POPULAR VOTE POPULAR VOTE 72,211,950 68,727,256 JOE BIDEN DONALD TRUMP Electoral college votes 214 264 Electoral college votes COUNTING DOWN TO THE WIRE IN THESE 4 STATES Results from these battleground states will decide who will be the next President of the United States. As of now, Joe Biden has an upper hand KALABURAGI  FRIDAY  NOVEMBER 06, 2020  `7.00  PAGES 28  CITY EDITION NEVADA BIDEN WIN JUST A STATE AWAY THE race to 270 electoral college votes to claim the White House appeared within reach of Democrat Joe Biden on Thursday as he needed to bag just one of the four battleground states where the outcome is yet to be called. Biden already has 264 in the bag, in contrast to President Donald Trump’s 214. Trump needs to claim all four battleground states of Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia and Nevada to race from behind and touch 270. But his lead was narrowing in Georgia with more postal ballots getting counted. In Pennsylvania, more than seven lakh mail-in ballots are yet to be tabulated. And Biden is leading in Nevada. In another swing state of Arizona, whose result has already been called in Biden’s favour, Trump narrowed the gap to 3.4%as more votes were counted. With his hold on the Oval Office slipping, a nervous Trump tweeted: “Stop the count!” He was referring to the absentee ballots, most of which are perceived to be Democrat leaning. His campaign team launched a spate of legal challenges in Pennsylvania, SC stays US court order against ISRO in Devas case THE Supreme Court has stayed the execution of an award passed by a US court asking Antrix Corporation, the commercial arm of ISRO, to pay compensation of $1.2 billion to Devas Multimedia, a Bengaluru-based startup, for cancelling a 2005 satellite deal. A bench headed by Chief Justice of India S A Bobde stayed the execution of the international award, which was passed last week by the US court. The bench said it is keeping the US order in abeyance and transferred the proceedings from a Bengaluru court to the Delhi High Court. A US district court had ordered Antrix to compensate Devas to the extent of $562.5 million, coupled with the interest, with the total damages coming to about $1.2 billion. Devas Multimedia had filed a case against Antrix for damages it suffered owing to the cancellation of the agreement to use two satellites (GSAT-6 and GSAT-6A) for highspeed beaming of video content on mobile devices on the S-band spectrum in February 2011. The two firms had entered into an agreement in 2005. Devas was promoted by a few former employees of ISRO. The then UPA government cancelled the controversial contract in February 2011, invoking sovereignty, and decided to use the advanced satellites (GSAT-6 and GSAT-6A) for the country’s strategic use. After 2011, Devas moved legal avenues in India, including the SC, which directed setting up of a tribunal. INDIA SLAMS PAK ON KARTARPUR India on Thursday called as “highly condemnable” the decision by Pakistan to transfer management of Kartarpur Sahib gurudwara from a Sikh body to a separate trust. “blue wall” battlegrounds of Wisconsin and Michigan, which Trump had flipped in 2016. However, two days after election day there was still no clarity , on when the final winner would be determined. The record turnout is tied to the pandemic, as postel ballots were aggressively pushed to ensure personal distancing. Yet, the nation saw a new high of 1.03 lakh cases in a day . Amid all the tension, Trump loyalists staged protests in Detroit and Phoenix, while antiTrump protesters elsewhere demanded full count of the ballots. ■ Electoral votes: 15 Vote counted: 94% Donald Trump 2,732,084 (50.1%) Joe Biden 2,655,383 (48.7%) ■ Electoral votes: 16 Vote counted: 99% Donald Trump 2,434,354 (49.5%) Joe Biden 2,419,589 (49.2%) ■ ■ As of 10.00 pm Thursday ‘VOTER FRAUD CLAIMS BASELESS’ US President Donald Trump’s claims of voter fraud are baseless, according to international observers. Observers from the Organization for Security and co-operation in Europe, of which the US is a member, said the November 3 general elections were competitive OVER DOZEN INDIAN AMERICANS WIN ALASKA Electoral votes: 3 ■ Vote counted: 50% Donald Trump 118,602 (62.1%) Joe Biden 63,992 (33.5%) ■ More than a dozen Indian Americans, including five women, have won state-level elections. This is in addition to the four Indian Americans elected to the US House of Representatives. At least three other races, including one for the US House of Representatives, are yet undecided | P9 Demonstrators attend a rally to support all votes being counted one day after Election Day, in Washington | AP V I N C E N T D ’ S O U Z A @ Mangaluru CM B S Yediyurappa at the BJP core committe meeting in Mangaluru. 3 NAMES SHOTLISTED FOR RAJYA SABHA The core committee also shortlisted three aspirants for the Rajya Sabha seat that fell vacant after the death of Ashok Gasthi. The election will be held on December 1. Limbavali said a total of 11 aspirants’ names came up for discussion. He, however, refused to divulge the names. CHIEF Minister B S Yediyurappa on Thursday announced that his government will enact a stringent law to end religious conversion for the sake of marriage and added that they will not wait to see how other states react to the issue. This marks a major shift, as earlier, the Karnataka government had stated that it will study the laws proposed in this regard by the Madhya Pradesh and the Uttar Pradesh governments before taking a call on it. The Allahabad High Court, in a recent ruling, had observed that conversion just for the sake of marriage is not valid. Speaking after inaugurating the BJP state executive committee meeting here, the CM said his government will not tolerate conversions by ‘luring people in the name of love’. However, he avoided using the term ‘love jihad’. But even as BJP-ruled states are mulling such laws, the term ‘love jihad’ does not exist, according to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. In February, Union Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy had said in Parliament, “The term ‘love jihad’ is not defined under the extant laws.” Political analysts also point to an earlier Supreme Court judgment that any conversion CBI arrests former minister in Dharwad BJP leader’s murder case M A L L I K A R J U N H I R E M AT H @ Dharwad THE Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday arrested Congress leader and fo r m e r m i n i s t e r Vi n ay Kulkarni in connection with the 2016 murder of BJP zilla panchayat member Yogishgouda Goudar. He was sent to judicial custody for a day and was shifted to Hindalga Central Prison in Belagavi on Thursday night. Before formally arresting Vinay, CBI sleuths questioned him for nearly 11 hours. According to Hindalga prison superintendent Krishna Kumar, Vinay Kulkarni will be lodged in the prison on Friday and his inquiry is likely to take place through video-conference. Vinay was arrested just a day before his birthday. The CBI team arrived at his Jayanagar residence here around 6 am to detain him for questioning. While he went to the police station in his own vehicle, his brother Vijay Kulkarni was also asked to join the inquiry The investigating offic. ers also called two other businessmen, Sri Patil and Rupain, for inquiry, but the two were done out of fraud, allurement or personal gain is not valid, and have questioned the need for a separate law. The BJP core committee also decided to recommend to the State Government to bring in stringent law to ban ‘love jihad’. Briefing reporters about the core committee’s decisions, party state vice-president and core committee member Aravind Limbavali said they were unanimous on the decision. State minister and party’s national general secretary C T Ravi, who spoke to reporters, also stressed the need for such a law and added that many aggrieved families are contacting him with their grievances. P4 COVID VACCINE Thousands of health facilities yet to give data on frontline staff RA N JA N I M A D H AVA N @ Bengaluru Vinay Kulkarni, who has been arrested in a murder case, being taken away by the police in Dharwad on Wednesday | EXPRESS NO POLITICS BEHIND ARREST, SAYS CM Mangaluru: Denying any politics behind Vinay Kulkarni’s arrest, CM B S Yediyurappa said the CBI has arrested him based on strong evidence. State BJP chief Nalin Kumar Kateel too denied any foul play. released by afternoon. Vijay was released before Vinay was taken to the district hospital for medical tests. Later, Vinay was taken to the district and session court, where Judge Panchakshari M remanded him to judicial custody for a day and ordered that he be sent to Hindalga jail. BJP zilla panchayat member Yogishgouda Goudar was hacked to death of a group of men in front of his gymnasium here on June 15, 2016, in what was widely believed to be a case of political rivalry . Ever since the State Government recommended a CBI probe into the case in September 2019, the central agency has arrested eight people, of whom seven are in judicial custody. The CBI also questioned top police officials who were in charge at that time and persons close to Vinay in, P4 cluding his brother. WHILE there may be hope of an early vaccine for Covid-19 on the one hand, the state Health Department is facing a challenge on the other — getting details of health care workers from small private clinics in Bengaluru, as there are too many of them. The frontline Covid-19 warriors are to be the first to be vaccinated against the dreaded virus. There are 5,100 private medical institutions in Bengaluru Urban district registered under Karnataka Private Medical Establishments Act. Of these, only 850 have so far submitted details in the format prescribed by the government. This was revealed at a meeting with the Bengaluru Urban Deputy Commissioner G N Shivamurthy and the Health Department on Thursday. The details need to be sent to the Union Government for vaccination on priority . CONTINUED ON : P3 Belagavi-born Shri Thanedar elected to Michigan legislature HE may not be as famous as Kamala Harris, who is running for US Vice President, and traces her roots to neighbouring Tamil Nadu. But this Belagaviborn man’s is a unique rags to riches story . He arrived in the US in 1979 with nothing but a small blue suitcase in hand and $20 in his pocket. But today, Shri Thanedar, 65, an Indian-origin Democrat millionaire entrepreneur, has been elected to the House of Representatives in Michigan, USA, with 93% votes. Electoral votes: 20 ■ Vote counted: 87% Donald Trump 3,225,536 (50.4%) Joe Biden 3,100,662 (48.4%) GEORGIA AMERICAN DREAM N A U S H A D B I J A P U R @ Belagavi ■ Nitish plays emotional State will enact law to end conversion for marriage: CM card saying it’s his last SATELLITE DEAL EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi Michigan and Georgia and sought recount in Wisconsin. As for Biden, there was a spring in his step. “I will govern as an American president. “There will be no red states and blue states when we win. Just the United States of America,” he said. Biden has received over 72 million votes, the most in US history At . last count, Trump was trailing Biden by over 4 million popular votes. The overall voter turnout in the presidential election was projected to be the highest in 120 years at 66.9%. Biden got booster shots from NORTH CAROLINA ■ Electoral votes: 6 ■ Vote counted: 75% Joe Biden 588,252 (49.3%) Donald Trump 580,605 (48.7%) The fight for a second term gets tougher for Trump as absentee ballots are eating into his leads in battleground states, sending his team into a nervous frenzy to file lawsuits and seek recount EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE PENNSYLVANIA ■ 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 ■ Shri’s story began halfway around the world in Mirapur Galli, Shahpur, in Belagavi city . Growing up as one of six children in a low-income family he , was taught about the importance of education and the need for financial independence. Re calli n g h i s c h i l d h o o d d ay s , T hanedar shared some nuggets in his personal website during his recent election campaign. He said, “My father was a clerk in a government office. Our large family struggled to make ends meet on his meagre salary .” In 1969, his father lost his job and the family fell on harder times. At age 14, he worked as a part-time janitor while attending school to help put food on his family’s table, according to the website. His father was a very kind man, but was unable to find a job. Times were tough, and unemployment was high. He was devastated by the financial prob- lems, but his mother (mama) stood strong and even pawned her jewellery so they could pay for medicine, groceries and bills. His mother always made sure they stretched and shared what they had and taught them to make the best of each challenge they faced. Like his nobody to millionaire story his educational jour, ney too was incredible. Shri Thanedar, who scored a meagre 55% marks in SSLC, which he did from Chintamanrao High School, Shahpur, went on to obtain a Ph.D. In between, he got a job at the age of 18 in the State Bank of India in Bijapur to help his family . But he did not forget the importance of education. He writes in his biography that at the age of 24, he finished his bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from Karnatak University and later Master’s degree in Chemistry from Bombay University . He then arrived in America in 1979 to obtain his Ph.D in polymer chemistry from the University of Akron (1982) after receiving a Masters Degree at the University of Bombay (1977). poll, RJD reads defeat R A J E S H K U M A R T H A K U R @ Patna SLIP of tongue or the emotional card, either way this is a make-or-break election for Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who rather unexpectedly declared on Thursday that this would be his last polls. Turning 70 in a few months, age is not really on his side, even by the norm in politics where no one really retires. But aware that he will be close to 75 when the elections are next held in the state, it is crucial that Nitish wins in the face of a stiff challenge from the Rashtriya Janata Dal’s 31-year-old Tejashwi Yadav. Campaigning in Purnea district on the last day of electioneering, Nitish made an emotional appeal to the people, asking them to vote for his party’s sitting MLA as this was his last election. “Day after tomorrow is voting day and this is my last election. All is well that ends well. Will you vote for my party candidate?” he asked dramatically, setting tongues wagging in Bihar and beyond. Most political parties down- played the remarks, including Nitish’s own, the Janata Dal (United). Senior party spokesperson Ajay Alok rubbished the interpretation that Kumar was retiring from politics. “Nitish Kumar will head the state as the CM with the people’s mandate,” he said. Its ally the Bharatiya Jana, ta Party, also dismissed any such speculation. “He has not announced that he is quitting politics. The people will not allow him to go out because Bihar needs him,” BJP leader Prem Ranjan Patel said. The RJD took a dig at the CM, saying that Nitish had played the emotional card as he had sensed that he was losing. CONTINUED ON: P8 EXPRESS READ Arnab’s arrest prima facie ‘illegal’: Court Mumbai: A court at Alibaug, while refusing to remand Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami in police custody, on Thursday observed that his arrest and that of two others “appears to be prima facie illegal”. Saudi’s PIF invests D9,555 cr in RRVL New Delhi: Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd (RRVL) on Thursday raised D9,555 crore from Public Investment Fund (PIF) of Saudi Arabia, taking the total fundraise in the last two months to D47,265 crore. PIF will take a 2.04 pc stake. 3-month DL suspension for flouting traffic rules P R E E J A P R A S A D @ Bengaluru STARTING Thursday in Bengaluru, and in other parts of the state in the coming days, motorists will face a minimum three-month suspension of their driver’s licence (DL) if found driving or riding without driving licence (DL), Pollution Under Control certificate, or riding without helmet. This will also apply to those whose vehicles have loud horns, maxi cabs and contract carriages without permits, or carrying excess goods. Autorickshaw drivers found overcharging customers too will have their DLs suspended. This stringent action has been planned by the Transport Department, which has formed 10 special squads in Bengaluru, where the drive has been undertaken from Thursday It will be extended . across the state soon. Discussions are on to set up similar squads in other cities and districts for initiating stringent action against motorists violating traffic rules and laws under the Motor Vehicles Act (MVA). An internal notification was issued on November 4 for the special teams to report violations to the Regional Transport Offices (RTOs) for suspension of licences of P5 violators. newindianexpress.com A 16-PAGE MARKETING SUPPLEMENT WITH THIS ISSUE