March 19

…the political parties/candidates are advised that their campaigners/candidates should desist, as part of their election campaigning, from indulging in any political propaganda involving activities of the Defence forces

Election Commission of India

April 4

I wish to ask you, my first-time voters, can you dedicate your first vote to the valiant soldiers who carried out the air strike in Pakistan’s Balakot? I wish to ask my first-time voters, can you dedicate your first vote to the brave martyrs of Pulwama?

Narendra Modi in Ausa, Latur district, Maharashtra. Ausa falls in the Osmanabad Lok Sabha constituency

April 9

CPM complains to EC

April 12

Congress complains to EC

May 1

The matter has been examined in detail in accordance with the extant advisories, provisions of the Model Code of Conduct and after examination of complete transcript of speech of 11 pages as per the certified copy sent by the Returning Officer, Osmanabad Parliamentary Constituency. Commission is of the considered view that in this matter no such violation of the extant advisories/provisions is attracted

The Election Commission of India

Clean chit carbon copy

On Thursday, the Election Commission ruled on another complaint against Modi for asking a campaign rally whether “we have kept our nuclear button for Diwali”. No prizes for guessing the EC’s decision: “Commission is of the considered view that in this matter no such violation of the extant advisories/provisions is attracted.” The commission also cleared Rahul Gandhi for calling Amit Shah a “murder accused”.

Now we know where they are

A model of the Three Wise Monkeys, embodying the principle “see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil”, was said to be one of the few possessions of Mahatma Gandhi, who believed in speaking, hearing and seeing nothing but the truth. Originally called Mizaru, Kikazaru and Iwazaru in Japanese, the monkeys were Bapu, Ketan and Bandar for the Mahatma

YETI UPDATE: The mama bear and baby bear theory or are the footprints leading to the yeti inside all of us?

After the Indian Army announced the sighting of a yeti’s 32-inch footprints, a Nepal Army spokesperson told a newspaper that “we tried to ascertain the fact, but locals and porters claimed that it is the footprints of wild bear that frequently appear in that area”. Daniel C. Taylor, the author of Yeti: The Ecology of a Mystery, told The New York Times on Tuesday: Either there is a population of dinosaur-size creatures roaming the mountains of Nepal, or the footprints were created by a bear and its cub. But a bear’s paw is not necessarily that long, so how to explain these prints? “The front foot of the mama bear goes down and the back foot goes down so you have an overprint,” Taylor said. The footprint becomes 32 inches long “when a baby cub hops behind the mother”. The cub hopping behind the mother, combined with the snow slightly melting around the edges of the print, could very clearly create a 32-inch-long print. Still, that does not mean yetis do not exist. Taylor refers to three types: One, the legend (very much like Santa Claus); two, “the yeti that lives inside of people” (fuelled by humans’ need to be closer to nature); and three, the yeti that actually made the footprints (the mama bear and her cub, according to Taylor). The Times report concludes: Perhaps the most likely possibility? That the footprints lead to the yeti inside of everyone.