Evening Pulse: Mevani now faces two FIRs on the eve of Gandhinagar's count

Since this morning, the one police case against Jignesh Mevani has become two, and the Vadgam MLA has made clear he will not back down. Gandhinagar's ballots stay sealed until Tuesday, so Monday's politics happened in police stations and press statements. In Ahmedabad, the search for a ten-year-old girl who fell into a sewer line went on with no good news.

The second FIR was filed at Gandhinagar's Sector-7 police station, Sandesh, TV9 Gujarati and ETV Bharat Gujarat reported. It names Mevani, Sakir Rathod, Nasir alias Pintu Memon and about seven unidentified people. The complaint says they forced their way into the Sector-13 police chowki while officers were questioning Munaf Pathan, a supporter of Ward 4 Congress candidate Yunus Parmar. It accuses them of obstructing police, using abusive language, defying a prohibitory order and campaigning after the campaign period had ended. DYSP I R Desai told ETV Bharat that both complaints were under investigation. No arrest had been reported by this evening.

This morning's Pethapur FIR also came into sharper focus. IANS said police confirmed on Monday that no one had been arrested. ANI and ETV Bharat place the disputed police-station visit on 9 October, while IANS says Parmar was called in over an 8 October incident. Readers should treat the exact date as unsettled. ANI also pointed to the background. On 5 October, Mevani and Gujarat Congress chief Amit Chavda staged a sit-in at Sector-21 police station. They demanded a case against BJP leader Dhaval Dave over alleged obscene posts about Mevani's sister. ANI did not report any response from Dave.

Mevani answered on Monday evening. Speaking to Aaj Tak, he called the cases "a medal" for him. He said he did not fear the police or the government and would keep raising his voice wherever he saw wrongdoing. Police say the FIRs rest on what happened inside their stations. The BJP had not commented publicly in any report we found.

Counting for the Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation, Okha and Thara municipalities, and the municipal and panchayat bypolls takes place on Tuesday. DeshGujarat reported that 130 candidates contested GMC's 44 seats across 11 wards, and that the BJP, Congress and AAP were the main contenders. Okha had 75 candidates for 32 seats and Thara 59 for 24. Pulse makes no prediction.

In Ahmedabad, the girl who fell into the main drainage line near Pirana on Saturday had still not been found after more than 48 hours, ETV Bharat Gujarat reported on Monday afternoon. Morning reports in Gujarat Samachar and Sandesh had put the search at 30 hours. Fire teams led by officer Abhishek Tomar are opening manholes and cleaning the line, because gas and chemical-laden water make it too dangerous to enter. The channel said the drainage map had arrived late. That raises questions about coordination between AMC departments. We found no report of a formal AMC inquiry or of any statement from opposition parties.

On a brighter note, Union Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya opened the one-day BRICS Traditional and Indigenous Demonstration Games at Naranpura's Veer Savarkar Sports Complex, with Deputy Chief Minister Harsh Sanghavi present, PTI and IANS reported. Mandaviya proposed a voluntary BRICS repository of traditional sports, expert exchanges and regular demonstrations at future BRICS events. He also cited a Khelo India commitment of about USD 3.76 billion. Mallakhamb shared the stage with capoeira, wushu and Iran's zoorkhaneh.

On the governance front, a release reported by ANI and DeshGujarat said an EPC contract has been awarded for a Rs 159.50 crore barrage on the Daman-Ganga near Namdha village in Vapi taluka. It is meant to store 5.49 million cubic metres, irrigate about 549 hectares and supply drinking water to about 2.3 lakh people in Vapi.

In Delhi, the INDIA bloc held its march over the electoral roll revision, ANI reported. Neither that report nor any other we checked named a Gujarat Congress or AAP leader taking part.