RSP all set to sweep Nepal polls as counting reaches final stage As of Sunday evening, the Rashtriya Swatantra Party (RSP) won 122 of 165 seats and was leading in six others, Nepal’s Election Commission said counting for 159 seats completed 24,55,764 kollaml monday l march 09, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION History makers at home s w a r o o p s w a m inat h an @ Ahmedabad At long last, glory and a batting spectacle. Release. An outpouring of love from over a lakh of people, most of them dressed in various hues of India blue. In the scene of their greatest defeat, one of their biggest wins. The scars of November 19 (loss to Australia in ODI World Cup final) will remain but March 8 will bring with it the necessary balm to tide over the ghost of that horror. The stadium, gateway to India’s biggest sporting project, can heal. The T20 World Cup will stay with them. For the tens of thousands who were part of the imposing circular Blue Wall from as early as 4.30 PM, this was a memory for a lifetime. Even as Suryakumar Yadav & Co. took turns to hold aloft the shiny 6kg mostly silver trophy deep into the Ahmedabad night, nobody was prepared to go home. Board exams be damned, a new work week could wait. Sleep was set aside for a few hours to watch their favourite sporting team create history . No side had ever won this title at home. No team had ever defended this title. Nobody had won it thrice. India took a sledgehammer to history. That’s how you create a new sporting identity Not by winning it . once but doing it again and again. India players celebrate after winning the T20 World Cup in Ahmedabad on Sunday I debadatta mallick It’s why Australia have an aura about them. It’s why Brazil are football’s aristocrats. It’s the only path towards invincibility. You can be good, but to be truly immortal, you need to make winning your only calling card. And they did everything in their power. Eighteen months of preparation was followed by trips to temples, delaying a training session as it collided with a lunar eclipse during Iran picks new Supreme Leader as war deepens US-Israel strikes hit oil infra in Tehran; Iran targets Kuwait, Bahrain facilities A G E N C I E S @ Tehran, Tel Aviv, Dubai IRAN’s Assembly of Experts tasked with appointing the next Supreme Leader reportedly arrived at a majority decision on Sunday but stopped short of nam, ing him. The 88-member clerical body has sought some time to remove “some obstacles” before annoucing the name. Khamenei’s son Mojtaba is billed to be the frontrunner to succeed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, killed over a week ago in the strikes that triggered the war between Iran and Israel-US. The development came on a day when US-Israeli air strikes destroyed fuel dumps and triggered fires that choked much of Tehran in a thick blanket of smoke. In response, Iran struck Gulf infrastructure, hitting fuel tanks at Kuwait’s international airport and hit a desalination plant in Bahrain with the war reaching its second week. The war, which Israel and US launched on February 28, has so far claimed at least 1,230 lives in Iran, 397 in Lebanon including 83 kids, 11 in Israel, and six US soldiers. The impact of the conflict is no longer limited to West Asia as it has rattled global markets, oil indices and disrupted air travel. If the war continues for long, it could impact energy prices worldwide. In India, cooking gas prices Israel-US hit Iran’s oil well A thick plume of smoke rose from an oil well hit by a US-Israeli strikes in Tehran Sunday. Israel said it struck “a number of fuel storage facilities in Tehran” used “to operate military infrastructure” have already gone up. With the joint US-Israeli strikes continuing on Tehran, Iran’s president Masoud Pezeshkian vowed to expand attacks on US targets across the Gulf. “The more pressure they impose on us, the stronger our response will naturally be,” Pezeshkian said. Neighbouring countries have borne much of Tehran’s brunt, with 16 people killed in the Gulf states since the war began, according to an AFP tally .Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait all reported new attacks on Sunday . their World Cup campaign. There was even an apocryphal story about changing hotels. And it was apt that Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan and Abhishek Sharma, the three musketeers who had been identified to redefine the art of batting in this format, took them there. They have shown the limits of what’s possible in this format. Needing 255, it was too much for the P11 Kiwis.  State eyes Maha firm tie-up for local antivenom U nni k r is h nan @T’Puram Moving ahead with its plan to tackle cases of snakebites, which claimed 18 lives in 2025-26, the state government is exploring a partnership with Bharat Serums and Vaccines Ltd (BSV), a Mumbai-based biopharmaceutical firm, to develop polyvalent anti-snake venom (ASV) tailored to species found in Kerala. Under it, BSV would help establish a venom collection centre at the Thrissur Zoological Park in Puthur and provide technical expertise in venom extraction, storage and transportation. The initiative is part of the government’s push to create indigenous ASV which experts believe will be , more effective against snakes found in Kerala. At present, antivenom supplied from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka is not fully effective here due to geographical and climatic variations. “In our preliminary discussions, BSV expressed interest in using venom collected here to prepare antivenom specifically for Kerala,” said assistant conservator of forest Y Muhammad Anwar. Kerala reports up to 45,000 cases of snakebites a year, with about 30% of them involving venomous snakes. Of these, roughly 335 cases are attributed to hump-nosed pit viper bites, which are difficult to treat as existing antivenom remains ineffective even at high doses.  ● More on P4 e x p r e ss r e a d Satheesan skips Cong meet T’Puram: In a sign of widening rift within the Congress in the wake of the Puthuyuga Yatra, Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan stayed away from the crucial steering committee meeting convened on Sunday to discuss the party’s list of candidates | P4 MHA asks West Bengal chief secretary to explain lapses during Prez Murmu visit S U BH E N D U M A I T I & PA R V E Z S U LTA N @ Kolkata / New Delhi THE Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Sunday sought a detailed report from the West Bengal government over the alleged protocol violation and lapses during President Droupadi Murmu’s visit to the state on Saturday to attend the International Santal Conference in Darjeeling district. Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan directed West Bengal Chief Secretary Nandini Chakraboty to explain the alleged lapses in security protocol, venue arrangements, and travel route during the President’s programme. Sources said the MHA also wanted to know the reason behind the failure the chief minister, chief secretary, and DGP to receive the President upon her arrival, which is a g ross violation of protocol. The conference was held at a ground near the Bagdogra airport in Gosainpur, instead of the planned venue in Bidhannagar. Speaking at the event, on Saturday, Murmu had publicly expressed displeasure over the low turnout, attributing it to the change of venue, and noted the absence of the CM and her ministers. In her response, Banerjee accused the President of playing politics at the best of the BJP ahead of the state polls. On Sunday, PM Narendra Modi tore into the Trinamool Congress (TMC) saying the “enlightened people” of West Bengal would never forgive the party for “insulting” the President, who is a woman and a tribal. “The dirty politics and arrogance of power of the TMC, which has gravely insulted a tribal President, will soon be shattered... The country will not forgive them, the tribal community will not pardon them, and the women of the nation will not forgive them.” won by RSP in proportional voting system As per the latest update, the Nepali Congress (NC) is a distant second with 17 seats, while the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) led by K P Sharma Oli has won eight seats, and the Nepal Communist Party has secured three seats. As per an official update on Sunday evening, the counting was completed in at least 159 seats | P9 CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI ■ ■