oz HAND ANOTHER HEARTBREAK TO iNDIA, WIN mEN’S u19 wc Months after the senior men’s team beat India to win the ODI World Cup, Australia did the same to secure their fourth U19 WC title. A look... MADURAI l Monday l February 12, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l LATE CITY EDITION beardman blows away defending champs While Australia batters posted a formidable 253/7 on board, it was bowlers who took away India’s dream. Pacer Mahli Beardman (3/15) ran through the top-order before off-spinner Raf MacMillan (3/43) completed the job for Australia as they bet India by 79 runs to clinch their fourth U19 Men’s World Cup title. dream shattered, but promise remains Going into the final as one of the unbeaten teams, the other one was Australia, there were high hopes on the Uday Saharan-led side to defend the title ■ However, despite the defeat, the likes of Musheer Khan, Sachin Dhas, Raj Limbani and Saharan have shown that there is no dearth of talent ■ Affordable air travel for all Modi Sarkar ki 1 crore 30 lakh Guarantee Hectic parleys in Pak as no wriggle room in final tally Pact emerging between Nawaz Sharif and Bilawal’s parties; all eyes on independents Express news service MAJOR political parties in Pakistan on Sunday intensified hectic backroom negotiations after the election commission released the final results of the February 8 general elections, confirming that no party can have a shot at power without the support of others. Out of the 265 contested seats in the 266-member National Assembly, the results of 264 were declared after an inexplicable delay of 60 hours. The result of one constituency was withheld following complaints of fraud, while election to another seat was postponed after the death of a candidate. The final tally gave independent candidates 101 seats, making them the single largest g ro u p. Pa k i s t a n M u s l i m League-Nawaz (PML-N) is technically the single largest part at 75, followed by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) of Bilawal Zardari Bhutto at 54, and the Karachi-based Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P) at 17. Of the 101 independents who emerged victorious, 93 are reportedly associated with jailed former PM Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). According to reports in Pakistan media, PML-N and PPP, have in-principle agreed to come together to “save the country from political instability”. Senior leadership of PML-N and PPP reportedly met in Lahore’s Bilawal House and decided on political cooperation. MQM-P is already on board. But their tally at 146 is way short of the required number, which leaves the door open for smaller parties and independents. To form government, a party must win 133 seats out of 265 contested seats in the National Assembly. Overall, 169 seats are needed to secure a simple majority out of total 336 seats, which include reserved slots for women and minorities that will be allocated based on proportional representation. The drama is still unfolding in the coup-prone country as courts are flooded with complaints of poll rigging. Minister rejects charge of bus shortage at KCBT Boy electrocuted while playing basketball Chennai: Transport Minister S S Sivasankar has dismissed reports of shortage of TNSTC and SETC buses at Kilambakkam bus terminus (KCBT) on Friday and Saturday. Fifty buses were additionally deployed to handle sudden surge of commuters, he said. About 1.07 lakh people travelled by government buses from KCBT on Saturday, the state transport department said | P4 Chennai: A 12-year-old boy playing at YMCA basketball court in Chennai after school hours on Saturday died after he stepped on an electrical cable near the court. Riyan Adhav was a Class 6 student of a private school. His parents are senior doctors in a private hospital. Adhav’s body was handed over to his parents after postmortem at Royapettah Government Hospital Ujwal jalali & jitendra c h o u b e y @ New Delhi As the farmers from neighbouring states are expected to enter the national capital after on February 13 following their proposed ‘Delhi Chalo March’, the police has strengthened it’s security arrangements across all border areas and imposed prohibitory orders under section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure in northeast Delhi. Several farmers associations, mostly from Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab, have called for a protest on February 13 to demand a law guaranteeing Minimum Support Price, one of the conditions they had set when they agreed to withdraw their agitation in 2021. Fearing that this protest could turn into an untoward incident, the police in the national capital are on high alert and have activated all its sources to prevent the farmers from entering the city . “Information has been received that some farmer or- ganizations have given a call to their supporters to march to Delhi on February 13 for their demands of law on MSP . They are likely to sit at the border of Delhi till their demands are met,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (northeast) Joy Tirkey said in an official order. He said that keeping in view the “kind of behavior and adamant approach” farmers have shown during the protests in the past, there is a possibility of mobilization, activities of farmers, supporters from their respective districts to Delhi along with Tractor, Trolleys and Arms. As per the order, gathering of the general public at all borders is prohibited. BOW-ING TO WOO HEARTS Prime Minister Narendra Modi being presented a bow and arrow by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav during the Janjatiya Sammelan in Jhabua on Sunday | PTI MLAs return to Patna for trust vote RAMASHAN K AR @ Patna SUMIT RUN NAGAL CLINCHES CHENNAI OPEN TITLE Sumit Nagal beat Luca Nardi 6-1, 6-4 to win the Chennai Open — he did so without dropping a set. With this, he is set to enter top100 for the 1st time in his career Bihar legislators, who were corralled by their respective parties, have started returning to Patna to cast their votes on Monday’s trust vote being faced by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar–this time for the NDA. Congress MLAs have returned from Hyderabad and are believed to be taken to RJD leader Tejaswi Yadav’s house where he had gathered his legislators for the last two days. BJP MLAs, who were gathered in Bodh Gaya for a two-day training workshop, returned to the state capital. Nitish needs the support of at least 122 legislators to win the trust vote. On paper, he has support of 128 MLAs of JD(U), BJP and Jitan Ram Manjhi and one independent in the 243-member assembly . BJP leader Haribhushan Thakur exuded confidence that they will win the floor test comfortably and said that the new government will complete its BJP national president JP Nadda on Sunday accused the DMK government of ‘lacking wisdom’ and said the party does not have the basic respect for democracy. He lashed out at the INDIA bloc as a combination of parties that stood for ‘family politics’ and ‘corruption’. Addressing a public meeting in Chennai after participating in BJP state president K Annamalai’s ‘En Mann, En Makkal’ yatra, Nadda said, “When I came here, the markets were shut, streetlights were put off, huge police platoons were deployed which made me remember the Emergency days. I would like to say Mr Stalin (Chief Minister and DMK president), days are not far when you will be out (of power).” The BJP chief also alleged that the police made traders shut down markets and bazaars and none were allowed to venture out. “Is this democracy? Is this the tradition of Tamil Nadu? When these things are not the tradition of Tamil Nadu, such leaders BJP national president JP Nadda speaks at a public meeting at Mint Street in Chennai on Sunday | SHIBA PRASAD SAHU should not be there in power to represent the state as CM,” Nadda said. He accused the police of trying to create hurdles for Annamalai’s rally . Addressing the gathering, Nadda said the DMK, according to him, stands for “Dynasty, Money Swindling, Kattapanchayat” (kangaroo court). The BJP chief claimed Tamil Nadu has a very special place in the hearts of BJP leaders in general and the heart of Prime Minister Modi in particular.  Continued on: p5 Madras univ stares at power cut as I-T puts bank a/cs on hold B i n i ta J a i s w a l @ Chennai The University of Madras may face a complete blackout on Monday without power supply if it fails to pay its electricity bill due of `80 lakh by that date by clearing the hold placed on its 37 bank accounts by the I-T department. The income tax department has put a hold on the bank accounts over alleged nonpayment of `424 crore tax dues. As per rules, if an institution receives more than 51% of its revenue as grants from state or central Scan for more information Delhi border security tightened as farmers plan protest on Feb 13 EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Chennai Express read UDAN scheme Hamara Sankalp Viksit Bharat INDIA bloc is to promote family parties, graft: Nadda PTI supporters block Peshawar to Islambad highway as they protest against the alleged skewing in Pakistan’s national election results, in Peshawar on Sunday | afp cbc 22201/13/0246/2324 cbc 22201/13/0263/2324 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 government, it is treated as a government institution and is exempted from paying income tax. However, due to thousands of audit objections, the university has not received grants from the Tamil Nadu government since 2017. Because of this, the I-T department is considering the university as a private institution and has levied a tax of `424 crore on it from 201718 to 2020-21. “We spoke to income tax officials but they are asking us to deposit at least `20 crore immediately to remove the hold on bank accounts. We are not in a position to do that,” an official of the university told TNIE on Sunday . “After our 37 bank accounts were put on hold by the I-T department, over a dozen cheques issued by the university over the last three days under different heads have bounced. If we don’t pay the electricity bills by Monday, our power lines may be disconnected. Our classrooms and hostels could turn dark and we may not even be able to carry our routine work,” university sources said. Apart from employees and pensioners, whose salaries and pension payments are under threat, students will be adversely affected as the university will not be able to clear the fellowship and scholarships dues.  Continued on: p5 full term. The Opposition grand alliance has a total of 114 MLAs in its favour-eight short of the majority mark of 122. The grand alliance includes RJD, Congress, Left parties. According to the Vidhan Sabha secretariat, the noconfidence motion against the Speaker will be taken up immediately after the governor’s address to members of the bicameral legislature on the inaugural day of the budget session. cAPF exams in local languages New Delhi: The Ministry of Home Affairs will conduct constable examination for recruitment in CRPF, BSF and CISF in 13 regional languages in addition to Hindi and English from now, The examination are being held from February 10 to March 7, according to the release full report: p7