thrissur l thursday l september 18, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION from Bihar polls, EVMs to have colour photos of candidates Photographs of candidates will be printed in colour on the EVM ballot paper starting with the upcoming Assembly elections in Bihar File photo Large font, big photos to avoid confusion SIR: 50% voters need not show proof It comes after black-and-white photos of candidates, introduced in 2015, drew criticism with many voters finding them difficult to recognise. The candidate’s face will now occupy three-fourths of the photo space on the EVM ballot paper. Additionally, the names, serial numbers of all candidates, and the NOTA option will be printed in larger, bold fonts ■ ■ The poll panel said over half the electorate in most states may not have to provide any document as they will be covered in the electoral roll of the last intensive revisions held in their states The last revisions will serve as the cut-off date to decide who is already registered. In most states, it was held between 2002 and 2004 70 GSM Paper to be used for printing EVM ballot papers 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 EU sets year-end HC flags weight drop of ‘gold’ plates, orders probe target for India free trade pact E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @Kochi Strategic framework evolved for enhanced ties on trade, security, climate, technology Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed the new agenda, The European Union set a firm calling it a forward-looking initarget to conclude its long- tiative to strengthen bilateral pending Free Trade Agreement ties. “…Delighted to know about (FTA) with India by the end of the ‘New Strategic EU-India 2025 and unveiled a new sweep- Agenda’ adopted today he post,” ing strategic framework aimed ed on X. “India is ready to take at expanding the bloc’s ties the India-EU relationship to the with New Delhi. next level. It is our shared comThe New Strategic EU-India mitment, shared goal, and Agenda, adopted through a shared responsibility .” Joint Communication by the The announcement marks a European Commission key policy priority for and the EU’s High Repthe EU, which comes resentative on Wednesamid a changing geoday outlines a broad political landscape of vision for enhanced cogrowing push for resiloperation spanning ient supply chains and trade, security climate, , diversified trade parttechnology, and global nerships. The Joint governance. Communication talks “Europe is already about untapped potenEurope is open India’s biggest trading tial in trade and investpartner, and we are for business. And ment and sets out we are ready to committed to finalising measures to reinforce invest in our our Free Trade Agreesupply chain resilshared future ment by the end of the ience, enhance coopwith India year,” said European eration in critical and Ursula von der Commission President emerging technologies, Leyen, European Ursula von der Leyen. and deepen engageCommission “Now is the time to foment through the EUPresident cus on reliable partIndia Trade and Techners and double down nology Council (TTC). on partnerships rooted in The strategy also proposes a shared interests and guided by possible EU-India Startup partcommon values. With our new nership and invites India to asEU-India strategy, we are tak- sociate with the Horizon Euing our relationship to the next rope research programme. In level — advancing trade, invest- climate and energy cooperament and talent mobility, tion, the EU plans to expand its strengthening joint economic collaboration with India on resecurity and deepening indus- newables, green hydrogen and , trial cooperation in defence.” green finance. J ayanth J a c o b @ New Delhi Asia cup Pak flip-flop delays match versus UAE E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Chennai THE Asia Cup continues to deliver drama — off the field. On Wednesday, Pakistan were seemingly on the verge of conceding their group stage game to UAE before they left their team hotel to belatedly play their opponents at 7.30 pm local time, one hour after the scheduled start. The entire episode goes back a few days after their game against India. They had alleged that match referee, Andy Pycroft, had asked the two captains to not shake hands at the toss, a regular sight. So, they wanted Pycroft removed for the remainder of the tournament but the organisers and the International Cricket Council (ICC) were unmoved. In a who will blink first contest, PCB relented after some furious backchannel lobbying on an incident-packed Wednesday. Chair, Mohsin Naqvi, had multiple formal talks before giving the green signal to the team to leave hotel. While Pycroft was the referee for the UAE game, the PCB apparently got an apology from the Zimbabwean. “The ICC’s match referee, Andy Pycroft, has apologised to the manager and captain of the Pakistan cricket team,” a PCB release claimed. “The ICC has expressed its willingness to conduct an inquiry into the code of conduct violation.” The Kerala High Court on Wednesday ordered a probe into the “glaring and unexplained reduction” of 4.541 kg in the combined weight of the goldcladded copper plates of dwarapalaka idols of Sabarimala temple and the ‘peedams’ on which they stood when they were weighed a month apart in 2019. Expressing shock over the discrepancy, a division bench comprising Justice Raja Vijayaraghavan V and Justice K SC bins pleas Against global Ayyappa meet Sangamam rekindles political heat The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected pleas against holding the Global Ayyappa Sangamam at Pampa. “The High Court has considered the matter in detail and issued guidelines,” it said | P4 As the Ayyappa Sangamam date nears, political undercurrents in Pandalam are coming into focus. Many are comparing the rightwing mobilisation around the event to BJP’s surge during the 2018 Sabarimala stir | P4 V Jayakumar ordered the chief vigilance and security officer (SP), Travancore Devaswom HQ, to carry out a comprehensive probe and file a report within three weeks. “These irregularities are of the gravest order, striking at the very core of the integrity and transparency that must guide the administration of a temple of such sanctity and public trust,” said the bench, while hearing a suo motu case taken on the Sabarimala special commissioner’s September 9 report that said the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) sent the plates to Smart Creations, Chennai, for repair without informing either him or the HC. Perusing the documents it had sought from the chief vigilance and security officer last week, the bench said the ma- hazar dated July 19, 2019, recorded that Unnikrishnan Potty (a devotee from Bengaluru who sponsored the repair and was impleaded as a respondent in the suo motu case) obtained nod to undertake fresh goldplating of the idols on his own sponsorship. The mahazar recorded that 12 gold-cladded copper plates weighing 25.4kg, were entrusted to him. On July 20, 2019, the two peedams, weighing 17.4kg in total, were handed over to ● More on P4 him.  In a first, private firm vets NIRF rankings S L A L I T H A @ New Delhi birthday bonding Narendra Modi holds a child as he tours the PM MITRA Park Pavilion in Dhar, Madhya Pradesh, on Wednesday | PTI EXPRESS READ None to defend him, a hurt Antony calls press meet to have his say T’Puram: Dejected by his party colleagues’ callousness in defending him in the assembly when CM Pinarayi Vijayan highlighted police brutality in Sivagiri and Muthanga, Congress veteran A K Antony stepped out to vindicate himself and his 1995-96 government on Wednesday | P4 India Rankings 2025 released by the Education Ministry a fortnight ago was vetted by a private firm—the first such instance since the inception of the rankings in 2015. EY, currently associated with various central projects, was entrusted with the task. Multiple sources said the decision to rope in EY for double verification of data was taken against the backdrop of an inexplicable surge in rankings by some institutions and the shocking slump registered by a few others. “It was heartening to note that the firm (EY) endorsed the rankings made by us and did not find even a single error,” claimed an official with the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) team. The rankings were delayed by six weeks this year due to the additional verification process, said sources. “Post-Covid, we were releasing the rankings by July and August. It was done in June since 2015 when we commenced the ranking process. Our original plan was to release them by mid-July this year. But due to the third-party verification process, we were able to release them only by the first week of September,” said an official. Curbs on admission Kerala varsity colleges asked to reject applications of students with criminal cases | P5