BHUBANESWAR l thursday l november 06, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l LATE CITY EDITION Pant checks in, shami ignored for tests against South Africa Rishabh Pant made comeback into India’s Test squad for two-match series against SA. However, Mohammed Shami has been ignored once again Rishabh Pant Delhi keeper-batter passes fitness test akash deep in, prasidh krishna out India’s wicketkeeper batter Pant was an automatic choice after recovering from a foot fracture sustained during the fourth Test against England in Manchester in July. He missed the West Indies series but led India A team against South Africa A. Shami, who has had a creditable Ranji campaign as of now, has been overlooked again ■ ■ Pacer Akash Deep Singh recovered from shoulder injury and has been picked but Prasidh Krishna’s name has been dropped India’s pace attack features Jasprit Bumrah and Mohd Siraj while the spin will be led by veteran Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav and all-rounder Washington Sundar. Shubman Gill is captain | P11 Two India will play two tests against SA in Kolkata, GUwahatI 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 Americans of Indian origin make major political gains Mamdani first Indian-American and Muslim to be elected New York mayor H a r p r e e t B a j w a @ Chandigarh All set Ghazala Hashmi Security personnel carrying election materials ahead of the first phase of Bihar polls, in Muzaffarpur on Wednesday | PTI Stillness of the discerning in Bihar B ihar has never been short of noise. Certainly not when it mattered. Its politics has marched through history with a daring swagger — JP’s call that shook New Delhi, Mandal’s churn that redrafted power, the long years of Lalu raj that jolted the old order. Even the subtler Nitish era made bold strokes on the canvas, turning India’s polity yet again with the caste census narrative and grand alliance politics. Yet this election arrives on soft feet. On November 5, the campaign for the first stretch of 121 constituencies is winding down, and the battle for the remaining 122 — those border districts where sentiment often travels across rivers and frontiers — will begin soon. And through it all, there hangs a curious quiet. Whether in Nitish Kumar’s native Bakhtiyarpur, or hamlets like Gauspur and Chitapur fringing Patna, whether in Dalit ‘tolas’ where caste is still geo-tagged or along the mobile 100-km sweep to Gaya on NH-22, out in villages like Barachati and Tekari near where a legend named Dashrath Manjhi once moved mountains, the stillness is audible. Even in places like Mokama where bullets flew the other day or Barh, , which saw fisticuffs after this writer left, the action is all on one slim band where politics does its business. The people santwana seem unmoved. Almost cold. bhattacharya This is not indifference. It is Editor an extended pause — a thinking state, perhaps it’s the hush of crores of people thinking harder. The old Bihar election grammar is still here: the woven caste alliances, the search for the right symbol atop the right community the deft stitch, ing of booth workers and social equations. But listen closely, and the dialogues are shifting pitch. It is no longer enough to promise representation; people want opportunity Bihar’s young . — impatient, painfully aware of the ticket-to-life stamped “migration” that’s been their lot for years, and now uniformly literate about the ways of the world beyond their panchayat WhatsApp group — are asking sharper questions. Identity of the other sort has not dissolved; only its fabric has thinned in the face of this new common identity, an identity of experience. Numbers are never incidental here. OBCs and EBCs together form roughly two-thirds of Bihar — a demographic truth that still underwrites strategy Yadavs remain the single biggest OBC . bloc, Kurmis and Kushwahas count in pockets where one village’s mood can bend a seat, Dalits and Mahadalits together hold a weight politicians can never ignore, and the elite castes — though numerically modest — continue to influence candidate choice and the political discourse, Continued on: P8 particularly in the plains.  Aftab Pureval Indian roots Ghazala Hashmi, L-G-elect Virginia was born in Hyderabad. Aftab Pureval is the son of a Punjabi father and a Tibetan mother In an extraordinary moment for diversity in American politics, three Indian-origin Americans carved history across key states signalling a possible new era in the United States. Zohran Mamdani became the first Indian-American and Muslim to be elected Mayor of New York City, Ghazala Hashmi was chosen as Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, and Aftab Pureval secured a second term as Mayor of Cincinnati. Together, their victories mark a milestone in the growing political influence of South Asian Americans. At just 34, Zohran Kwame Mamdani’s stunning win has made him New York City’s youngest mayor in over a 100 years and the first of Indian heritage to hold the post. Running as a Democratic Socialist, Mamdani triumphed over two formidable opponents, former governor Andrew Cuomo, contesting as an independent with the backing of President Donald Trump, and Republican Curtis Sliwa. With 83% of votes counted, Mamdani secured Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani (2nd from right), with wife Rama Duwaji (2nd from left), father Mahmood Mamdani and mother Mira Nair in New York on Tuesday | AP 948,202 votes (50.6%), while Cuomo managed 776,547 (41.3%). The city saw a record turnout of nearly two million votes, the highest since 1969. Born in Kampala, Uganda, Mamdani moved to New York at the age of seven. His mother, acclaimed filmmaker Mira Nair, and father, Columbia University scholar Mahmood Mamdani, have long been symbols of cultural and intellectual achievement. In his victory speech, Mam- dani called his win a “mandate for change,” thanking his parents and wife, Syrian-American artist Rama Duwaji. His campaign, which resonated with young and workingclass voters, centered on reducing living costs, expanding housing, and improving public transport—a continuation of his progressive record as a Queens assemblyman, where he introduced a pilot programme for free city buses. Continued on: P9  BJP ‘stole’ Haryana poll with 25 lakh fake votes, Bihar next target: Rahul PREETHA NAIR @ New Delhi Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday accused the Election Commission of India of colluding with the BJP to ‘steal’ the 2024 Haryana elections in the saffron party’s favour and claimed the same sinister plan will be used in Bihar to ensure the BJP’s victory . Addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters here on Wednesday, the Congress leader alleged that 25 lakh votes were ‘stolen’ in Haryana through 5.21 lakh duplicate votes, 93,174 invalid addresses, and 19.26 lakh bulk voters. Haryana has a total of two crore voters. “I am confident that after the Bihar poll, we will make a presentation that the same thing happened in Bihar,” he said, adding political parties are unable to check the ‘vote theft’ as they are provided with the voter list at the last moment. “We have crystal-clear proof that 25 SIR: Integrity of lakh voters in Haryana are fake, that they poll main issue either don’t exist, are duplicates, or were On INDIA bloc’s designed in a way that allows anybody to strategy to protest vote. One in eight voters in Haryana is fake, that’s 12.5%,” he said. To substanti- against SIR, Rahul said the “integrity of the ate his claim, he cited the example of a election” is the woman who appeared 223 times on the fundamental issue voter list. He also showed the photo of another woman, which he claimed was a Brazilian, saying it appeared 22 times under different names in 10 booths. “This is proof of a centralised operation. What is a Brazilian person doing on the voters’ list in Haryana?” he asked. Responding to the allegations, Election Commission officials said the vote manipulation charge is unfounded as no appeals were filed against Haryana electoral rolls, nor was any multiple voting flagged when it allegedly happened. Cuttack to get `200 cr Mahanadi Riverfront plan: CM at Balijatra E x p r e ss N e w s S e r v i c e @ Cuttack National pride Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets the victorious ICC Women’s World Cup team in New Delhi on Wednesday | PTI Devotees’ rush for Panchuka leaves Trinity sleep-deprived for 3 days D i a n a S a h u @ Bhubaneswar At the Shree Jagannath temple, the holy Trinity has not had any rest as the deities’ ‘Pahuda Niti’ could not be conducted for the last three nights, thanks to a huge rush of pilgrims and rituals associated with the specific days. Servitors of the 12th century shrine attributed it to the large number of devotees congregating outside the Lions’ Gate to offer prayers amidst Panchuka nitis (rituals) of the deities. With the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) focusing on smooth darshan of the Trinity for all devotees, the temple gates have been kept open througho u t t h e n i g h t t o a l l ow darshan. During the last five days of Kartika month, the ritual of offering ‘Bala Bhoga’ to the Trinity after the ‘Sakhala Dhupa’ begins along with different Beshas (attires). This year with Panchuka being reduced to four days, the Trinity was adorned in four Beshas on each day at the Srimandir. They are Lakshmi Narayan Besha, Tribikram Besha, Lakshmi Nrusingha Besha and Rajarajeswara or Rajadhiraj Besha. On Sunday, the first day of Panchuka (Bada Ekadashi), the occasion coincided with Hari Uthapana rituals, Bala Bhoga and Lakshmi Narayan Besha. “Both the Besha and Bala Bhoga ritual require three to four hours. During this period, temple gates are closed for devotees. Besides, there were many other rituals on the day which required the darshan to be stopped for brief periods. With a large number of devotees waiting to have darshan, Pahuda had to be skipped. Our focus was to ensure that no devotee returns home without darshan of the Trinity,” said collector Dibya Jyoti Parida. Continued on P5 Announcing grand plans for Cuttack, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Wednesday said a provision of `200 crore has been made for beautification of Mahanadi river bank under the Mahanadi Riverfront Scheme. Inaugurating the Balijatra 2025, the chief minister said the state government is making all out efforts to get the UNESCO World Heritage Site tag for the historic Balijatra. Since the Centre has already listed it as a national cultural heritage, it would help secure the UNESCO recognition, he added. Addressing a massive gathering, Majhi said Mahanadi riverfront development will include tourism promotion and beautification work. In the first phase, work along 3.5 km stretch of the Balijatra ground will be taken up at a cost of `38 crore. Stating that Balijatra is a living memory of the courage, determination and maritime trade culture of Odia people, the chief minister announced a grant of `10 crore for the historic event starting this year against the earlier assistance of `2 crore. He declared that Cuttack will be turned into a Tarakashi (filigree works) hub. Speaking at length about the maritime development plans, Majhi said the state government has a `21,500 crore plan for the development of Bahuda port which will be the second largest in Odisha after Paradip. There is a plan to set up a ship building and repair centre at Mahanadi estuary near Paradip at a cost of `24,700 crore, he said. “If Maharashtra is the western gateway of India, Odisha will emerge as the eastern gateway to the country . We have the blessings of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and will continue to work relentlessly to realise this dream,” Majhi said. On the occasion, he felicitated Indonesian Ambassador Ina H Krishnamurti and gave away prizes and trophies worth `1 lakh to the students of Adamba Mohan Subudhi College for the play Kala Nandini and distributed books to the children to encourage promotion of language and literature. Minister for Odia Language, Literature and Culture Suryabanshi Suraj, Cuttack MP Bhartruhari Mahtab, Rajya Sabha member Debasish Samantaray, Barabati-Cuttack MLA Sofia Firdous, Choudwar-Cuttack MLA Souvik Biswal and Cuttaack Sadar MLA Prakash Sethi also spoke. Development commissioner Anu Garg, RDC Guha Punam Tapas Kumar, Cuttack collector Dattatraya Bhausaheb Shinde and police commissioner S Dev Datta Singh were present. Boost for blue economy Net cast to catch unsustainable fishing practices 200 Nautical miles from a country’s coast is the extent of EEZ. It grants countries the right to exploit resources J i t e n d r a C h o u b e y @ New Delhi The Centre has issued a notification to promote the sustainable exploitation of fisheries within India’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The newly introduced rules, titled ‘Sustainable Harnessing of Fisheries in the Exclusive Economic Zone Rules, 2025’, focus on licensing, registration, and scientific monitoring of fishing ac- tivities in the EEZ. They seek to encourage sustainable mariculture, including seaweed cultivation, reduce fishing pressure, create new livelihood opportunities, and enhance overall marine production. The rules recognise Fisheries Cooperatives and Fish Farmer Producer Organisations (FFPOs) as key stakeholders in managing the EEZ. In addition, the government will provide training and capaci- ty-building for traditional and small-scale fishers, including fisheries cooperatives and SelfHelp Groups. Trained and registered fisherfolk entities, such as SHGs and FFPOs, will be eligible to obtain licences through the government’s ReALCRaft portal, ensuring greater participation of organised fishing communities in offshore resource management. Finally the rules lay down guide, lines for issuing health certificates for catches in line with relevant national and international regulations. Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi with his wife Priyanka Marandi sailing leaf boats in Mahanadi before unveiling Balijatra 2025 at Cuttack on Wednesday | rashmiranjan mohapatra