of votes will be held on 21 July; Kovind’s term ends on 24 July Max.88% STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 9 JUNE TEMPERATURE Min. 63% Max: 34.8°C (0) Min: 29.5°C (+3) SUN RISES SUN SETS 04:51 hrs 18:20 hrs MOON RISES MOON SETS 13:05 hrs 00:46 hrs Full moon on 14 June THUMBNAILS Devotees arrive to take a dip in the Ganga river on the occasion of Ganga Dussehra, at Har Ki Pauri Ghat, in Haridwar on Thursday.  ANI Thailand becomes 1st Asian country to legalize Marijuana: People in Thailand can now grow cannabis plants at home and sell the crop after the government removed marijuana from its banned narcotics list. The nation is the first to advance such a move in South-East Asia, a region known for its stringent drug laws. But recreational use is still banned, even though advocates say the easing effectively decriminalises marijuana.Thai Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said he expected legal cannabis production to boost the economy but cautioned that recreational use of the Pg9 drug remains illegal. he election to choose the next President of India will be held on 18 July and the result will be announced on 21 July, the Election Commission of India (ECI) declared on Thursday. Announcing the schedule for the election of the President at a press conference here, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said the term of office of President Ram Nath Kovind is ending on 24 July. As per the poll schedule, notification for the presidential election will be issued on 15 June while the last day of filing nomination will be 29 June. Scrutiny of nomination papers will be held on 30 June, while the last day of withdrawal of nomination papers will be 2 July. Polling, if required, will be held on 18 July and counting will take place on 21 July. The SecretaryGeneral of the Rajya Sabha will be the Returning Officer for this election. As per Article 62 of the Constitution, an election for the next President must be held before the com- T pletion of the incumbent's term. The last Presidential election was held on 17 July 2017, while the declaration of the winner was made three days later on 20 July. As per Article 54 of the Constitution of India, the President is elected by the members of the Electoral College consisting of elected members of both Houses of Parliament and elected members of the Legislative Assemblies of all States including the National Capital Territory of Delhi and the Union Territory of Puducherry. Nominated members of either Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha or Legislative Assemblies of the States are not eligible to be included in the Electoral College and therefore, they are not entitled to participate in the election. Similarly, members of the Legislative Councils are also not electors for the Presidential election. Article 324 of the Constitution read with the Presidential andVice-Presidential Elections Act, 1952, and the Presidential and Vice - Presidential Elections Rules, 1974 vests the superintendence, direction and control of the conduct of election to the office of the President of India in the Election Commission of India. Mr Kumar said, "The value of the vote of an MP will be 700. Those in preventive detention can vote and those in jail will have to apply for parole and if they get parole, they can vote.” “The value of votes of the elected members of State Legislative Assemblies and both Houses of Parliament is governed by Article 55(2) of the Constitution. The total value of votes for MLAs for the 16th Presidential Election is 5,43,231. The total value of votes for MPs is 5,43,200. The total value of vote of ‘India’s bio-economy has grown eight times in 8 yrs’ NEW DELHI, 9 JUNE Noting that India’s bio-economy has grown eight times in the last eight years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said the country was not too far from reaching the league of top-10 nations in biotech's global ecosystem. “We have grown from $10 billion to $80 billion,” he said and listed several reasons why India was being considered a land of opportunities in the field of biotech. He said the country, among other things, has a diverse population and diverse ‘HAPPY BUT COULD HAVE DONE BETTER’ BASIL RAJAPAKSA QUITS PARLIAMENT AMIDST SL CRISIS climatic zones; it has a talented human capital pool; it was making increasing efforts towards the ease of doing business; the demand for bio-products was increasing in the country continuously and the biotech sector has an exemplary track SNS record in the country. CMYK electors for the Presidential Election, 2022 is 10,86,431,” he said. “A total of 4,809 electors to vote in the Presidential elections in 2022. No political party can issue a whip to its members,” Kumar said. The Chief Election Commissioner said, "A nomination paper of a candidate has to be subscribed by at least 50 electors as proposers and by at least other fifty electors as seconders. An elector can subscribe to only one nomination paper of a candidate as either a proposer or a seconder." A candidate can file a maximum of four nomination papers. The security deposit for the election is Rs 15,000, which is required to be made along with the nomination paper, or should be deposited in Reserve Bank of India or a Government Treasury under the relevant Head of Accounts for the purpose, prior to filing of nomination. Members of Parliament are expected to cast their votes at the place of polling in the Parliament House and Members of State Legislative Assemblies are expected to vote at the respective State Legislative Assembly. P12 MEA: Remarks,tweets against Prophet don’t reflect govt’s views STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 9 JUNE With the controversy over the remarks made by two suspended BJP functionaries Prophet Muhammad refusing to die down, New Delhi today made it clear that their comments do not reflect the views of the Government of India. “We have made it pretty clear that the tweets and comments don't reflect the views of the government. This has been conveyed to our (foreign) interlocutors,” Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said at a media briefing. He said India has also drawn the attention of the foreign governments toward the action taken by the BJP against its spokesperson Nupur Sharma and the party's media head in charge Naveen Jindal. ''Action has been taken by the concerned quarters against those who made the comments and tweets,'' he said. On reports that Indian nationals were being targeted in certain countries in the wake of the remarks made by the suspended BJP leaders, the spokesperson said the government was continuously monitoring the situation to ensure the security of Indian nationals and Indian assets. The spokesperson denied FIRs against Nupur, Owaisi, Narasimhananda & others STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 9 JUNE The Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operation (IFSO) unit of the Delhi Police has registered two separate cases in connection with alleged hate speeches made by various political leaders of different parties. A senior police official said that those who have been named in the FIRs are former BJP leader Naveen Kumar Jindal and Nupur Sharma, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, Shadab Chauhan, Saba Naqvi, Maulana Mufti Nadeem, Abdur Rehman, Gulzar Ansari and Swami Yati Narasimhananda. "We have lodged the FIR against those who were spreading messages of hate, inciting various groups and creating situations which are detrimental to the maintenance of public tranquility. The FIRs against multiple individuals cut across religions. We will investigate the roles of various social media entities in promoting false and wrong information with an intention to create unrest in the cyber space. They are compromising with the social fabric of the country," said a police official. that Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian raised the issue of the remarks made against the Prophet at his meeting with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in New Delhi yesterday.But the Iranian media said Abdollahian raised the issue of the "negative atmosphere" triggered by "disrespectful" comments on the Prophet at his meeting with National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval. The Indian side reaffirmed the government's respect for Prophet Mohammad, saying the offenders would be "dealt with in such a way that others will learn a lesson”.