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 ■ ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM l WEDNESDAY l september 10, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l late city EDITION Cross-vote bounty as Cpr wins 452-300 P r ee t h a N a i r @ New Delhi OLI & OUT Aerial view of Nepal’s parliament complex in Kathmandu set on fire by a rampaging mob on Tuesday | pti Nepal PM quits after protesters storm his residence Oli’s house, parliament set ablaze toll climbs Army takes charge of security T mobs on the rampage Mobs set Oli’s house on fire, torched homes of ex-PMs Sher Bahadur Deuba and J N Khanal, burnt ex-FM Ramsaran Mahat’s house as also the SC building Media house torched Protesters set fire to a high-rise housing Kantipur Publications, the largest media house in Kathmandu. It publishes Kantipur and The Kathmandu Post Modi’s appeal for peace In a late night message, Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed to all in Nepal to support peace. He said stability, peace and prosperity of Nepal are important to India Advisory to Indian citizens Indians in Nepal have been advised by the MEA to stay in their current places of residence, avoid going out and be cautious he night of September 8, 2025, will be remembered as one of Nepal’s darkest. Nineteen young lives were lost, more than 500 people were injured, and the entire nation was left in shock. A peaceful rally led by Nepal’s Gen Z was met with bullets, killing children and youth wearing their school and college uniforms. The next day, young people defied the curfew, taking to the streets in growing numbers. Their persistent pressure forced several ministers in K P Sharma Oli’s Cabinet to resign — and finally, on September 9, around 2 pm, Prime Minister Oli himself stepped down. Namrata Sharma The Army is the only effective instiSenior journalist and tution in the country now. In a televised women rights advocate address to the nation, Army chief and can be reached at Ashok Raj Sigdel appealed to the pronamrata1964@yahoo.com testers to come forward for dialogue, @NamrataSharmaP while taking charge of security As per . Nepal’s constitution, the President is a ceremonial figure, but the Army is under his control. But what began as a peaceful demand for justice soon spiralled into vandalism. Media footage showed mobs attacking the residences of former prime minister and president of Nepali Congress Sher Bahadur Deuba and Foreign Minister Arzoo Rana Deuba, pulling out sacks of money and throwing them into the streets — not pocketing it, but rejecting it in symbolic defiance. Now, there are reports that some top leaders, fearing mob attacks, are planning to flee the country This escalation was never part of Gen Z’s . plan, yet the movement has triggered a political storm unlike anything Nepal has seen. September 8 was a sleepless night for most Nepalis. Parents and grandparents who lost their children — and those who did not — felt the pain. The killing of 19 young people will remain a stain on Nepal’s history The overall toll is . expected to cross 30. The government’s response was not dialogue but suppression — imposing curfews, banning social media, and ordering security forces to shoot. Social media has since been restored, but the lives lost cannot be recovered. These youth were not protesting merely because Facebook messenger, or WhatsApp was blocked. They were marching against decades of corruption, the widening inequality between political elites and ordinary citizens, and the lack of opportunities that forces many young Nepalis to leave COntinued on: p7 the country . NDA’s nominee C P Radhakrishnan was on Tuesday elected as the next Vice President of India, defeating the Opposition’s joint candidate, Justice B Sudershan Reddy, by a margin of 152 votes. While Radhakrishnan secured 452 votes, Reddy managed to poll only 300. Radhakrishnan, a BJP veteran from Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra Governor, has served as a two-term member of the Lok Sabha from Coimbatore during the tenure of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The NDA has projected him as an untainted leader with rich political and administrative experience for the vice president’s office. While the NDA victory was on expected lines, the Opposition INDIA block suffered a major setback, as it witnessed C P Radhakrishnan cross-voting by at least 14 MPs. The vote tally suggested some crossvoting in favour of Radhakrishnan as the BJP claimed that at least 15 Opposition members voted for the NDA. Earlier, after the voting got over, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh had claimed that the opposition stood united with all of its 315 MPs turning up to vote. The NDA has 427 MPs across the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, and with the support of YSR Congress’s 11 MPs, it was hoping to garner 438. The Opposition was hoping to bag at least 324 votes for Justice Reddy as he was supposed to pick up 12 from AAP . Arvind Kejriwal had extended support to Justice Reddy. However, an Opposition leader, who did not want to be named, said the numbers suggest that AAP may not have P7 voted for Justice Reddy . e x p r e ss r e a d Kerala least expensive for school education T’Puram: A student in Kerala spends H16,518 on an average per year on school education, which is the lowest average expenditure incurred by a pupil in south India, a survey by Union government has shown. P4 PM announces relief for Punjab, Himachal New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday announced a financial assistance of H1,600 crore for flood-hit Punjab and H1,500 crore for Himachal Pradesh. AVALANCHE kills 3 soldiers Three soldiers lost their lives when an avalanche struck Siachen base camp in Ladakh on Tuesday | P8 16 pages, including 4 pages of thiruvananthapuram Express L’dweep mandates permission to pluck coconuts K r i s h n a K u m a r K E @ Kochi Plucking coconuts won’t be an easy affair anymore for residents of two islands in Lakshadweep. In a move aimed at safety of roadside traffic, the island authorities have made obtaining permission mandatory, at least 24 hours in advance, to pluck coconuts on trees abutting public roads in Andrott, the largest island, and the scenic Kalpeni. A government order in this regard was issued by Deputy Collector-cum -Executive Magistrate Mukund Vallabh Joshi, and it calls for compliance to more safety guidelines for plucking coconuts. For instance, a climber must use approved climbing gear, while the ground handlers should use helmets/ gloves. Also, the plucking could be done only outside peak traffic/school timings and not during ship embarkation/ de-embarkation windows notified by the port. “Any owner/contractor intending to pluck coconuts on trees abutting a public road shall submit a prior intimation at least 24 hours in advance to the SHO and AE (Roads), LPWD... Work may proceed only after acknowledgement,” the official said in the order issued on August 28. The “strange” order has triggered a controversy, with residents raising objection to “unreasonable restrictions”. A petition has been filed before Lakshadweep district collector, seeking its ● More on P4 withdrawal.  pointed strike : A videograb shows smoke billowing after explosions — caused by Israeli strikes targeting leaders of Hamas — in Doha on Tuesday | AFP | P9