WE’VE 97 CR VOTERS, HIGHEST IN THE WORLD: EC CRORE Male voters HYDERABAD SATURDAY FEBRUARY 10, 2024 `9.00 PAGES 18 LATE CITY EDITION 48,044 Third gender voters 47.15 CRORE Female voters PEOPLE WITH DISABILITY: 88.35 LAKH 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 49.72 1.5 CR 1.56 CR 1.24 CR 1.34 CR 1.32 CR 1.85 CR First time voters in the 18-19 age group About 96.88 crore people have registered to vote in the LS elections, making it the largest electorate in the world 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 PV, CHARAN, MSS ADDED TO THE BHARAT RATNA BASKET Buzz on Badal, Biju Other names that are doing the rounds for the Bharat Ratna are Bal Thackeray, Biju Patnaik, Anna Hazare, Manmohan Singh, Parkash Singh Badal and N T Rama Rao. “Don’t be surprised if Amitabh Bachchan gets the award. Ramanand Sagar and Arun Govil (Rama-yan serial) also deserve it,” remarked a BJP functionary RAJESH KUMAR THAKUR @ New Delhi PV Narasimha Rao Charan Singh MS Swaminathan THE season for Bharat Ratna, the country’s highest civilian award, appears to be in full bloom with the Centre on Friday adding three more distinguished personalities to the list — former prime ministers P V Narasimha Rao and Chaudhary Charan Singh, and celebrated agricultural scientist Dr M S Swaminathan. The year began with veteran Bihar socialist leader and former chief minister Karpoori Thakur being conferred the award (posthumously), followed by BJP veteran and former deputy prime minister L K Advani. The awards came ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, and the payback was already visible with Charan Singh’s grandson Jayant Singh indicating his Rashtriya Lok Dal could switch from the opposition INDIA bloc to the NDA. By adding Rao to the list, the BJP possibly hopes to wrest the legacy of the leader the Congress almost disowned in the Telugu heartland. Announcing the awards on his X handle, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “Delighted to share that our former Prime Minister Shri PV Narasimha Rao Garu, will be honoured with the Bharat Ratna. As a distinguished scholar and statesman, Narasimha Rao Garu served India extensively in various capacities.” Rao was the country’s first and only fullterm Pm from the South. In the next post, Modi announced the Bharat Ratna for Jat icon and former PM Charan Singh. Jayant Singh has the ability to swing Jat votes in western UP . Modi’s third post announced the award for Dr Swaminathan. Both Rao and Swaminathan hail from the South, where except for Karnataka the BJP is yet to make its mark in electoral politics. In all, 53 stalwarts have been honoured with the Bharat Ratna so far. INSIDE PV’S VILLAGE VANGARA BURSTS INTO CELEBRATIONS | P2 Delighted to share that our former Prime Minister, Shri PV Narasimha Rao Garu, will be honoured with the Bharat Ratna. As a distinguished scholar and statesman, he served India extensively in various capacities. His visionary leadership was instrumental in making India economically advanced We welcome the announcement of Bharat Ratna for PV Narasimha Rao. Though long delayed, it is a matter of pride that PV is honoured with India’s highest civilian award. Best wishes to PV family members on behalf of the Assembly and Telangana people Thanks to Hon’ble PM Sri @narendramodi ji for conferring the nation’s highest award, Bharat Ratna, on former PM Sri PV Narasimha Rao garu. The people of Telangana rejoice in the decision of PM Narendra Modi ji Narendra Modi, prime minister A Revanth Reddy, chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, BRS president PAK STARES AT HUNG HOUSE AS IMRAN LOYALISTS WIN BIG Y E S H I S E L I @ New Delhi PAKISTAN appeared headed towards a hung Parliament with no clear winner in the general elections after results of 226 out of the 265 seats contested were called on Friday night. With the delayed results still trickling in more than 24 hours after the close of the polls marred by allegations of rigging, independent candidates backed by jailed former Pak PM Imran Khan’s party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) seemed to have an edge with 92 seats, followed by Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) and Pakistan People’s Party contenders at 64 and 50, respectively Smaller . parties bagged 20 seats. PTI supporters protest in Quetta alleging rigging in elections | AFP As of now, no party seems to be in a position to form government on its own as they are way short of the magic number of 133. Overall, 169 seats are needed to secure a simple majority out of a total of 336 in the National Assembly (lower House), which include reserved slots for women and minorities. Former PM Nawaz Sharif, who was widely considered the top contender for the top job, said his party PML-N is the single largest and hence will try to form a coalition government with the support of other parties. PTI chairman Barrister Gohar Khan has ruled out forging any alliance with the PPP and PML-N, claiming the Imran Khan-founded party will be in a position to form a federal government on its own. He claimed the party’s tally has crossed 150 though the full results haven’t come. Imran Khan, 71, is behind bars and barred from contesting. PTI candidates ran as independents after they were not allowed to use the party symbol cricket bat. 5 DEAD, 250 INJURED IN UTTARAKHAND VIOLENCE, CM CALLS IT PLANNED ATTACK | P9 IAS officer named in Balakrishna’s confession? E N S @ Hyderabad THE ACB, which is probing the alleged illegal assets of former H M DA d i r e c t o r S h iv a Balakrishna, has submitted his confession statement in court. As per reports, the probe revealed details of a `1 crore bribe received by a special chief secretary from Balakrishna to give clearance to a disputed land at Narsingi. However, this could not be independently confirmed by TNIE as ACB officials refused to comment when contacted. The bureaucrat too remained tight-lipped. The statement also reportedly identified other land deals that Balakrishna was allegedly directed to make by the IAS officer. The ACB is analysing the call data records (CDRs) to check his conversations and chats with the IAS officer. Revanth dares KCR to visit Medigadda with him EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE KCR should come forward for a full debate on Krishna waters on February 12. The government will arrange an official trip for all the 119 MLAs and 40 MLCs to the Medigadda project site to show its condition @ Hyderabad CHIEF Minister A Revanth Reddy on Friday demanded that Opposition leader and former CM K Chandrasekhar Rao take part in the debate on Krishna waters on February 12 in the Legislative Assembly and also join the official visit to the Medigadda barrage. “KCR should come forward for a full debate on Krishna waters on February 12. The government will arrange an official trip for all the 119 MLAs A Revanth Reddy, Chief Minister and 40 MLCs to the Medigadda project site to show its condition. KCR, who claimed to have put himself on the brink of death for the cause of a separate state and our waters, should attend this. The Speak- er sir should ensure his presence,” Revanth said while speaking during the debate on motion of thanks to the Governor’s address in the state Legislative Assembly . Accusing KCR and former minister T Harish Rao of handing over Krishna river projects to the KRMB and agreeing for 299 tmcft as Telangana’s share, he said that a decree of death was made against the people of Telangana during the BRS regime. He sought to know why BRS wants to stage a protest in Nalgonda if it is against the Centre’s attempts to take away Krishna projects. “Is Prime Minister Narendra Modi sitting in Nalgonda? Go and sit on hunger strike in Delhi,” he said. CONTINUED ON P4
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