coimbatore l SUNday l SEPTEMBER 22, 2024 l `12.00 l PAGES 26 l late city EDITION Vote day peaceful in Sri Lanka, turnout estimated to be 75% Voting concluded at 4 pm in Sri Lanka on Saturday in the island nations’ first presidential poll since its worst economic meltdown in 2022 Anura Kumara Dissanayake Final results expected today Eight-hour nationwide curfew imposed 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 ■ ■ 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 | P11 38 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 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 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 express read Lankan Navy arrests 37 TN fishers, seizes 3 boats 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 2 minors among 3 held for rape of 16-yr-old girl 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. Police said, the girl lived near a reserved forest. On Thursday, she ventured out to answer nature’s call when the three accused spotted her. | P5 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 High 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 Madhukar 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 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-Cor ruption (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-forplanning per mission 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 Metropoli- t a n D eve l o p m e n t Au t h o r i t y (CMDA) for construction of 1,453 residential and IT buildings on a 57.94-acre plot in Perungalathur near Chennai. Va i t h i l i n g a m w a s housing minister and CMDA chairman from 2011 to 2016 in the AIADMK government. He is currently a legislator from Orathanadu constituency in Thanjavur district. The FIR is based on a complaint filed by Jayaram Venkatesan, convenor of NGO Arappor Iyakkam. The Tamil Nadu government had accorded permission to file the FIR in the case in July 2022. P5 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 PRIME Minister Narendra Modi arrived in the US on Saturday evening for a three-day visit. Modi has a packed schedule in the US; he will have a bilateral meeting with US President Joe Biden, attend the fourth Quad Leaders’ Summit in Biden’s home town Delaware, engage in high-level meetings on the sidelines of the summit, and take part in discussions at the United Nations in New York. The PM’s other engagements include joining an Indian diaspora event at Long Island and participating in a roundtable with the CEOs of US companies working on new technologies such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and semiconductors. Soon after landing in Philadelphia, Modi said his meeting with Biden, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, and Japanese premier Fumio Kishida at the Quad Summit would contribute to the betterment of the world. “I am sure the discussions will contribute in making our planet better and address global challenges,” he said. Quad is a diplomatic partnership between Australia, India, Japan, and the US to foster a stable Indo-Pacific. Modi is to have a one-on-one with Biden before the Quad meet. According to sources, several key agreements are likely to be signed. Also on the cards is a multi-billion dollar deal to buy 31 predator drones from the US. Meanwhile, the US is also likely to rake up the alleged assassination bid on Khalistani separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a dual US-Canada citizen. On Thursday, senior White House and US intelligence officials met a group of Sikh leaders sympathetic to Pannun. WITH THIS ISSUE The Partition of Pakistan PLUS 12 PAGES
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