tirupati l thursday l november 05, 2020 l `7.00 l PAGES 12 l anantapur EDITION NGT widens the ambit of cracker pollution cases The National Green Tribunal on Wednesday issued notices to 18 states, expanding the ambit of such cases beyond the NCR Notices sent to tn, andhra, telangana May prohibit crackers in some cities The green panel has sought response from Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttarakhand and West Bengal. Notices were already issued to Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh ■ ■ A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel noted that Odisha and Rajasthan have already issued a notification prohibiting the sale and use of firecrackers The tribunal said it may prohibit the use of firecrackers in cities where air quality is generally beyond permissible limits Nov 7-30 dELHI, rAJASTHAN, hARYANA AND u.p. TOLD TO BAN CRACKERS IN THIS PERIOD CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ WARANGAL ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI JOE BIDEN 238 DONALD TRUMP Electoral college votes Electoral college votes 70,024,012 votes 67,306,775 votes 213 270 TO WIN U.S. race Too tight to call Trump prematurely claims victory, wants to stop all voting, threatens to approach SC; Biden projected to win more popular votes than any president in American history; four Indian American Democrats re-elected to the House JOE BIDEN E x p r ess Ne w s S e r v i c e The race for the White House between Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger Joe Biden was on the razor’s edge on Tuesday with the nervous president prematurely claiming victory demanding a halt to all , voting and threatening to go to the Supreme Court. Trump’s diatribe was tied to the understanding that most of the mailin ballots would go to Biden. “We won’t rest until every vote is counted,” Biden shot back, adding it is for the voters to decide the outcome and not the contestants. His campaign said their legal teams were on stand-by to resist Trump’s attempt to go to the court to stop tabulating the ballots. With millions of votes still to be counted, the battle had essentially boiling down to a handful of swing states. While Trump won Florida — closing his challenger’s path to an early victory — and was leading in Pennsylvania and Michigan, Biden managed to flip Arizona, a state that has supported a Democratic presidential candidate only once in the last 72 years. Biden was also leading in battleground states like Michigan and Wisconsin. Officials in Pennsylvania said they expect all votes to be counted by Friday. The Biden camp believes that will give them an edge, while the Trump No live telecast of hearing on capital shifting E x p r ess Ne w s S e r v i c e @ Vijayawada The Andhra Pradesh High Court has stated that there will be no live telecast of the final hearing on petitions pertaining to the AP Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of All Regions Act, 2020 and the Capital Region Development Authority (Repeal) Act, 2020. Hearing a petition filed by Vemuri Leela Krishna, a law student of Vijayawada, seeking directions to the High Court Registrar General to formulate guidelines for the live telecast of the final hearing on the petitions pertaining to shifting of the State capital from Amaravati as part of the three-capital proposal of the government, the Division Bench of Justices Rakesh Kumar and Umadevi on Wednesday said the High Courts of some States had dismissed similar petitions seeking the live telecast of court proceedings cases earlier.  P4 People gather in Black Lives Matter Plaza near White House in Washington on Tuesday, on Election Day | AP campaign fears that there could be electoral malpractice during the counting of votes. Trump himself articulated the fear, calling the election “a fraud on the American public”. “This is a major fraud on our nation. We want law to be used in a proper manner. So we’ll be going to the US Supreme Court,” he said. The delay in counting the postal ballots means the final outcome may not be known for days, if not weeks. Amid the cliff-hanger, there was something to cheer about as all four Democratic IndianAmerican lawmakers — Dr Ami Bera, Pramila Jayapal, Ro Khanna and Raja Krishnamoorthi — were re-elected to House of Representatives. Also called the Samosa caucus, the informal grouping of Indian-American lawmakers could have at least one more member as physician Dr Hiral Tipirneni was leading against Republican incumbent David Schweikert from the sixth Congressional district of Arizona. Also, filmmaker Mira Nair’s son Zohran Kwame Mamdani won the election for New York State Assembly . As for the House of Representatives, Democrats appeared to extend control over it for two more years but with a shrunken majority, as at least seven incumbents lost their seats. The race for Senate control was tight though analysts expected Republicans to edge ahead.  Full coverage P9 TTD to close sri BHU Varaha Swamy temple from Dec 10 E x p r ess Ne w s S e r v i c e Key questions Who all are in the race? While Donald Trump and Joe Biden are fighting presidential polls, polling has also happened for 35 Senate, 11 gubernatorial and 435 congressional seats Who is ahead in the popular vote count? Biden is. By over 1.5% Why are popular votes not the barometer of victory? Because the US president is elected by an electoral college, not the majority vote count. Trump in 2016 was declared elected as he had more electoral college votes than challenger Hillary, who won more popular votes than him How does electoral college work? Each state has a fixed number of electoral votes. The party that wins a state pockets all its electoral votes. So, the trick lies in winning states with large electoral votes. In 2016, Trump secured 304 electoral votes as against Hillary’s 227 IN PROGRESS What is the half-way mark? It’s 270 as the total electoral vote count is 538 Why is the counting getting delayed? Because mass postal ballots were allowed due to Covid. While states like Florida counted them as they arrived before election day, others chose to begin counting only after all votes had been polled. The volume of postal ballots is huge. In some states, only mail-in ballots were allowed Why is Trump hassled by postal ballots? Because most of them are Democrat leaning. The majority of in-person votes went to Trump What about the House of Representatives and Senate races? The House appears set to stay with Democrats. But its drive to capture the Senate may fall short daily rituals are performed to the presiding deity in the sanctum sanctorum due to the temple closure, a wooden replica of the Mula Virat is installed in Mukha Mandapam to enable devotees to have darshan of the Lord. The TTD will spend `14 crore for the gold plating of the temple dome. The sanctum sanctorum of Sri Bhu Varaha Swamy temple will also be gold plated. The TTD has also decided to open the Srivari Mettu route to Tirumala on Friday . E x p r ess Ne w s S e r v i c e @ Vijayawada The winter session of the State Assembly is likely to be held in the third week of this month. The session will be of at least 10 days and it is likely to be stormy with both the ruling YSRC and opposition TDP set to attack each other. The State Cabinet meet on Thursday, will take a call on the dates of convening the Assembly session and it will meet after Deepavali, sources said. “The Assembly session will be convened in the third week and it will sit for at least 10 days,” a senior minister said. Asked about the likely agenda of the Assembly session, he said pressing issues like the ongoing tussle between the government and the judiciary in the State and the Polavaram project issue will take the centrestage. “The issue (confrontation between the government and the High Court) will be discussed on the floor of the Assembly The government wants . to put its views on record and the message will reach the masses,” sources said, adding that the proceedings of the Assembly cannot come under the scrutiny of the judiciary giving immunity to government. It may be recalled that Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy dashed off a letter to Chief Justice of India (CJI) SA Bobde apprising him of the recent happenings in the Andhra Pradesh High Court and the alleged intervention of sit- Huge outrage as Arnab arrested in 2018 case of abetting suicide E x p r ess Ne w s S e r v i c e @ Mumbai @ Tirumala Darshan of Sri Bhu Varaha Swamy at Tirumala will be suspended for six months from December 10 with the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) finally approving the much-awaited gold plating works of the temple. A decision in this regard was taken at a meeting of TTD officials held in Ann a m a y y a B h av a n o n Wednesday . According to TTD Additional EO AV Dharma Reddy, Balalayam will be constructed from December 6 to 10 and Ankurarpanam for it will be performed on December 5. According to Agama traditions, Balalayam is constructed at any temple for renovation of sanctum sanctorum, which is also know as ‘Jeernodharana’. As no DONALD TRUMP Winter session of Assembly likely in 3rd week of Nov THE Maharashtra Police on Wednesday arrested Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami for allegedly abetting the suicide of a 53-year-old interior designer, Anvay Naik, in Raigad in 2018. Goswami was produced before the magistrate court in Alibaug where he alleged the police physically assaulted him. Following this, the court ordered a medical examination on him at the civil hospital. Goswami, along with two others, has been booked under Sections 306 (abetment of suicide), and 34 of the IPC. Earlier, there was high drama at the Goswami’s residence in Mumbai when Raigad police turned up to arrest him. The journalist fired a volley of questions at the police team and reportedly argued with them. Following this, he was forcibly taken into custody . Arnab Goswami arrives in a police van to be produced in Alibaug court | Pti Later, the Mumbai police also registered an FIR against Arnab, his wife and son on charges of obstructing and intimidating a police officer on duty . According to police, the latest action is in response to a complaint by Naik’s wife Akshata demanding inquiry and action against Goswami. She had raised the complaint in 2018 but the case was closed under the previous BJP-led government. According to the complaint, Naik carried out interior design work for Republic TV’s studio in Mumbai for `5.40 crore. However, the money was not allegedly paid. The arrest evoked sharp criticism from journalists and political circles. Home minister Amit Shah tweeted, “Congress and its allies have shamed democracy once again. Blatant misuse of state power against Republic TV and Arnab Goswami is an attack on individual freedom and the fourth pillar of democracy It reminds us of . the Emergency This attack on . the free press must be and WILL BE OPPOSED.”  Extremely distressing: Editors’ guild The Editors Guild of India condemned the arrest, calling it “extremely distressing”. It also urged Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to ensure that Goswami is treated fairly and state power is not used against critical reporting by the media Maintenance SC closes erring spouses’ escape route to bypass paying alimony K a n u S a r d a @ New Delhi in a big relief to women, the Supreme Court has issued detailed guidelines tightening the rules regarding maintenance in matrimonial cases. Now, both spouses will have to disclose their income and assets from the date the maintenance application is filed. Also, those who fail to pay maintenance could be arrested and jailed. “Maintenance laws have been enacted as a measure of social justice to provide recourse to dependant wives and children for their financial support, so as to prevent them from falling into destitution and vagrancy,” the judgment read. A bench of justices Indu Malhotra and Subash Reddy also laid down several criteria that must be considered while calculating the quantum of maintenance. The court had taken up the issue while hearing a case where a plea for maintenance filed by a woman had remained pending for more than seven years in various courts, while the husband had stopped paying even interim maintenance for the wife and child. Guidelines stated that detailed affidavits disclosing all sources of income, assets and liabilities must be filed by both parties - the claimant must file all details along with the application for maintenance, while the respondent must file their details within four weeks. The Delhi High Court is already implementing these set of measures as and when the mainte- nance petition is filed. The court also took note of that in many cases, husbands refuse to pay alimony amount by disposing of assets and claiming reduced income. “If false statements and misrepresentations are made, the Court may consider initiation of perjury proceedings and for contempt of Court,” said the Continued on P7 bench.  Pressing issues set to take centrestage Pressing issues like the ongoing tussle between the government and the judiciary in the State and the Polavaram revised cost estimates are likely to take the centrestage. The YSRC may bank on its welfare schemes, while the TDP is set to target government over attacks on Dalits, sand and liquor policy, sources said ting Supreme Court Judge NV Ramana to protect the interests of TDP and its chief N Chandrababu Naidu. By discussing the issue threadbare, the government wants to send the message clear and loud, the sources said. Another issue the YSRC government will take up is the Polavaram project and how the previous government failed to include the Land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement (LARR) in the irrigation component to be funded by the Centre. The project hit the headlines once again with the Centre not accepting to the revised cost estimates of `55,448 crore approved by the CWC at 2017-18 price level, but to the `20,398 crore at 2013-14 price level. Both YSRC and TDP are blaming each other for it. Hathras case SIT report raps police for midnight cremation E x p r ess Ne w s S e r v i c e @ Lucknow the Special Investigation Team (SIT) set up by the Uttar Pradesh government to probe Hathras rape and murder case, especially the role of the district police, submitted its findings to authorities concer ned after a month of investigation. Notably, a 19-year-old girl was allegedly raped by four youths who tried to kill her in her native Boolgarhi village of Hathras on September 14. After battling for life for a fortnight, the victim succumbed to injuries sustained in her neck and spine during the incident at Safdurjung hospital on September 29. The role of the police came under scanner after they rushed to cremate the victim’s body at 2:45 am on September 30 allegedly against the wish of the family . The three-member team headed by Principal Secretary, Home, Bhagwan Swaroop, has reportedly questioned the rush to cremate the body of the victim in the dead of night in the final report s u b m i t t e d t o t h e S t at e government. It may be recalled that while SIT was investigating the incident, the State government had recommended the CBI probe into the case owing to nationwide outrage over the incident. The CBI is probing the case under the monitoring of Allahabad High Court.