nagapattinam l SUNday l SEPTEMBER 22, 2024 l `12.00 l PAGES 24 l city EDITION Vote day peaceful in Sri Lanka, turnout estimated to be 75% Anura Kumara Dissanayake Final results expected today The voter turnout is estimated to be around 75%, an election official said in the evening. Polling concluded with no violence or security breaches reported from any of the 22 electoral districts. Counting began shortly after the polls closed at 4 pm. Final results are expected by Sunday morning. The economy was on top of the mind of voters Voting concluded at 4 pm in Sri Lanka on Saturday in the island nations’ first presidential poll since its worst economic meltdown in 2022 ■ 38 Eight-hour nationwide curfew imposed ■ President Ranil Wickremesinghe is fighting an uphill battle for a fresh mandate to continue Implementing IMF’s belt-tightening measures A curfew was imposed from 10 pm on Saturday to 6 am on Sunday. The police called it a precautionary measure to prevent violence, and urged the public to remain indoors while counting progressed | P9 the number of candidates who contested in the election 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 US hosts Sikh leaders hours before Modi visit Atishi takes oath as Delhi CM, thanks political guru Kejriwal A n u p v e r m a @ New Delhi Atishi on Saturday took oath as the third woman chief minister of Delhi after Sushma Swaraj and Sheila Dikshit. At 43, she became the youngest CM of Delhi and is the second woman CM after Mamata Banarjee in India at present. Along with her, five cabinet ministers were sworn in — Gopal Rai, Kailash Gehlot, Saurabh Bharadwaj, Imran Hussain and Mukesh Ahlawat. After taking oath, Atishi took AAP supremo and her predecessor Arvind Kejriwal’s blessings by touching his feet at Raj Niwas. In her first press conference after the ceremony, she profusely thanked him. “I thank my elder brother and political guru Arvind Kejriwal for entrusting me with the responsibility of looking after the people of Delhi. He is the one who shaped the future of millions of children, provided free bus travel to women, gave free electricity to the people, free medical treatment so that people do not have to mortgage their house or land for any of their family members,” she said. From now until the assembly elections, her only job will be to complete the work that has been stopped due to the conspiracies of the BJP and the Lt Governor, she said. PM lands in US for Quad summit, to have one-on-one with President Joe Biden our planet better and address global challenges,” he said. PRIME Minister Narendra Quad is a diplomatic partnerModi arrived in the US on Sat- ship between Australia, India, urday evening for a three-day Japan, and the US to foster a visit. Modi has a packed sched- stable Indo-Pacific. ule in the US; he will have a biModi is to have a one-on-one lateral meeting with US Presi- with Biden before the Quad dent Joe Biden, attend the meet. According to sources, fourth Quad Leaders’ Summit several key agreements are in Biden’s home town Dela- likely to be signed. Also on the ware, engage in highcards is a multi-billevel meetings on the lion dollar deal to sidelines of the sumbuy 31 predator mit, and take part in drones from the US. discussions at the Meanwhile, the US United Nations in is also likely to rake New York. up the alleged assasThe PM’s other ensination bid on Khagagements include Pannun may listani separatist joining an Indian di- be discussed leader Gurpatwant aspora event at Long Senior White House Singh Pannun, a dual Island and partici- officials on US-Canada citizen. pating in a roundta- Thursday met Sikh On Thursday, senior ble with the CEOs of leaders sympathetic White House and US US companies work- to Khalistani leader intelligence officials ing on new technolo- Gurpatwant Singh met a group of Sikh gies such as artificial Pannun, who was leaders sympathetic intelligence, quan- allegedly targeted to Pannun. Held intum computing, and by Indian agents side the White House, semiconductors. the meeting was atSoon after landing tended by Pritpal in Philadelphia, Modi said his Singh of the American Sikh meeting with Biden, Austral- Caucus Committee and repreian Prime Minister Anthony sentatives from the Sikh CoaliAlbanese, and Japanese pre- tion and Sikh American Legal mier Fumio Kishida at the Defence and Education Fund. Quad Summit would contrib- The US officials reportedly asute to the betterment of the sured the Sikh delegates that world. “I am sure the discus- they will not allow any transnasions will contribute in making tional aggression on its soil. y eshi S el i @ New Delhi Former Chief Minister of Odisha, Naveen Patnaik and TNIE Editorial Director Prabhu Chawla in conversation on the first day of the Odisha Literary Festival, in Bhubaneswar on Saturday | DEBADATTA MALLICK Naveen non-committal on ‘one nation, one poll’ E x p r e ss N e w s S e r v i c e @ Bhubaneswar Femininity “Divinity without the feminine form is incomplete in Hinduism. One cannot have Jagannath temple without the presence of Devi Subhadra and other goddesses,” mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik said at the fest Former chief minister and BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik on Saturday adopted a non-committal approach on ‘one nation, one poll’ proposal of the Centre and said details will have to studied before taking a stand on it. In an interaction with editorial director of The New Indian Express Prabhu Chawla at the 12th edition of the Odisha Literary Festival (OLF) organised by this newspaper, Naveen said the party will wait for the details before taking a stand. “Let the details come forth, we will study and take a stand.” Asked how he rates the BJP government in the state and the Centre on their performance on completion of their first 100 days in office, the BJD boss quipped: “It is too early to start counting.” “Elections to several states will be held in the near future. Let us wait for the results,” he added. The BJD chief also lashed out at the BJP government for the deteriorating law and order situation in the state. “We can all see how the law and order situation in the state has declined with the incident of Governor’s son at Puri. Recently, an Army Major and his fiancée were harassed in a violent manner at a major police station in the capital city This is not a good record,” . he added. Chawla thanked the former CM for supporting the OLF for the last 13 years since it was launched. Celebrated Koshali poet and Padma Shri awardee Haladhar Nag inaugurated the OLF and said literature guides people on the path of truth, and true poets are Yugajanmas (born in ages) who take society on the right path. “There may be different castes, but every human being is one,” Nag said. Day after SC rap on collegium, govt clears names of 7 HC CJs S u c h i t r a K a lya n M o h a n t y @ New Delhi A day after a Supreme Court bench said its collegium is not a “search committee” and asked Attorney General R Venkataramani to submit a report on the status of the names reiterated for the higher judiciary but were yet to be cleared, the Centre on Saturday notified the appointment of seven Chief Justices to various High Courts, including the Madras High Court. The transfer of a Chief Justice was also notified. The appointments were based on an amended collegium recommendation of its July 11 proposals. While Justice K R Shriram of the Bombay High Court was elevated as the Chief Justice of the Madras High Court, Justice Manmohan, acting Chief Justice of the Delhi High Additional judges The Centre also cleared the appointment of three judicial officers, R Poornima, M Jothiraman and Augustine Devadoss Maria Clete, as additional judges of the Madras High Court Court, was appointed the new CJ of the court. In a post on ‘X’, law minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said, “In exercise of the powers conferred by the Constitution, the President is pleased to appoint/ transfer eight Chief Justices of High Courts.” Justice Rajiv Shakdher, a Delhi High Court judge, was elevated as Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court. Justice Nitin Mad- hukar Jamdar of the Bombay High Court has been appointed as Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court. Justice Indra Prasanna Mukerji of the Calcutta High Court has been appointed Chief Justice of the High Court of Meghalaya. Justice Tashi Rabstan of the J&K and Ladakh High Court has been made its Chief Justice. Justice Suresh Kumar Kait of the Delhi High Court was elevated as Chief Justice of the MP High Court. Himachal Pradesh Chief Justice M S Ramachandra Rao was transferred as Chief Justice of the Jharkhand High Court. Justice Shriram, born in Mumbai, completed B Com in Financial Accountancy and Management and LLB from Mumbai University . Continued on: P5 two to tango Rishabh Pant and Shubman Gill celebrate their hundreds against Bangladesh on the third day of the first Test in Chennai on Saturday. India declared their second innings at 287 for four after taking a lead of 514 runs | Ashwin prasath | P11 express read olympic 2036 bid Lankan Navy arrests 37 TN fishers, seizes 3 boats Ahmedabad? Selected region name not sent to IOC Mayiladuthurai: At least 37 fishers from Mayiladuthurai district were arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy on Saturday for allegedly crossing the International Maritime Boundary Line. A mechanised purse seine boat and two motorised boats were seized | P4 AP considering ritualistic sanitisation of Tirumala Vijayawada: Following allegations of animal fat adulteration in Tirupati laddus, CM Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday said the state government is consulting Jeeyangars, Kanchi pontiffs and others on ritualistic sanitisation of the Tirumala temple | P5 I n d r a n e e l D a s @ Chennai IT is almost close to one year since Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that India would be bidding for the 2036 Olympics, but the name of the host city is yet to be sent to the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Since last October, when the announcement was made during the IOC Session in Mumbai, there have been multiple reports that Ahmedabad would be one of the host cities. The IOC, however, is yet to receive any confirmation from the IOA. “The IOC has not been informed by the IOA of any selected region,” the IOC said in an email to this daily Interestingly coun. , tries like Indonesia and Turkey , nations considered as serious bidders for the 2036 Games, have selected the hosts/region. Though the IOC doesn’t reveal the number of interested parties or bidding process, its president Thomas Bach had reaffirmed that it was in double digits. However, the infighting in the IOA too seems to be a sour point. It is understood that even during the Paris Olympics, where some of potential hosts’ top officials met the IOC, there were apparently no meetings between the IOA and other stakeholders with the Future Hosts Commission. What needs to be more troubling is that the IOA is yet to formally announce a bid committee, which will deal with the IOC. Even for the 2030 Youth Olympics IOA would need to open dialogues with the IOC. In reply to this newspaper’s query whether the present unsavoury stand-off between the IOA president and the EC would affect the bidding process the IOC said: “IOC is happy to see interest in hosting from India, with its huge passion for sport and youthful population. To move forward, any project from India would need the official support of the National Olympic Committee (NOC).” The IOC has said that there are a number of “Interested Parties, including India, taking part in a non-committal Continuous Dialogue with the IOC.” This, according to the IOC, helps the potential host to “explore and improve its Olympic project, without linking it to any specific Games edition or year”. WITH THIS ISSUE The Partition of Pakistan PLUS 12 PAGES 2 minors among 3 held for rape of 16-yr-old girl e x p r e ss n e w s s e r v i c e @ Chennai A 16-year-old girl studying in Class 11 of a government school was allegedly gangraped by three people, including two minor boys, near Thalambur on the outskirts of Chennai on Thursday evening. All three accused have been arrested, while the survivor is under medical care. According to police, the girl lived near a reserved forest. Back home from school, on Thursday after sunset, she ventured out to a secluded area to answer nature’s call when the three accused spotted her, police said. After the accused raped her and fled the spot, the girl walked back home to her parents, police added. Initially, the victim complained to her parents of stomach pain and was rushed to a hospital. However, on the way, the survivor spotted the three accused and revealed the incident to her father. Along with some locals, the girl’s father attempted to apprehend the accused but they escaped into the forest, police said. Subsequently, a complaint was filed with the Thalambur police and a case was registered under Pocso Act and other sections. Based on initial inquiry , Sundar (23) and two 16-year-old boys were apprehended. While Sundar was remanded in prison, the juveniles were sent to the Chengalpattu correctional home, a police official said. P5 FIR on ex-AIADMK minister, sons in `27cr plan-permit case S i d d h a r t h P r a b h a k a r @ Chennai The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) has booked a corruption case against former housing minister R Vaithilingam, his two sons, and private firm Shriram Properties in a `27.9 crore bribe-for-planning permission case. As per the FIR filed by the anti-corruption agency on September 19, Shriram Properties allegedly routed `27.9 crore bribe in 2016 through associated firms to a shell company run by Vaithilingam’s sons in lieu of planning permission given to them by the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) for construction of 1,453 residential and IT buildings on a 57.94acre plot in Perungalathur near Chennai. Vaithilingam was housing minister and CMDA chairman from 2011 to 2016 in the AIADMK government. He is curre n t ly a l e g i s l at o r f ro m Orathanadu constituency in Thanjavur district. The FIR is based on a comp l a i n t f i l e d by Jaya r a m Venkatesan, convenor of NGO Arappor Iyakkam. The Tamil Nadu government had accorded permission to file the FIR in the case in July 2022. P5
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