tirupati l monday l july 08, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION Turnout in French elections highest in over four decades Voting began in mainland France on Sunday in pivotal runoff elections that could hand a historic victory to far-right or produce a hung Parliament Tactical move to stop the far right Opinion Polls predict hung parliament By Sunday 5 pm, some 61.4% of voters had turned out for the high-stakes poll —the highest number at that time since 1981. Far-right National Rally came on top in the first round of voting on June 30. However, since then many candidates from left and centrist parties have dropped out of the election to avoid splitting the vote against the National Rally | P9 ■ ■ The latest opinion polls forecast that the National Rally will fall short of the 289 seats needed for an outright majority in the 577seat French National Assembly, while still becoming the largest party This may allow Macron to possibly build a broad coalition against the National Rally. But it could also lead to political paralysis 50 Candidates reported being physically attacked while campaigning 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 Chandrachud-led bench to take up NEET pleas today Supreme Court to hear batch of 38 petitions, including those seeking fresh examination SUCHITRA KA LYA N MOHA N TY @ New Delhi A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, will on Monday hear a batch on the controversy-ridden medical entrance exam National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) , including those alleging irregularities and malpractices in the May 5 test and seeking a direction to conduct it afresh. According to the cause list for July 8 uploaded on the website of the apex court, the bench, also comprising Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, is scheduled to hear a total of 38 petitions related to the exam. These petitions have been filed separately by both students and various educational institutions. Among the pleas is one filed by a group of 20 students seeking direction to scrap the NEET-UG exam and a Supreme Court-monitored probe by the CBI or any other independent agency into the alleged irregularities in the test. The Supreme Court had earlier stayed proceedings on similar pleas filed by students and others in various high courts. The National Eligibility-cumEntrance Test-Undergraduate is conducted by the National Testing Agency for admissions to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH, and other related courses in government and private institutions across the country . The Centre and the NTA had filed separate affidavits in the SC, opposing the pleas seeking drastic steps. In its affidavit, the Union education ministry said the exam held on May 5 should not be cancelled as it would seriously jeopardise lakhs of honest candidates who attempted it. It added that it would not be rational to scrap the e n t i r e N EE T- U G exam in the absence of any proof of large-scale breach of confidentiality . The National Testing Agency , in its separate affidavit, reiterated the Centre’s stand and said, “The cancellation of the entire examination on the basis of the aforesaid factor, would be hugely counterproductive and significantly harmful to the larger public interest, especially to the career prospects of the qualified candidates.” Meanwhile, a group of students on Sunday staged a protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar against NEET irregularities. Free Sand Policy to come into effect today E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada The State government is all set to re-introduce the Free Sand Policy starting Monday . People will now be able to purchase sand from the reaches by paying only transportation and seigniorage charges. The TDP government had implemented the Free Sand Policy during its 2014-19 tenure. However, when the YSRC formed government in 2019, the policy was scrapped. During the previous government, people had to pay a heavy price on a per-tonne basis to procure sand. Mining Transportation cost & seigniorage fee Sand can be purchased from the reaches across the State by paying transportation and seigniorage charges. For first 10 days, the transactions will be offline, thereafter, the entire process will be online and sale of sand was entrusted to private companies, which used to pay `375 per tonne to the State government. This method made sand, an essential raw material for the building and construction sector, a premium 1 dead in stampede-like situation during Rath Yatra R a j k u m a r M o h a n t y @ Puri Chariot of Lord Jagannath being pulled on the first day of Rath Yatra in Puri, Odisha on Sunday | DEBADATTA MALLICK girl’s murder in anakapalle village A day after a 14-year-old girl was stabbed to death by a young man, it was revealed that the accused had been jailed under the POCSO Act for misconduct, involving the same girl | P3 Bhole Baba’s lawyer claims anti-social elements opened ‘poison cans’ at Hathras N AMITA B AJPAI @ Lucknow IN a new twist to the July 2 Hathras satsang stampede, the lawyer of ‘Bhole Baba’ Narayan Sakar Hari alias Suraj Pal on Sunday claimed that witnesses told him some people opened cans containing a poisonous substance in the crowd. This, he said, caused panic among the crowd and triggered the stampede that killed 121 people, mostly women. Talking to media persons in Delhi, lawyer A P Singh also alleged conspiracy and criminal acts by some anti-social elements, who were upset about Then there were four With the semi-finalists identified, a look at how things stand at the European Championships... Spain, the team to beat Spain have been the best team. Their new-age wingers “Lacine Yamal and Nico Williams” have also set the pulses racing three lions march on England have relied on individual brilliance to take them to another semifinal. It’s a 3rd semis across the last four major senior events for Gareth Southgate’s wards Semifinals Tuesday: Spain vs France Wednesday: Netherlands vs England the baba’s ‘rising popularity’. “I have been told by the witnesses that there were 15-16 people carrying cans of a poisonous substance which they opened in the crowd. I have seen post-mortem reports of the deceased showing asphyxiation as the main cause of death and not the injuries,” said Singh. In his first reaction to t h e t r a g e d y, U t t a r Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had said the conspiracy angle could not be ruled out. Singh said, “There were vehicles parked at the site to help the men, who had released poi- sonous substance, flee. We have proof and we will submit it.” The lawyer also said that he would demand security for the witnesses who reached out to him with the revelation. So far, nine persons, including key accused Devprakash Madhukar, have been arrested in connection with the Hathras stampede. On Saturday, Hathras police said it was also probing into the suspected funding of the congregation by a political party and warned of the “strictest possible” action against it. Bhole Baba was not mentioned as an accused in the FIR lodged at the local Sikandra Rao police station. Probe panel meets witnesses The 3-member judicial panel, formed by the Yogi Adityanath government to grill anyone, including Bhole Baba, for its probe interacted with locals, officials and witnesses of the tragedy on Sunday 9 trained elephants to protect Nallamala forest from intruders IV N P P r a s a d B a b u @ Ongole A herd of nine trained elephants will soon be deployed in the Nallamala reserve forest to protect the flora and fauna from external dangers. While the State Forest Department has made adequate arrangements to protect rare species of trees, wild animals and the ecosystem of the Nallamala forest from fire accidents, hunters and poachers by deploying a number of personnel, including rangers, striking forces and anti-poaching squads equipped with modern equipment, intruders often find news ways to carry out illegal activities. In this backdrop, the Nal- commodity With the present . government re-launching the Free Sand Policy, people are set to get sand at a much more economical price. As sand mining is not possible during the rainy season, sand available at the stockyards across the State is being provided to the people under the revised policy . The Mines Department has identified a stock of 43 lakh tonnes, while the demand for the next three months (up to September) is estimated to be 88 lakh tonnes. Cost of sand will vary between districts and sand reaches, depending on the distance from the sand reach to the stock point. “As distance between the sand reaches and the stockyard in NTR district is less in comparison to some other districts, sand would be cheaper here,” NTR district collector P4 G Srijana observed.  lamala forest officials have requested the Karnataka State Forest Department to send a herd of nine trained elephants to safeguard the interior parts of the reserve forest. It has been learnt that the Karnataka State forest officials have responded positively to the request. They have also agreed to provide mahout training to the forest personnel in Andhra Pradesh so that they can learn about the eating habits, habitation and movement of the elephants. They will also acquire skills to control the pachyderms in all situations. The Nallamala forest has been facing threats from hunters, poachers and smugglers.  P4 Enhanced security measures Officials are planning to deploy six jumbos in the Rajiv Gandhi Wildlife Reserve Forest Zone & another three in the Gundlabrahmeswaram forest area. This will enable better protection for the interiors of the Nallamala forest The first Rath Yatra under the newly-elected BJP government in Odisha started on a tragic note as a male devotee was killed and several others sustained injuries when a stampede-like situation arose during the pulling of the chariots of the Holy Trinity on Sunday evening. While the deceased has been identified as Lalit Bagarti of Saintala in Balangir district, the condition of one of the injured is said to be critical. The incident took place near the Hindi school, about 200 metres from Simhadwar of the Jagannath temple, when there was a mad rush to pull the Taladhwaja chariot of Lord Balabhadra — the first to roll. Eyewitnesses said, the tussle among the devotees to lay hands on the ropes and pull the chariot led to the situation. woman killed Sena leader held over son’s hit-and-run in Mumbai S u d h i r S u r a w a n s h i @ Mumbai A Shiv Sena leader was arrested on Sunday after a speeding luxury car, allegedly driven by his son, rammed a motorcycle killing a couple in the early hours of Sunday in Mumbai. A BMW sedan, allegedly driven by Mihir Shah, son of Rajesh Shah, rammed the twowheeler on which Kaveri Nakhawa and her husband Pradeep Nakhawa, both fisher folk, were traveling in Worli. Pradeep, who was riding the bike, said when the car dashed them, he lost balance and they fell on the car’s bonnet. The driver continued to drive, dragging his wife along, while Pradeep fell onto the road. Pradeep said Mihir was driving the vehicle and he pleaded with him to stop the vehicle, but he kept driving. “He continued to drive his car and dragged my wife. I tried to run after the vehicle ... then I took the help of a taxi. We chased the car for more than a kilometer, but could not find Kaveri. So, I decided to go to Worli police station, Pradeep said.