Polling tomorrow amidst tight police security
58,302 polling stations, use of police of other states
Bengaluru, May 11: Director General of Police and IG Neelamani N Raju said that the police department has taken all precautionary measures and security arrangements to ensure free and fair Assembly election in the state tomorrow.
Speaking to reporters at her office here on Friday, she said that total 58,302 polling stations were set up for voting and among them, 21,464 polling stations were identified as sensitive polling stations. Each such polling station was provided a head constable and a constable and general polling station was provided a constable or home guard, she added.
Police from other states
For the first time, total 7500 police force was summoned from Goa, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, along with home guards and civil police personnel, for the election duty. Responding to the request, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh have also sent their forces. But since there was more force than requirement, they were sent back, the DGP said.
For the election duty, total 43,653 police personnel, 22,172 home guards, two thousand Seva Dal, and remaining 3000 from the forest staff, Lokayukta, CID and other organizations are being used for the purpose. Apart from this, 585 platoons of armed forces were also deputed and these forces were deputed as flying squads and sector squads. Apart from this, one armed personnel would be deputed for each of the sensitive polling booths, she said.
Only 117 cases were registered related to election in the state this year. As the police security was beefed up in some sensitive places like Shivamogga, Davangere, Bengaluru, Hubballi- Dharwad, no communal clashes or cases were reported. Except one murder in a fracas between two groups in an inebriated condition, at Chikkaballapur, no casualties were reported in any parts of the state, she said.
There were no reports of Naxal activities in the state. Except some information about their movement during January and February, no activities were reported. Nowhere the election was boycotted. Even then, sufficient police security has been provided in naxal-prone places, she added.
ADGP Kamal Panth was appointed as the nodal officer for election work and senior officer R Hitendra was appointed to look after the cases of expenditure and violation of code of conduct and DIG Sandeep Patil was given the responsibility of deputing armed forces and security forces. All three of them were in regular contact with Chief Election Officer, she said.
Precautionary measures
In view of the election, more than 40,000 people, having criminal background, were summoned to police stations and warned them. Based on the circumstances, the police stations would arrest such persons, if needed. Out of total 97,043 licenced weapons, 95,405 weapons were deposited in police stations after election code of conduct was enforced. But 1456 weapons were given relaxation from deposition and licences of 19 weapons were cancelled. Total 22 illegal weapons and 30 bullets were seized, he said.
“State assembly poll would be held tomorrow. Tight police security was made for polling. All measures were taken to ensure free and fair election in the state and people could vote without any fear”- DGP Neelamani N Raju
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None of Adani portfolio companies subject to any legal case: Group CFO on promoter indictment in US
New Delhi, Nov 23: None of Adani group portfolio companies, comprising 11 listed firms, have been accused of any wrongdoing, conglomerate's CFO Jugeshinder Robbie Singh said on founder and chairman Gautam Adani's indictment on bribery charges in the US.
In a post on X, Singh said the group would make a detailed comment on the US indictment once it gets counsel approvals.
Adani and seven other defendants, including his nephew Sagar Adani, allegedly agreed to pay about USD 265 million in bribes to Indian government officials between approximately 2020 and 2024 to obtain lucrative solar energy supply contracts on terms that were expected to yield USD 2 billion of profit over 20 years, according to an indictment unsealed in a New York court on Wednesday.
The Securities and Exchange Commission of the US has also charged Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani, executives of Adani Green Energy Ltd and Cyril Cabanes, an executive of Azure Power Global, for "conduct arising out of a massive bribery scheme".
"There is a lot of news and reports that will try to pick unrelated items and create a headline. My humble request is that we will respond in the fullness of time once we review in detail the matter as presented in the legal filing," Singh said.
He hastened to add that no court has ruled on the indictment, and as outlined by lawyers of the US Department of Justice, these are "allegations and the accused have a presumption of innocence".
The CFO, who was the first line of defence when US short-seller Hindenburg Research had accused the ports-to-power conglomerate of fraud in January 2023, said the group became aware of the "specificity" of the US indictment against founder and chairman Gautam Adani two days ago.
"We were aware that something is afoot (and in February 2024 144a offering circular in Risk Factors we disclosed as such. This was the first public issuance of any of our portfolio companies or their subsidiaries or joint venture companies after our annual results of 31st March 2023)," he said.
He, however, did not state what the company had disclosed in February 2024.
Adani Group, he said, has a portfolio of 11 public companies and "none are subject to indictment (i.e. defendants in any legal proceedings in the recent DOJ lawyer filings to a court in NYC)".
"None of the issuers (i.e. companies in our portfolio or specific issuers that are subsidiaries of the public companies) are accused of any wrongdoing in the said legal filing," he said.
The indictment "relates to one contract of Adani Green, which is roughly 10 per cent of overall business of Adani Green (there is a lot more precise and comprehensive detail of this which we will elaborate in an appropriate forum)," he said.
The statement comes two days after Gautam Adani was charged by US prosecutors over his role in an alleged years-long scheme to pay USD 265 million (about RS 2,200 crore) bribes to Indian officials to secure solar energy contracts. The conglomerate has denied the allegations, calling them baseless, and announced plans to seek legal recourse.
The Adani Family has 11 listed entities on the Indian stock exchanges - flagship incubator Adani Enterprises Ltd, electricity producer Adani Power Ltd, ports company Adani Ports & SEZ, power transmission firm Adani Energy Solutions Limited, renewable arm Adani Green Energy Ltd (AGEL), city gas distributor Adani Total Gas Ltd, commodities firm Adani Wilmar Ltd, media firm New Delhi Television Ltd and cement companies Ambuja Cements Limited, ACC Ltd, and Sanghi Industries Ltd.
"There is a lot of news and reports that will try to pick unrelated items and create a headline. My humble request is that we will respond in the fullness of time once we review in detail the matter as presented in the legal filing (Please note that no court has ruled on this and as outlined by lawyers of DOJ these are 'allegations and accused have a presumption of innocence'). We will make a more detailed comment once we get counsel approvals to discuss what we can in public on a matter that is sub-judice," he added.
