Turnout in French polls highest in 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. By Sunday 5 pm, 61.4% of voters had turned out for the poll —the highest 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 hubballi l Monday l July 08, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION 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 woman killed Sena leader held over son’s hit-and-run S u d h ir 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 motorcycle, 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. Then we traced my wife and took her to hospital where she succumbed to her injuries,” Pradeep said, adding if Mihir had stopped his car, his wife would have not died. The 24-year-old Mihir was allegedly driving under the influence of alcohol. Mihir is absconding. Maharashtra CM Ekanth Shinde has vowed strict against the guilty . Chandrachud-led bench to take up NEET pleas today 1 dies in stampede-like situation at Puri Rath Yatra R a j k u m a r M o h a n t y @ Puri Supreme Court to hear batch of 38 petitions, including those seeking fresh examination SU C H I T R A KA LYAN MOHANTY @ 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 NEET-UG 2024, 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 SC website, the bench, also comprising Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, is scheduled to hear a total of 38 petitions related to the exam. T hese 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 SC 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 NTA’s affidavit said, “The cancellation of the entire examination... would be hugely counterproductive and significantly harmful to the larger public interest.” Meanwhile, a group of students on Sunday staged a protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar against NEET irregularities. Chariot of Lord Jagannath being pulled on the first day of Rath Yatra in Puri, Odisha on Sunday | DEBADATTA MALLICK express read First case of rat fever reported from Haveri Haveri/Gadag: In the first case of rat fever this year, a 12-year old boy was diagnosed with the illness in Haveri on Sunday. He is recovering at Haveri district hospital. He was suffering from fever for the last 15 days | P5 Euro 2024 gears up for semi-final matches Dusseldorf: The stage is set for the semi-finals of Euro 2024 and four heavyweight teams will battle it out on Tuesday and Wednesday. Spain will face France and England will take on the Netherlands. Spain have been the best team. Their new-age wingers “Lacine Yamal and Nico Williams” have also set the pulses racing. England have relied on individual brilliance to take them to another semifinal | p11 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 ‘Poison cans’ opened in Hathras, claims lawyer NAM I TA B AJPA I @ 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 the baba’s ‘rising popularity’. “I have been told by the witnesses that there were 15-16 people carrying cans of a poi- sonous 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 the tragedy, Uttar 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 poisonous substance, flee. We have proof and we will submit it.” 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. 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. The deceased devotee fell down in the push and was trampled by others. At least, five others also fell down and sustained injuries. Volunteers shifted all of them to the district headquarters hospital where the doctors declared one dead. This apart, over 300 devotees were hospitalised due to various reasons including dehydration. ‘Will publish list of MUDA 50:50 site beneficiaries’ E x p re s s Ne w s Ser v ice @ Mysuru The allotment of alternative sites to Chief Minister Siddramaiah’s wife Parvathi is legal as the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) had acquired her 3.16 acres of land illegally and developed it, said Mysuru district in-charge minister HC Mahadevappa on Sunday . He said MUDA, at its meeting, had passed a resolution admitting its folly in encroaching the land, and had decided to allot alternative sites at 50:50 ratio. He said, “We will soon come out with a list of people who have benefited from the 50:50 site allotment scam, to prevent public from buying these sites. We will not spare anyone, however influential them may be.” P4
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