Come back to the rut. Any kind of fool could see that. It's going to get copyrighted, I'll just stop.  They can't talk. Please follow us on Instagram! Twitter! Twitter! It's so freaking juicy! It's so juicy. Told you. This is... This is a... This is a film. Yes. Can you say it for me? I can't read that. Try it. I can't read it. Marathi?  This is a Marathi film. It's the same as the one with the guy who's the actor. Remember that one we watched? Yes, that we. Yeah, with beautiful language. And they're like, you got to watch this. This guy's the heavyweight. And it's all in theaters. I know that one. They say that the Marthali films are ones that have really good content and high quality acting. Yes. They're some of the best they love in all of India. When we did that reaction, tons of, okay, now that you've done that, you've got to do this. So this was highly requested in that one. So hopefully it's very good. Can you ever watch that one, have you? No, I always definitely. That's on our list. We will be watching that one soon because it looked phenomenal. Especially his performance. The score, the shots, the, I mean the story looked really interesting too. And it was like, it was almost like a teaser. I know. And at the same time, I felt I was so drawn in. I was lost and fully absorbed in what I was watching like I was watching the movie. Yeah. Yeah. He almost had like a Romeo and Juliet kind of feel to it. Not the, no, I know, but the love, something gets in between the two love. Yeah. The count. Boy, is that pretty. The score, the score, the shots. It was almost like a, what is his name? Biggest director of all time. What is it? Harry Truman. Spielberg, like, epic score, almost at points. Yeah. Like an E.T. score. Right. Yeah, it did. It had hints of John Williams' kind of epic largeness and just lyrical. It's so pretty. And everybody looked really natural and believable. I love watching work by people I've never seen that is extremely good. It's just so, so excited to see that. I thought one of the guys was from Socrates Gums, but he's not. I don't think. Yeah, we don't, I don't recognize any of these people. But that doesn't mean we haven't seen anything. This would go way up, not just because it's so intriguing, but because we have so little representation of these guys of films. I would want to watch this sooner than later. You want to read the thing for me? An interior? I can't see it. Mahorastra, Mahorastra. Okay. In interior Mahorastra. A fisherman's son and a local politician's daughter fall in love against their restriction to cast her. Yeah, so it is a little, it is very...  Yeah, Romeo and Juliet. Romeo and Juliet rather than being families, my suspicion is they're in completely different castes. Yeah. But they love each other. Yeah. I'm glad it took a turn because I'm not, I think it just took on the romance. Yeah. I had a feeling it was going to do that. And you notice it's a musical. They said that it's a musical. It's not just, it doesn't have just music in it. I would love to know, because in America we know exactly the difference of a musical and a non-musical because our non-musicals have no musical numbers in them. Yeah. Whereas Indian films, especially out of Bollywood, have musical numbers, but they're not a musical. Yeah. So I would imagine there's a certain number of songs that have to have a certain number that are actually, I think the difference, my guess is going to be that in Bollywood, the song doesn't necessarily continue to propel the story. Wherein a musical, the song propels the story. And I'm happy about the runtime. I want to sit in that movie for three hours. Oh yeah, it is three hours. It's three hours. And I just, that is not daunting to me. Based on what we just saw. Oh yeah.  Yeah, yeah. Come on, Alexis. Yeah. That went from home with your dad to home. Not so much. So please let us know how it is. Because it looks really, really good. And is this the first film from, what is it called again? A Marathi film. Marathi film? Should we watch it? Should we watch the one? Namaste. Namaste. Nathurad. Nathurad. Nathurad, I think it was. Yeah. Wow. No. I bet they tell us to watch that first. You think so? Yeah, I have a feeling, because he's like their, that actor is comparable to Big B. Yeah. In terms of his prowess. Being just a genius legend actor. You know nothing, I know just, in Indian films, there's a lot of slapping in Indian films. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? There's a lot of slapping. A lot of, not punching. No slapping.  I think it's comparable because a lot of countries around the world, it's deeply, deeply insulting, for example, to have a shoot thrown at you, whereas here it would be like, why'd you throw your shoe at me? In other countries, it is a really offensive belittling thing. I think the same is true for the slap. I think a slap is a pretty, well, it kind of is here too. You slap somebody, it's pretty demeaning. Yeah. But yeah, I can't think of a movie we've seen that doesn't have some one slap. Yeah. Every film has a slap in it. Cool. I knew you were going to do that. I knew you were going to slap me.


The two riders back up at tapes, and we would have a rerun with effectively a match race now between the two. Ty looks pretty relaxed, and I'm sure that he will dig in and produce the business in his upcoming races. Here we see it on the inside in red, is Kai Hulkenbeck on gate number two in blue, is Patrick Dudek, and no riders in the gate number three and gate number four, so just a straight shootout between these two and opportunity for big points. Got to take that opportunity now, three lights on, away they go, and it's neck and neck into the first corner. Kai Hulkenbeck makes it his, avoids that rut, which is good news for him. Patrick Dudek had his elbow out there trying to get himself to the front, but Kai Hulkenbeck was having none of that. And as they complete the opening lap, a wild card, he's from this area, but lots of support. I'll tell you what, he's riding an ice line there, and they've managed to avoid that rut, and they're looking good. Yeah, the three times German champion out front, the crowd would be happy with this. And I feel for Patrick a little bit, he'd made a decent start in the first attempt off gate two. It actually got across Kai Hulkenbeck, but Kai this time determined in that first turn. He was indeed, he's hugging the inside. Front wheel touching that white line, an extra pat over it there at times. Going into the last lap, Patrick Dudek is certainly not letting this go, he's having a real go. Real go in second place, he's got one more opportunity now. He charges into turn number three, he's on the outside, he's winding it up on the charge to the line. He's coming, oh my goodness gracious, very tight indeed. Gonna have to watch that back, I don't know which way it's gone. I think maybe Dudek would have got that to be honest. Dudek tried awfully hard there, looked like Kai Hulkenbeck for three and three quarter laps, had that all sewn up. See it again now on this run to the line here Chris. Yeah, it's very, very close, late charge from Dudek on the outside here in blue. That is cool, that was a real tough call. Craig Oakrod will have to declare a result, this angle might be better. I tell you what, looks Kai Hulkenbeck by the skin of his teeth. Picks up his win, great effort from Patrick Dudek in second place.


I remind members that social distancing measures are in place in the chamber and across the Holyrood campus. I ask that members take care to observe those measures, including when entering and exiting the chamber. Please only use the aisles and walkways to access your seat and when moving around the chamber. The next item of business is justice portfolio questions. If a member wishes to request a supplementary question, they should, during the relevant question, press the request to speak button or indicate in the chat function by entering the letter R. I call question number one, Sandesh Gohani, who is joining us remotely. To ask the Scottish Government what impact the presumption against short sentences has had on the number of people who are sent to jail for assaulting emergency workers. The presumption against short sentences was extended to 12 months or less, from three months or less, in 2019, and applied to offences committed on or after 4 July 2019. The impact of the extension is being monitored, and a second bulletin was published by Scotland's chief statistician on 23 March covering all charges that are disposed of in Scotland's courts from 1 January to 31 December 2020. At present, however, it is too early to assess the impact of the extended presumption, particularly given the impact of the pandemic on court prisoners since early 2020. Sandesh Gohani? Just in a third of those convicted under the 2005 act for assaulting an emergency worker went to prison. Data from NHS Health Board, which covers only half of this pandemic year, shows that nearly 5,000 instances of assault were recorded against NHS staff. Kenny Gibson spoke of the 250 ambulance crews assaulted that the First Minister said was unacceptable. Those workers supported the country through a pandemic. They put their lives at risk to help. We clapped for them, and they deserve better protection. Will the cabinet secretary support revoking the presumption against short prison sentences for NHS staff assault, so that those criminals can face true justice? I remind the chamber that this party and other parties in the chamber supported the introduction of the relevant legislation. It was opposed only by the Conservative parties. We are not taking lessons on the fact that we have to look after our emergency workers. The Government has introduced an extension to the categories of emergency workers. We are very concerned, but we have a very good track record in using the law to protect emergency workers. I have said that it is too early to determine the effect of the extension of the presumption against short sentences from three months to 12 months, so that the proportion of people given community sentences for convictions under the emergency workers act has remained similar over the past 10 years. 30 per cent of people, as the member says, just under a third people convicted in 2019-20 under the act received a community sentence, and that is roughly the same as in 2010-11. The proportion of people given custodial sentences for convictions under the emergency workers act increased from 30 per cent in 2010-11 to 32 per cent in 2019-20. The Government has taken the action that is necessary to help to improve the situation for emergency workers, attacks on whom are always unacceptable, unlike the party that the member represents, which refuse to support it and, indeed, oppose the legislation that was brought in. To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that the prosecution system delivers fairer and more effective justice. Scotland's prosecution system is, of course, a matter for the Lord Advocate. The Lord Advocate is head of the systems for the prosecution of crime in Scotland and exercises those functions independently of any other person. The Scottish Government has committed an additional £50 million in this year's budget to support recovery across the justice system, including increased funding to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, and that reflects our strong support of those vital services that they deliver through those offices. That is in addition, of course, to the increased funding provided to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service in recent years through the annual budget process. I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer and the previous commitment to consult and not proven. Across the chamber, I think that there is growing recognition that there is a strong case for the abolition of the verdict. Will the cabinet secretary encourage a wide range of stakeholders and those with lived experience to respond to the consultation when it is launched later this parliamentary term in order to help inform the best policy decisions on the matter? I acknowledge the experience that she has in the area. She will be aware that a broad range of stakeholders, including those with direct experience of the system, played a very important role in last year's engagement events on the findings of the independent jury research commission to consider the unique nature of the Scottish jury system. That included survivors with direct experience of the not proven verdict, and some of them gave powerful testimony about the lack of clarity about its meaning and implications, and they also testified that they were unaware or unprepared for the possibility that a not proven verdict might be returned in their case. I am happy to confirm to the member that we will continue to take an opening consultant of approach going forward. As part of the formal public consultation, we will seek to capture the views of a broad range of stakeholders, including legal professionals, the third sectors and, as the member suggests, those with lived experience of the system. I thank the member for raising what is an important issue, which we will pursue in this Parliament. However, the cabinet secretary will also be aware that less than 1 per cent of victims apply for the victim right to review scheme when a decision is made not to prosecute by the Crown or to discontinue prosecution. The inspectorate of prosecution in Scotland recommends that all victims should be notified of such a decision. Is the cabinet secretary confident that all victims are being contacted in such a case? If so, why are so few taking advantage of their right to review? I thank the member for his question. I think that we will cover as we go through the questions in more depth some of the victims' issues that he has quite rightly raised. If it is the case and he is aware of it being the case that there are parts of the system that do not make sure that the statement is sought, then I am happy to look at that if he provides that information. It is possibly the case that we should really look in more depth as to why that would be the case and that more people do not request it. I would just say that I am happy to look at that. Obviously, there is a different authority in relation to that and we have to respect that authority, but I am happy to look at that and to find out more information and share that with the member when we do so. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its plans to tackle violence against women, particularly in relation to prostitution and purchasers of sex. The Scottish Government remains committed to tackling violence against women and girls and this work continues within the framework of equally safe strategy. We have made £18 million available in 2021 to tackle violence against women and we have pledged to allocate an additional £5 million within the first 100 days of government to support front-line services and deal with the demand that has built up during the pandemic. The pandemic has had a disproportionate impact on women and those involved in prostitution have faced increasing challenges, which have put them at further risk of harm. Last year, we took forward Scotland's first national consultation on challenging men's demand for prostitution and yesterday we published the findings and the Scottish Government's response. That sets out our commitment to develop a progressive model for Scotland to tackle the form of violence against women and a programme of work to co-design services with those with lived experience so that support services meet the needs and, when they are ready to do so, help women to exit prostitution. I thank the minister for that reply. I know that she has listened, as I have, to survivors and those who have experienced prostitution. It seems to me that very few women are at voluntarily involved in prostitution. The vast majority are either being forced by somebody else or by their circumstances. Surely, if men are purchasing sex, they are guilty of violence against women and should be criminalised. Yes, I agree with the member. Within the equally safe strategy, we have set out that it is a form of commercial sexual exploitation and part of what we would consider to be and respond to as violence against women. I am very interested in taking forward the views that were expressed in the consultation. Obviously, there was a difference of opinion expressed in the consultation. Many respondents favoured a decriminalisation approach such as one that you might find in New Zealand. Many others also favoured an approach known as the Nordic model, which would be associated particularly with Sweden. I am very interested in taking that forward. We are committing to developing a model specifically for Scotland that will reduce the harms and support women to exit, but, crucially, we will challenge men's demand for sex. supplementary from Rhoda Grant, who is joining us remotely. Commercial sexual exploitation is an aspect of violence against women that we have made very little progress in defeating prostitution's signal about how unequal our society is with regard to women.  Will the Scottish Government legislate to change that? While doing so, look at how victims who have been prosecuted and have these convictions raised, because that is a huge barrier to them exiting prostitution and starting new lives for themselves. I would like to start by commending the member's long-standing interest and work in that area. I think that she is quite correct in some of the things that she has set out there. I, obviously, recognise that this is the first-ever consultation on prostitution and challenging men's demand for the purchase of sex. I would like to invite the member to work with me and the Government as we go forward to develop a model that is right for Scotland, a model that recognises the lived experience of those who have been involved in prostitution, a model that seeks to challenge men's demand for the purchase of sex, and a model that is right for Scotland and that sits within our framework for equally safe. To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to improve support for victims of crime. Our manifesto sets out a range of commitments aimed at ensuring that victims' rights at the heart of our justice system. We will appoint a victims commissioner to provide an independent voice for victims and we will also review the provision of victim services. We will also introduce a justice specific knowledge and skills framework for trauma-informed practice and will ensure that restorative justice services are widely available across Scotland by 2023. We have invested more than £88 million in the justice budget to support victims over the past five years, including £18.2 million this year, and we are developing a new funding regime to ensure that support is available to all victims, regardless of crime type or location. I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. The victim's rights should be at the centre of our justice system and introducing a victims commissioner provides a real opportunity for Scotland to lead the way on that globally. The cabinet secretary outlined whether the Scottish Victims Commissioner could emulate the success of the Children and Young People's Commissioner for Scotland role. The Children and Young People's Commissioner plays a crucial role as a champion and guardian of children's rights, providing challenge where necessary. In that respect—or those respects, rather—it is not dissimilar to the Veterans Commissioner, which I introduced a number of years ago. The member is right to draw parallels with the role that a victims commissioner could play as an independent figurehead to represent victims views and champion their cause, while also ensuring that policy and practice is considered from a victims perspective. We will work closely with victims and victims organisations to develop a role tailored to the needs of those affected by crime in Scotland. A key facet of that role will be to work with the Children's Commissioner to ensure that victims of all ages have their voices heard. Supplementary from Russell Findlay. This week, I received this letter from the parole board. It told me that the violent criminal who committed an attack against me had applied for parole and had been rejected. I am one of the lucky ones. I am only entitled to this information because my attacker is serving a sentence of greater than 18 months. Other victims of horrific crimes, including sexual violence, are not eligible for the victim notification scheme. Will the cabinet secretary consider extending the scheme to include victims where offenders are sentenced to less than 18 months? The member will know from previous exchanges that the Government is committed to a number of changes, including changes in this area, some of which reflect some of the proposals in the 10-point plan that the Conservatives have in relation to victims. It is important that amendments to the parole board rules come into force on 1 March 2021. They include provisions to ensure that the board considers the safety and welfare of victims on release and that victims receive a summary of the board's recommendations. Further work has been undertaken to rewrite the parole board rules to modernise and simplify them. That is under way currently. We plan to go out to consultation on the new rules towards the end of this year. There are commonalities between the approach of the Conservatives and the Government in relation to that. I extend an offer to work together in relation to that. It may well be that we can achieve the same ends from the approaches of our relative manifestos. I hope that the member will be able to engage in that consultation and to engage with the Government on achieving the best outcome. To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that delays to criminal trials are adversely affecting victims' mental health. As I made clear in the justice recovery new transform debate in the Parliament last week, I recognise, of course, the impact that delays and uncertainty have on all those involved in criminal court processes, including the mental health and physical health of victims. That is why the Government will ensure that our justice system takes account of the interests of victims' witnesses and, indeed, those accused of offences as they deal with the backlog in cases. Like all of our justice partners, I remain committed to addressing the current court backlog as a consequence of the Covid pandemic, assisted by the additional £50 million of funding that we have provided to support recovery. In addition, on top of existing funding for victims' organisations, we have committed to providing an additional £5 million this year to support front-line services and supporting victims of violence against women and girls to help to deal with outstanding demand built up during the pandemic. The latest quarterly criminal court statistics show that the backlog has more than doubled. SCTS modelling estimates will not be cleared until March 2025. The resulting pain and mental health problems with victims is horrifying, and we know that the backlog of domestic abuse trials in courts such as Aberdeen has caused victims untold anguish. SCTS modelling states that expanding trial court capacity to 25 could clear the high court backlog by March 2023. Cabinet Secretary's own motion in his debate last week said that there was a need to address the backlog, so will he commit to making that expansion? I should say that we have already announced the number and implemented a number of changes that have helped to seek to, first of all, reduce the backlog and stop it from increasing, not least as I mentioned last week. The remote juries that we have established, remote jury locations across the country. I also mentioned the £50 million previously that will be used and is being used now to ensure that we can scale up significantly the sheriff courts in September of this year, which should help further with that backlog. However, we have seen almost the achievement of the same number of solemn cases, criminal cases, taking place as prior to the pandemic. It has required a huge amount of effort on behalf of the partners that he mentioned in the court service about others. We are very grateful to them for doing that. It is in all our interest to try to make sure that we minimise that backlog, and I would hope to work with the member to try to achieve that over the coming years. Thank you, Presiding Officer. An accused person may not be held in custody for trial for more than 140 days unless the trial has commenced and may be extended by a judge on cause shown. There were significant delays to the high court trial prior to the pandemic, so is the cabinet secretary satisfied that the use of cause shown is a high enough test to prevent court delays or is it going to become meaningless if it is going to take such a length of time to get back on track? Will the cabinet secretary make a full impact assessment on victims of delays, especially to victims of rape and serious sexual assault? I thank the member for her question first of all and say that I am happy to come to the chamber anytime to give updates on the extent of the situation in relation to the courts and the impact that might be harming on victims. Of course, members can propose questions, motions and otherwise debates in this place to do that, so I am happy to do that. Of course, I would acknowledge the fact that remand in particular has been an issue because of the backlogs that we have seen, and that does cause concern. We want to take early initiatives in addition to the ones that I have already mentioned to try to address that, but I am happy, as I say, to answer future questions from the member. To be perfectly honest, on the specific question that she asked, I think that I would want to take a bit more information about that and find out from those at the front end of the system what their experience is, but I am happy to work with the member on those issues as we go forward. Thank you to ask the Scottish Government how many projects have been funded by the Cashback Communities programme in East Lothian since the initiative was launched? Since the Cashback for Communities programme was launched in 2008, young people in East Lothian have benefited from 40 projects and £1.5 million in investment. That has delivered over 65,000 activities to support young people from East Lothian into positive destinations and divert from potentially criminal behaviour. Paul MacLean? I thank the cabinet secretary for the answer. Cashback for Communities is a transformative initiative and it is happening to hear that so many organisations and young people in my constituency have benefited. Can the cabinet secretary share with the chamber some of the findings from the evaluation of the latest phase of the programme specifically regarding the impact being involved in the scheme that has had on young people's lives? I thank the member for his question and I agree with him that I have seen the impact on my constituency of the initiative. At the evaluation of phase 4 of Cashback, which ran from 2017 to 2020, was published in December last year. During that phase, Cashback reached more than 100,000 young people. Involvement in the programme was found to have directly improved the wellbeing over 80,000 young people, moved 35,000 young people on to a positive destination such as a new job or further education, and specifically reduced antisocial or criminal behaviour of over 8,000 young people. Over two thirds of the young people involved were from the most deprived areas in Scotland. I have a quote here from one of our Cashback participants, which demonstrates the impact that the programme has on the young people of Scotland. I wasn't doing anything with my life. Now, seven months down the line, I'm in my first year of training and I'll be starting an apprenticeship. In four years, I'll be a fully qualified electrician and that was a participant in the action for children's behavioural change, wellbeing and inclusion service. This is a story that's not often enough told, the success that we're having with these initiatives to divert people away from a life of crime. Alex Cole-Hamilton Thank you, Presiding Officer. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its plans to raise the age of criminal responsibility to the international minimum. The Age of Criminal Responsibility Scotland Act of 2019 requires that the Scottish ministers review the operation of the act and the review is to cover the operation of the act generally, looking, for example, at whether the act has achieved its objectives, whether all the provisions are operating as intended. In addition, the review is to consider raising the age of criminal responsibility further. The act requires that the review takes place in the three years following section 1 coming into force. A report will be prepared following the review, which must then be published and laid before the Scottish Parliament. Finally, the Age of Criminal Responsibility advisory group, which is chaired by the Minister for Children and Young People, considers the act as part of its on-going remit. Alex Cole-Hamilton I'm grateful to the minister for that reply. For as long as Scotland sets its age of criminal responsibility at 12, we shall forever fail in our ambition to lead the world on children's rights. We are in the basement, below Russia and below China. Our progress lift our age of responsibility from 8 to 12. In the first place, it was glacial, but it started with a move to end the criminal prosecution of those aged under 12. That required no legislation, so can I ask the minister if she will work with the new Lord Advocate to end the criminal prosecution of those under the age of 14, paving the way for us to finally lift the age of criminal responsibility to the international minimum. When looking at other countries, as the member has mentioned a couple of countries there in his question, it is clear that the age of criminal responsibility means different things in different countries. It often means the minimum age of prosecution or it's an age that provides protection from explicitly punitive sentences. In many countries, children of all ages can be subject to the various interferences of the criminal justice system bar prosecution. I think that the member would agree that the balance needs to be right in the system, and so focusing on individual international comparison doesn't give the due consideration to flexibility. The Scottish Government is absolutely committed to looking at this area. I have set out the review process that has been unanimously agreed by the Scottish Parliament when the legislation went through in 2019, which I believe the member was a part of that process. 8. Dean Lockhart To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the number of divisional officers working in each local division that has set out in the latest publication of Police Scotland's officer and staff numbers. I thank the police officers and police staff throughout the country for their hard work and dedication throughout the pandemic. The member will know that the deployment of officers is a matter for the chief constable. However, it's worse saying that we have a higher number of officers than at any time during the previous administration. We currently have 17,283 officers, an increase of 1,049 police officers from the position that we inherited in 2007. It is right that the chief constable should keep the size and shape of the policing workforce under review in light of changing demands. Local police divisions have a core complement of officers who are always dedicated locally to community and response policing, and they can additionally draw on the specialist services and resources at a regional and national level, providing the right people in the right place at the right time to keep people safe and to meet the needs of our communities. I thank the cabinet secretary for that response. However, if he takes a closer look at the most recent figures, they show the scale of the cut back in the number of divisional officers since the SNP's police merger. More than 700 front-line officers have been lost from Police Scotland's local divisions since the force was created. Does the cabinet secretary have any plans to reverse those local cuts and to increase the number of front-line officers in Police Scotland so that they can get on with the job of tackling rising levels of violent crime that we saw before the pandemic? We remain committed to having the higher level of police officers that I mentioned before, more than 17,000, and that is a commitment shared with the chief constable. I am not sure whether the member is suggesting that the chief constable should be instructed to move police officers around the country based on what he thinks is the best solution for them. We do not agree with that. It should be for the chief constable. It is also worth mentioning that some of the officers that he mentions have gone on to look at national priorities, so that Fife, along with other parts of the country, can call on those national facilities, those amenities and those resources when it is necessary for them to do so. As the chief constable's responsibility, there are more than 12,000 police officers in our local divisions. I have mentioned more than 17,000 officers in Scotland. We have around 32 officers per 10,000 population in Scotland. That compares to around 22 officers, 10 less per 10,000 of the population in England and Wales. We will continue to have more officers, as we have done since we came into office, and to pay them at a higher rate than officers elsewhere in the UK. That concludes Justice Portfolio Questions. The next item of business is a statement by Tom Arthur on provisional outturn 2020-21. I will allow a brief pause for people to change their seats.


It's a big day today for all of us at ECI and I would like to formally welcome you to this press conference to announce the schedule for general elections and some state assemblies. It's my privilege to introduce the Honble Chief Election Commissioner, Sri Rajiv Kumar Ji, the Honble Election Commissioner, Sri Ganesh Kumar, and the Honble Election Commissioner, Dr. Subbir Singh Sandhu. Also on the dais today are senior officials who have been a part of team ECI in the past two years and have played a crucial role in the run-up to the general elections, namely senior deputy election commissioners Sri Dharmendra Sharma and Sri Nitesh Vyas. Also DECs Sri Hudesh Kumar, Sri Ajay Bhadu, Sri R.K. Gupta and Sri Manoj Sahu, another crucial team member has been DGIT, Srimati, Nita Verma. Also on the dais is our joint director media Anuj Chanda, who is familiar to most of you here. I am B Narayanan, DG Media for the commission. The format is as follows, there will be opening remarks by the CEC along with the presentation. We will share the PDF copy of the presentation with all of you after this event is over. The PC is also being live streamed on X along with the slides and live streamed on our YouTube and Facebook. Following this PowerPoint, there will be a question and answer session. When you want to ask a question, raise your hand. Wait for a chance to be called by me to put your question. I will direct the micker to come to you. When it's your turn, introduce yourself and your organization and then ask your question. I request you to be brief and ask only one question at a time. Please keep your mobiles on silent mode. So I request you to deliver your opening remarks. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Narayanan. Good afternoon, friends. My recently joined Distinguined Colleges, let me introduce you to them, Sri Ganesh Kumar on my right and on your left, Anshri Supreet Singh Santu on my left, senior officials from Election Commission of India, friends from media, and all of you who are from different countries. Namaskar. You are all welcome to this press conference. As you see our team is now complete. All three of us are here and we are fully prepared. So now our request is to all the voters to get inked. Please, the entire team in the ECI is ready to ink the voters. Please join us. I think this is the most awaited press conference in this part of the year. We address you at a precious moment. And we as a nation are said to reiterate our pledge to electoral democracy. When Indians will together express their will once again. This is a historic opportunity for all of us. By the way, this year also marks a pivotal moment in the global landscape of democracies. 2024 is a year of elections across the world. Over five dozen nations and people will vote across the hemispheres, across the deadlines. However, India's elections have been like a police star both for its quantity and quality and I'll elaborate it and detail in this conference. Let me say in the very beginning that it is our promise to deliver a national election in a manner that we add to our global shine and remain a beckon for electoral democracies across the world. We are committed to give the nation a truly festive democratic environment. Friends, the term of 17th Lok Sabha is due to expire on 16th June, 24. The term of legislative assemblies of Andhra Pradesh, Ulissa, Arunachal, Sikkim are also due to expire on 24th June. Jammu Kashmir Assembly may be Chunao Duhain. We in the commission understand with humility, with all humility at our command that every election is a new test and failure is not an option. The entire election machinery has been trained on all aspects of election management. I had myself personally interacted with over 800 district magistrates across the length and breadth of the country. We have interacted with the SPs, DMs, commissioners, range IGs, political parties, enforcement agencies in Delhi and also while visiting the states. Over the two years period, the largest Lok Tantra election in the world, logistics and material promotion, he himself has a very big election. So let us show you what is the magnitude by which we are doing these elections. We have 97 crore registered voters, more than the combined voters of a few continents put together. Over 10.5 lakh polling stations and how many people conduct them, 1.5 crore polling officials and security officials conduct those elections. More than 55 lakh EVMs, 4 lakh vehicles and up till now we have done 17 general elections to the parliament. We have done more than 400 assembly elections. 16 presidential elections, 16 vice presidential elections, a truly gold standard. It is a gold standard in the entire election management. Friends, there is a qualitative leaf frog which commission is ensuring which would be shown by the outcomes of the 11 state elections which we have held recently. In the last 1.5 years, 11 elections have been held in the state assemblies. And today, we are going to the new year in 2024, we are going along with this trend that we are showing you their outcomes first. They were peaceful, they were free of violence. There was violence in one or two states, but there was no violence there. This is what we are going to show you today. We are going to show you how we are going to do better. We are going to show you how we are going to deliver this election. This is what we are going to show you in the last slide. We have prepared a lot for the electoral cycle. We are going to tell you about it before the schedule. If you look at it, as an input, our electoral role should be pure. This is a foundation for any good election. The one who should be in the voting and the one who should not, is not. We have worked hard in the electoral role. As an input, material, manpower, technology, training, there are so many things. As a process, the disruptive challenges, muscle power, money power, misinformation, MCC, violation and reaching out to the mixing voters, urban apathy, youth apathy and overcoming operational challenges, reaching in inaccessible areas in this white country. What outcomes we want, that is what we will tell you a little later also. The first input is a mosaic of the voters and electors. What does it show? It is a very diverse mosaic. 96.8 crores are the total electors in the country. Of which 49.7 crore are male and 47.1 crore are female. And the young voters, we worked hard in the last year, those 1.82 crores first time voters are in our electoral roles to vote in elections. And if we look at this in the last 20 to 29 years, they are still young, they haven't grown up yet. So the last 20 to 28 crores are about 21.2 lakh voters. 1 crore, 80 lakh, 18 to 19, and 20 to 29, 19.74 crores. That is, 21.2 crore voters are absolutely young, who will participate in democracy and decide their own future by themselves because they are the biggest stakeholders in the democracy because they have a larger time to contribute in the society. If we look at it very inclusively, there are 88.4 lakh persons with disabilities who are part of our voter list. We have made a special effort to bring all our voters in our electoral roles. There are 82 lakh people who are over the age of 85. Now they are our proud mothers. We feel very proud to have them with us. And among them, there are 2.8 lakh people in the country who are more than 100 years old who are in our electoral roles. So the Mosaic is, there are also transgenders, 48,000. So Mosaic is like 18 to 19, 20 to 28, 85 transgenders, persons with disabilities, and in the entire country, length and breadth of the country. How much effort it takes to make this regress procedure? I want to show you that while preparing for electoral roles at every stage, political parties are involved. So when the electoral preparation starts, we make a draft publication. We give 2 copies free of cost to the political parties. After that, all the form 6, form 7, form 8, my name has changed from deletion to modification to a new name. We share all those copies. We make minutes for that. And this time, we gave more effort that if political parties like Booth Levy want to work with BLOs, then they should. And across the length and breadth of the country, all the district magistrates, we are absolutely confident that silently we were working. Everyone has at least one or two meetings with political parties in every district. They have shown all the draft roles. After showing them, they have completed all the objections and made their minutes. Friends, we are very confident and we are conscious that a very solid electoral role is the foundation stone on any election and we are ready to go with this. We have also worked on the women voters. The gender ratio of women voters has increased by 948, which is again a very healthy sign of women participation increasing in our electoral cycle. There are 12 states in the country where there is a gender ratio of 1,000. That is, the number of women voters is more than a male. And as I just told you, 1.89 new voters are joining us. Out of them, we have 85,000 female voters in 2018-2019. So they are going side by side. And this is again a very healthy sign that women are also equally participating in our election. And as a women participation is, as a youth participation is another area where the commission is very conscious and commission is also consistently focusing on. I have told you, 1.8 crore from 13 to 19 crore voters, and those who were not born on 1st January, 2024, we have also taken the name of those who will be 18 years old at any time of 2024. And you would be happy to note that out of 13.4 lakh advanced applications that have come to us, around 5 to 6 lakhs are such who will complete the age of 18 by 1st of April, 2024. And they will also become our voters by that time. The role would be as much updated on 1st of April that none of them is wrong. We have put the youth in this task to join the national icons. We hope that youth will not only vote, but also become our ambassadors. The influencers will also join us. They will also bring their 10 friends along with the youth. And this time we are convinced because of our different outreach activities that they will join us more and more. Friends, when we are calling voters on our booths, our duty is to keep our booths ready for them very well. How should we prepare? There will be water to drink on every booth. There will be toilets, male and female separate. There will be signage. There will be a ramp for disability in persons. There will be a wheelchair, a help desk, a voter facilitation center. And there will be a shed and sufficient light. Minimum basic facilities would be available at all the polling stations. And these polling stations will be set up across the length and breadth. In the north, the Himalayas are full of birds. In the south, the Kanyakumari Sea. In the west, the Rajasthan Islands. The Arunachal jungle. And the wetest region of Meghalaya. The election commission. In every corner of the country, to make the people strong, the polling stations will be taken to their personal level. And we will take democracy to every corner of the country. And we are sure that we would make it a very overwhelming experience for our voters. And then, the voters' delight. The polling stations should be met in such a way that you get all these things. Then, how would we ensure that it is also inclusive? Inclusive in the sense, 85 plus voters are ready to go home and take their votes. Before the nomination, we will send form 12D to everyone's home. In some parts of the country, there has been a lot of voting from home in the assembly elections. There has not been a lot of elections in the country. This will be the first time in the country that the people who are over 45 years of age who are over 40% of the people with disabilities will be sent to everyone. If they opt to go home because they don't want to vote on the vote, then we will go home and take one person's vote. However, our experience is that most people want to go on the vote at that age because they have consistently been part of our democracy. They will be able to keep up the speed of the volunteers and the wheelchair. Now, when this vote was made, we trained our personal teams very well and prepared them. They are sentinels of democracy. All our employees will be ready for this wherever it takes, they will walk an extra mile so that voters don't have to mile. They will go to the mountains, to the jungle, to the river, to the horses, to the bridge, to the helicopters. We trained them very well and prepared them. They are sentinels of democracy. All our employees will be ready for this wherever it takes, they will walk an extra mile so that voters don't have to mile. They will go to the mountains, to the jungle, to the river, to the horses, to the bridge, to the helicopters, to the elephants. They will go to the mountains, to the mules. They will reach everywhere so that voters can vote on their votes. I will also talk about urban apathy. When we work so hard, we see that there are many people who don't know how to vote at home. This is an example for them to understand how important it is to vote. If we can work so hard for 10 or 5 people, then you can go down the house and vote at a 2 km radius. Friends, we are also very conscious about the sustainable elections as our responsibility towards the environment. So, if there are environmentally sustainable elections, we have given directions to our election machinery for this. Waste management shouldn't be shown after polling at any polling station. You collect it, dispose it and send it to various dispositions. It's part of the material arrangement. Do minimal use of paper. You can see our e-books as much as possible on our website. Every subject has an e-book. We can at least reduce the carbon footprint. Recycling, less and less paperwork. All that is what is our commitment to the environment. We are also greatly leveraging technology in three verticals for the help of the voter, for the help of the election management agencies, machinery and also for the political parties and candidates. Any voter in the country has to download an epic number if he has a mobile number seeded, he can download his or her mobile. If you want to take any information about BLO, one can go to the voter helpline. You can know about what kind of a candidate you have in your constituency who are contesting. There is an application called Know Your Candidate. There is no criminal background of that candidate. There are no cases against him. What are his assets? What are his liabilities? All of these things, all of these things, in the application of KYC, they have the right to see the voters. And anyone who has a criminal record, of any candidate, he will have to give it to the newspapers, to the TV, to the political parties. You have to tell the political parties that in that constituency, if you had to create a criminal candidate background, then why didn't you get it? Now tell me what is the basis of the selection of a candidate who has a criminal background. Then, in order to clean up the entire system, we want to use the technology with the help of the citizens. Citizens, please be vigilant. In any vigil app, if you have to complain to any citizen, to any voter, anywhere, anywhere, there is a case to distribute money, there is a case to distribute freebies, there is a case of access campaigning, just take a photo and type text, send it to us. We will capture your longitude and latitude ourselves. You can stand where you are standing or we will understand from your mobile location. Send your team inside and we will let you do what you complain about. Friends, in doing all these things, we have some challenges as well. I would like to talk about those challenges in front of you today. And I would like to tell you how we will fix this. So, we have mainly four challenges. Four M's, muscle, money, misinformation and MCC violations. Essentially, we have four broad processes and in this process, the process will begin and until the elections are over, we will have the right of election commission in these four things, how to control muscle power, how to control money power, how to control the many of misinformation and how to control the violations which are done or at least to be done under MCC. So, coming to the muscle. Muscle to control the power adequate number of CAPF would be deployed. We are establishing a new program this time. We are determined to reduce muscle power this time. In elections, there should be no place for violence and there shouldn't be violence at all. Wherever there is violence, whether it is pre-poll or during campaigning or post-poll, we are committed to be very, very alive to this situation and whatever we have to do with power, we will do so that this provision does not remain. In every district, there is a control room which has five types of feeds. TV, social media, webcasting which is on the booths, the line which has a complaint and grievances portal. So, one senior officer would be available in the control rooms in every district to look at these five feeds. From wherever, or CVGIL, 6th CVGIL, from wherever you get a complaint, you have to work very hard. Everywhere across the country we have worked very hard so that district magistrates SSPs do not let violence happen in their area. The non-villable warrants today the police have already been able to execute along with our visitors along with the history-sheeters they are also seeing it very clearly. There is also a network of check posts which have been set up in the international border in the interstate border and on the nodes from where some kinds of irregular illegal goods can move across these states. In some international borders there is also a drone-based checking which will happen. We are fully committed that there should be no use of this anywhere in the country. We have given very strict guidance to the district magistrates that as many people are over 3 years old you should change them. And accountability starts from the head of the district, not below. It is their job to look at the ones below. In any process, volunteers and contractual staff should not be used in any state. Double voting is also a complaint of impersonation. We have given very strict guidance that if the case of impersonation is brought up, then in the section of the RP Act take action against them. Friends, with a lot of determination we should be giving a challenge to the district magistrates. We should be giving a challenge to the district magistrates. We should be giving a challenge with their response. In challenge, when I cry out, because what we are getting is a lot less for now than before, and from that never comes unrest again. that they must be very, very cautious of this point will be ruthless if anywhere the violence happens. Similarly, coming to the money. You know, I have already shown you that the last 11 elections in the state, in the states and because of that, this is the conviction that we are talking about. We are talking to you from a, from the strength of our outcomes. The cash movement of Rs. 34 crore was restricted to 11 elections. In every state, Rajasthan, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Nagaland, Gujarat, Himachal, Mijoram, Tirpura, Chhattisgarh, in every state, the first election that took place was the 200, 400, 500, 700 per cent of the population. Total Rs. 34 crore is around 835 per cent higher. The use of money, the use of money, like the use of money is more in some states. Such a use of money is also more in some states. We are aware, fully, that there are differential vulnerabilities in each state. Some states have more violence, some states have more money, some states are more kind of a geographical problems. So whichever problem pertains to a particular state, based on this differential analysis, we would be having a differential level of treatment for that state. We will not let misuse of money. We have also bettered enforcement agencies in all states with enforcement agencies. In Delhi, we have bettered all the heads of the agencies. What have we told them? We have told them that the freebies, leaker, cash, cooker, sawdhi, machines, whatever kind of freebies, in which state there are complaints about money, we should stop them 100 per cent. To stop them, we should do analytics-based work. So whom have we directed? GST, excise, state police, all agencies, income tax, customs, coast guards, BSF, SSB, border from wherever it is, or wherever it is free, GST would be doing the eBay bill-based analytics to see if there is a trend of expert in the demand for the FMCG in certain areas. Banks would look at if there is a demand expert in demand of the cash in the chests. So, National NP-CIL will look at if there is a expert in demand for the payments from the valets. Digital payments are not getting paid. In one or two states, we came to see that if you were to transfer money to someone through your wallet in 2001 or 2001, all that we will be looking at, banks would be sending almost daily report of these suspicious transactions which they have. All airports in the country would be checked regularly by the dedicated teams of income tax for any kind of movement through the airstrips. And where the airstrips are commercial, where helicopters land, we have asked and we have got actually the Bureau of Civil Aviation of Security to issue detailed instructions to which a helicopter or chartered flight will land in some area. Wherever the luggage is, as per the directions, as per the instructions and guidelines of the BCS, almost equal to the commercial airports will be checking. Railways, RPF, GRP both will be simultaneously continuously looking at roads. So, cash or money, whatever we want to use for money, political finance in any case is a thing which is in news these days. So, this is our effort to add to that thing so that there are much more cleaner elections. Coming to the third M, which is the misinformation, this also troubles us a lot during the elections. While we are conscious of two facts that the social media helps us in taking out our outreach programs. We are also conscious that on social media, in democracy, there is a full freedom to criticize anybody, including criticizing us. Why not? If we are doing wrong, criticize us. But you cannot, you should not be allowed to create fake news which is not based on facts. Because it can disturb the public order. Now, let's spread this there. So, we have given all the instructions. What kind of institutionalized ways have we done? These are some of the new things that we will be able to see in the elections. I have also told about Masil Power, Manipaar, and also about misinformation. So, this process of election that is being started from today is still going on in the middle of counting. In which, there was a possibility of consumption of liquor and garbage. That is the least of our efforts. We have to be very careful about that. What will we do in this? Under section 69 and 79-3 of the IT Act, authorized authority of each state is empowered to ask for take down of the social media posts. In almost all states, authorized officials have been appointed or are being appointed. In each district, we have done thorough trainings as to how to deal with this kind of a menace. So, this is on the preventive side. But there is also a promotional site. All our entire machinery will now react to whatever is coming by facts. We will try and join the issue instead of being in the background if somebody is trying to do a fake kind of a narrative, which is disturbing the level playing field, which is disturbing the public order or which is not based on the facts and which has crossed the line of the criticism, we would be also joining them. We will also launch very soon on our website something called myth versus reality. This is going to be live very soon. Means, this myth is being spread, this is its reality. We will move ahead and educate you that this is its reality. And you should take a look at the social media as well. Means, the person who came shouldn't move ahead. There is also a huge fake market. I was thinking about it, so I wrote a few lines which I would like to tell you. There is a lot of traffic in the fake market. The traffic is very fast like a bull bull. If you catch a person, what will you get except cheating? Then you should stop him and see if he is able to move ahead or not. Now, friends, the last problem. During the elections, there is another big problem in front of us. And that problem is the lack of political discourse of the election process. As we call it, it is a plumping level of the political discourse. If we have given a strong advisory issue to all political parties, you will ask what will be the action after the advisory, I will answer you. We have given a final advisory issue in the last 11-12 elections. Actually, in the last 5 years, all the MCC violations have been going on. We have gathered it and given a final advisory before the 24th. So this is how we have set our grounds and what we have done in that, we have said, we are putting political parties on notice. Means, we have asked political parties to give copy of our guidelines to each star campaigner. All the big leaders of political parties are star campaigners who have taken our guidelines in their personal notice. We have given this responsibility to political parties. So now what is happening? We have put them on notice and we will presume knowledge of the guidelines. These are the two fundamental changes which we have made silently.  You left it at that. That was a moral sensor. Now we will go beyond. We will go beyond and here we have said we will also look at the past. We will also look at the history. We might look at a calibrated approach dealing with the MCC violations. Which may be. What type of MCC violations can be? I mean statements which should inspire rather than divide.  Private life's criticism is what is absolutely avoidable. People should be refraining from giving unverified and misleading advertisements. Or masquerading as an advertisement as a news. We have also issued advisory to the editors. In a big newspaper, it is said that it is a clear advertisement. Let it not pass through advertisement. We have issued these advisories. Now the time is during this election to go beyond advisories, take concrete action. For which in the advisories there are relevant sections of the acts which are also inbuilt. So notice is there, knowledge is there, sections are there. So please, our request is, keep campaigning. Please don't try to cross the red line. It is also important that in this digital world, whatever comes out of the mouth, the record has been created for 100 years. It keeps going on and on. So please avoid creating digital memory of bad words which are coming from your mouth. Please be civilized during the election, this is what is going on. Once there is a fight, the thread of love breaks. And when the thread of love breaks, it is very difficult. Raheem had said, don't break the thread of love. If it breaks, then it will break. So why do we have to break it? Let's campaign with love. Don't break the thread of love. Friends, we have taken steps to streamline the political parties and their activities. I am showing you the picture because we are ready in every field to see that how we would control this. Around 537 registered unrecognized political parties have been taken out of the political space. What did they do? They made a candidate stand in someone's name. They took the permission of cars and used someone else. They took entitlements of different types. They were cluttering the political space, crowding out the genuine persons. So that is what it has been done. All the financial accounts of political parties and all the contribution reports will come to us in a sub-digitized form. We have given them directions. It has started coming. So whatever is going on in the discussion of political finance is also going on in the background because commission always believes in the transparency and the political financing. Plumpting level, I have already said, we have also asked the political parties to be very, very respectful to the persons with disabilities in their discourse, not to use the abusive words, also to not use children at all during the campaigning. We are also giving advisories to political parties that have internal organizational structures within your party, within the parameters and in a right form. Friends, we are appointing 2,100 observers. I have told you everything. We will do all these things. We are appointing 200 observers. And this time we have given them special guidance. And we will see whether the level playing field is providing or not. Inducement and coercion, intimidation, free election, we will keep an eye on this specifically and we will report on it. The force that is going on in any country, its deployment is randomized. It is not that the force is not working or not working or it is sent somewhere else where there is no need. They will be randomizing the force. Entire election machinery will be randomized in the presence of the observers. Now, having done all this, what are the, as I told in the first slide, what are we expecting? How will our elections be? So, let me show you this. What is our effort? What is our endeavor as a last slide? Let me show you. There are reduced repulse. That is what we are endeavoring. Zero violence. That is what we are endeavoring. No inducements. FAKE NEWS. Campaigning, clutter, or badmijazi, or the participation of the people who were 67% participation reached more and more. With this, I would like to, in the end, appeal to the voters that elections belong to you. We have worked hard for two years. We will continue to do so. But, Damodar, Damodar is in your hands now. We are handing over the baton to you. Please come and vote. Politically, as many of our voters will go to do their elections. I would like to appeal from time to time. They must be listening somewhere. To provide a level playing field is their traditional religion. There is no doubt in this. Instructions have been given to them. If they do, they will be ruthless in dealing. Because the majority doesn't do that. If they do one or two, then we will not let our elections be cancelled. We will be ruthless. And lastly, my appeal to the political parties again. We are very committed for ethical political discourse. I would like parties to again appeal that please maintain do quorum in campaigning and refrain from abuses and personal attacks. Politics should be saved from personal attacks. Then I remember a poem by Badar. Enemies, enemies, but this is a crime. Enemies, but this is a crime. Whenever we become friends, then we are not ashamed. And nowadays, to become friends quickly and to become enemies quickly is a bit too much. So parties should at least say that they are enemies and then nothing can happen. With this, I would once again thank all the press media who have come here. Very sincerely, this is what I have seen in now three and a half years. You are our natural allies. You are eyes and ears. We do not have any criticism. We talk about ourselves. We can reach the voters through you. Please, reach the voters. All these slides, you will see on our website, download, use it in your stories. If you need anything else, then let us know. Now, I come to the schedule which you were waiting. And I hope, I hope I didn't delay it. I have not bored you by what I said. So now, we will be announcing schedule in three phases. There are 26 assembly constituencies in the country, where it is to be bifold. It is due. Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Tirupura, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Telangana, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu. In all these countries, it is due to all the vacancies by elections till today. We are completing the 26th and 26th so that there is no vacancy in our country. And it will be in the same phase in which the parliamentary election is taking place in that particular area. When it is taking place, I will show you in that phase. But all the 26 assembly constituencies will go to the bifold so that during the election itself we can complete this entire process. If you have noted it, now I come to the assembly elections. In four countries, assembly elections, as I told you, are ending in June. Sikkim, which on 2nd June, with 32 assembly seats, Ulissa, June 24, 24th June, with 147 assembly constituencies, Arunachal Pradesh. On 2nd June, with 60 assembly constituencies, Andhra Pradesh. On 11th June, 24th with 175 assembly constituencies, these are the simultaneous elections to the parliament. They will be held simultaneously. They will also be held in the same phase where the parliament elections will be held.  But in case of Andhra Pradesh, the date of issue of Guzzard notification would be 18th of April, 2024. A date of poll would be 13th May, 2024. After this, in Arunachal Pradesh, the date of the Guzzard notification would be 20th of March. And the date of poll would be 29th of April. 20th of March, the date of poll will be 29th of April. 29th of March, the date of poll will be 29th of April. 29th of March, the date of poll will be 29th of March, 19th of April. In Sikkim, also 20th of March, and 19th of April. The notification of 20th of March, 19th of April, the date of poll. Ulissa, the first notification of Ulissa, this will be conducted in phases. And the first phase would be on 20th of April, and date of poll would be 13th May. 5th phase may be 2nd phase of the assembly of Ulissa, 26th of April and 20th May. Then, 6th phase and 7th phase also, Ulissa would have the assembly elections. 6th phase being on 29th of April and 25th May elections. We are sharing all this to support it. Coming to the general elections to the Lok Sabha, which is the biggest of all. Biggest. 543 parliamentary constituencies of which 84 are reserved for SCs and 47 are reserved for STs. Parliamentary constituencies in Mahat Yohar before telling the schedule, all voters again with their hands together, Anurad Gujarish that please, please join for the voting. Come on the day of voting. Do come on the day of voting. Schedule of the Lok Sabha poll phase 1. We will do it in 7 phases as was done last time. 7 phases. Phase 1 will start from 20th March notification. 5 days from now. And last date of withdrawal would be 30th March and date of poll would be 19th of April. In this, we have to do phase 1 schedule twice a day. There is a festival for Bihar but last date of withdrawal we have to do it on 30th March on 2nd of April for the first phase of Bihar because there is a festival there. And on 19th of April there will be voting and in the entire country 4th of June there will be counting. So phase 1, this will look like this. We will provide this map to you now. This yellow portion so in this the map of phase 1 in this North East below Tamil Nadu Rajasthan in the centre Chhattisgarh Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand and on top of that the one parliamentary constituency of Jammu Kashmir. This yellow first phase there is a map in front of you. 2nd phase 2nd phase in the first phase 21 states will go to the poll. 2nd phase notification will start on 28th of March and date of poll will be 26th of April. Similarly here in case of JNK because of the some holiday the date of one day different date of security of nomination would be different but date of Gazette notification or date of poll would be common. Phase 1 21 states will go to polling and phase 2 from that more states will go to polling. So this is the map which would be phase 2 in which we in North East while completing in Tamil Nadu 2nd phase will also complete Rajasthan. Phase 3 would be from 12th of April and date of poll will be 7th of May. In this total 12 states will be going at that time and in this phase 3 new states will start choosing. So this is the map Rajasthan will be covered Tamil Nadu will be covered Kerala will be covered Gujarat will be covered North East will be fully covered and we will also connect 3 new states. In 4th phase 18th of April will be Gazette notification and date of polling would be 13th of May. Date of counting in the entire country would be 4th of June for all by-elections for the assembly elections for the parliamentary elections. Till this time Tillangana Andhra Ulissa would start and by that time other than that entire south India would be complete entire western India would be complete and in this phase 26th of April will start and till 20th of May date of poll will be between nomination, scrutiny and withdrawal counting of course is 4th of June it will look like this which is in front of you and in phase 5 49 constituencies will be going to the poll in phase 6 57 constituencies will go to the poll starting from the Gazette notification on 29th of April and finishing on 25th of May 2024 its map will look like this mostly UP Bihar Bengal Ulissa and some north portion will continue. Last phase, 7th phase location will be on 7th of May and polling on 1st of June the last polling would be on 1st of June and counting on 4th and in this phase Punjab, Haryana will also be included Bengal, Bihar, Ulissa this is how the map will look yellow denotes the first phase and accordingly the lesions are given also with you so that you can keep it with you as you can see we have also tried and if we give a full phase wise picture this is also a good snapshot in phase 1, 102 constituencies in phase 2, 89 in phase 3, 94 in phase 4, 96 49, 57, 57 so we will start with 102 the largest slowly come down and finish northeast move up from the south and finish the western area so in this weather and everything after thinking a lot this schedule has been made with this the single phase single poll date will be in 22 states 2 states will go to Charbar Karnataka, Rajasthan, Tirkura and Manipur in phase 3 2 will go to Chhattisgarh and Assam in phase 4, 3 will go Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand in phase 5 2 will go to Maharashtra and Jammu Kashmir, Jammu Kashmir for every parliamentary constituency and in phase 7, 3 will go Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal with this friends I end my address and thank you very much thank you sir for those detail remarks please hold on hold on so raise your hands stand up so we will start with you in the first row where are the micers now give them CC sir will take 4-5 questions at one time after that we will take the next person sir I am from Dubai from news nation sir my question is that you have made in 7 rows because the world's largest people's country is India opposition parties are accusing that what is the need in 7 rows and because of this power is beneficial and a small question sir is one more that you are giving the position along with the opposition you are giving the position through EVM so what will you answer you are wearing this light jacket in the centre just hold on sir my name is I would like to ask that you told me that you seized 35 crore rupees after that how many people political parties were involved and when the leaker was seized how many cases were registered the detailed election commission never shared with us this lady in the front or in the middle give them the micers give them give them please switch on your mic I am wondering how much money is being spent and in addition what is the biggest concern in terms of these elections the lady in the 4th row with the black dress give them the micers in the middle the lady in the middle give it to her yes switch on your mic you said in your speech introduce yourself I am Ashlyn Matthew national herald you said in your speech that there are there should be no hate speech there will be a calibrated approach to MCA code violations but there have been several complaints against the prime minister and Amit Shah but none of the ECA has not taken action against them but you have taken action against the opposition leaders so even if you take a calibrated approach so won't it be the opposition leaders who get picked up more who will get notice from you more than the ruling party leaders the gentleman in the 2nd row here please the mic is live hello sir Venkatram and from Dinamala from Tamil Nadu sir every election you are getting new experience regarding the control of money power how are you going to control the money power for example last election 2019 at Vilnur constituency the candidate Kadir Anand from his place close and close the rupees money has been recovered from it but what kind of action has been taken against him and he is going to be the future candidate from the same constituency let me first take the answers of these questions of the first round the first question was why is there an election in the 7th phase and the opposition party is aware that because of being in the 7th phase the level playing field gets disturbed and someone gets benefit once in the country when you look at the geography and the geographical situation you can see the river, the sea the mountains, the jungle the movement of security forces think about it they will be moving like within 3 to 4 days between the gap in the phases they will move they will walk length and breadth of the country how much pressure will be on them the whole process of election machinery exams, festivals holy, Ram Jhan Ram Nomi I don't know what festivals are in between when we sit on the calendar we fix one date and go to the other we fix the other and there is a problem we don't take any action to favour or to harm anyone we don't take any action if anyone has such a illusion then it is wrong we can talk about facts wherever as I said, every state has its own different in one state in the states there is a large number of parliamentary constituencies there are more contestations that is why they are together my friend from the Tamil Nadu has asked there is one but there is another challenge what he has talked about there is a challenge of money power in that particular state we are extremely careful if you learn it from the assembly elections which happened in another southern state recently we have been able to cure that menace of money power to a very large extent and we would control this please don't be worried similarly I will on the expenditure side take this question from BBC that how much we spend each candidate is allowed to spend in the parliamentary constituencies up to 80 lakhs up to limit and in the assembly up to 38 90 up to 90 lakhs and in the assembly up to 38 so if you combine amongst the candidate that is the upper limit which is the expenditure you have asked about ebms I have told you many times about ebms but you have again asked a question so in the country there is a debate which is important so I will tell you in detail I have told you many times about 40 times the constitution of this country high courts and supreme courts have seen the challenges on ebms what are the challenges it can be a hack it can be stolen there are 19 lakh missing it does not show it gets spoiled it can change the results it can be manipulated every time the supreme court has rejected it what has been said what has been said it can never have a virus no question of introducing a virus it can never have invalid votes it can never have a rigging it is impossible sometimes I said when there is section 61A in the RPAG which empowers the use of the ebms the time it does not finish the time to pick up the questions is wrong sometimes I said ebms are full proof devices for counting and allegations of tempering are baseless sometimes I said in return of 5 BBP we have started The Delhi High Court has said mischievous 10,000 rupees have been imposed, then the U.S. has imposed 50,000 rupees. Recently, the U.S. has finished a petition. How many times will we listen? Why do we have to do that again and again? Ask us something. There can't be a hack. There can't be any situation. And the results are the same. There is a lot of work to be done. Anyone can sit on social media with an EBM. He can sit with a Dibba. And a new trend has started. He becomes an expert. There are two experts on social media these days. They are degree experts. They tell you that this is a Dibba. It is like a toolbox. There is nothing in it. A slip comes out of it. It turns out that the slip changed. I pressed the button here. And it turned out wrong here. But what did you press? Did you tell anyone? What did you get out of it? Did you tell anyone? The Constitutional courts are saying, the more you ask us, the more we will take a question of it and put you in FAQs, from 100 plus questions. And the political parties have come into existence because of the EBMs. There are many smaller political parties which in the age of the ballot papers might have not come into the existence. It was the fairness and the political parties know in the heart of their hearts. All the EBMs are mocked three times. They are in front of the candidates. Still, if you have a book with you, we have also made a book with 40 legal cases. These are 40 cases on EBM. There is FAQ in it. You all take this book from us. There is FAQ in it. And there are flow charts in it. This is on our website. If you want to read a little, especially the experts, there are many experts here, in the world of the country. No one is stopped by anyone. We have also put a chart in it on how many times the EBMs that live in Satta have changed. I was also thinking about EBMs that they will definitely come.  Let me tell you again. Adhoori hasratu ka iljaam. Adhoori hasratu ka iljaam Har baar ham par lagana thik nahi. This is what EBMs say. I am not saying this. Adhoori hasratu ka iljaam har baar ham pe lagana thik nahi. Bafa khud se nahi huti khata EBM ki kaite ho. And later on when the results come out, they don't even stand on it. The results come from you. What is this? How many days? EBMs are 100% safe. 100% sure we know now. In the last two years, again, we have done a large number of improvements. EBMs number jobi kis budh pe jayi gi wo kandidate ko diya jayega. Isli isme koi problem nahi hai.  Yeh hi aap prashin basically puch na chare hain. Puch na nahi chare hain aarop lagare hain. Jis ka mujhe jawab aap ko dena chahaye. Correct. Very right. You have a right to ask. Aap pishle 8, 10, 11 elections ki sare aarop jitne hamare paas hain hain. Wo sabko ek baar padhiye. Sabko padhne ke baad jo humne diye hain. Usme jaha jaha koi bhi violation establish hota ho us notice ke baar jawab aane ke baad bhi humne asa nahi hain sab me karwai ki hain. We have very as I said they are kind of a moral censor which we have in the beginning issue. Aur jis kisi ke bhi khilap me, agar kahi bhi koi case baneega, how so ever high star campaigner he or she may be we will not sit back we will take action. Next. Sir, we will take some questions from that side. Yeah. Middle row. There are gentlemen holding it. Both his hands are moving. Yes, sir. Mic. Middle row. Yes. Ashi shu digital. You have just given it to him. Yeah. Please. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah Sir. Suril Prabhu, Suril Prabhu from NDTV just 2-3 2-3 points because you just now made comment that every EVM has a number. And your own commission I would ask for a totalizer. That totalizer has not happened because that you know if you wanted in the essence of free and fair election then you should not be identified. The others you said disclose disclose disclose. In the interest of the general public and now we can't get from Mr. Arun Goyal because he hasn't only cited personal reasons. In the best interest of the commission would you be able to disclose what exactly happened why did Mr. Arun Goyal who worked with you and sadly is not here today in this entire process. If you can come clean about what exactly happened and what were the differences that led to his sudden and abrupt exit. That's Ravi Tripathi, DD News. Go there. Sir, I am Ravi Tripathi from Zee News. My question is that the number of seats that you have given is 543 instead of 544 on the count. Why is that? This is information. And secondly, the question of the model code of conduct that a friend of ours repeatedly asks this question. So last time he gave the name that the model code of conduct in which you are soft against the model and you take more action against Rahul Gandhi. Why does this happen? Why do you think so? Yeah, gentlemen, next to you. Yeah. Sir, I am Neeraj from New Jet in India. Sir, first of all, I would like to thank you very much that you have become a complete team of both the candidates and we are getting to know each other through this big press conference. Sir, my name is Tia Nishok. I used to be a former editor of PTI. I also write a lot of political articles from New York. So I just wanted to know, I was just following the Federal Election Commission of the US which publishes on its website the amount of money raised by presidential candidates like say it has just come out only yesterday. Biden has raised about $106 million. Trump has raised $88 million. Nikki Haley has raised about $48 million and Vivek Ramsami has raised about $24 million. Is it possible for the Election Commission of India to publish such kind of details of not the candidates but the parties, how much have they raised for the 2024 elections? Yeah, thank you. Sir, you will take questions. No, let me answer these questions first. Very critical, very important questions what are in everybody's discussion during this time and it is necessary that one clears the stand on that.


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