DHARMAPURI l thursday l november 06, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l CITY EDITION Pant checks in, shami ignored for tests against South Africa Rishabh Pant made comeback into India’s Test squad for two-match series against SA. However, Mohammed Shami has been ignored once again Rishabh Pant Delhi keeper-batter passes fitness test India’s wicketkeeper batter Pant was an automatic choice after recovering from a foot fracture sustained during the fourth Test against England in Manchester in July. He missed the West Indies series but led India A team against South Africa A. Shami, who has had a creditable Ranji campaign as of now, has been overlooked again ■ Two akash deep in, prasidh krishna out ■ Pacer Akash Deep Singh recovered from shoulder injury and has been picked but Prasidh Krishna’s name has been dropped India’s pace attack features Jasprit Bumrah and Mohd Siraj while the spin will be led by veteran Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav and all-rounder Washington Sundar. Shubman Gill is captain | P11 India will play two tests against SA in Kolkata, GUwahatI 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 Americans of Indian origin make major political gains BJP ‘stole’ Haryana poll with 25 lakh fake votes, Bihar next target: Rahul Mamdani first Indian-American and Muslim to be elected New York mayor All set Ghazala Hashmi Security personnel carrying election materials ahead of the first phase of Bihar polls, in Muzaffarpur on Wednesday | PTI Stillness of the discerning in Bihar B ihar has never been short of noise. Certainly not when it mattered. Its politics has marched through history with a daring swagger — JP’s call that shook New Delhi, Mandal’s churn that redrafted power, the long years of Lalu raj that jolted the old order. Even the subtler Nitish era made bold strokes on the canvas, turning India’s polity yet again with the caste census narrative and grand alliance politics. Yet this election arrives on soft feet. On November 5, the campaign for the first stretch of 121 constituencies is winding down, and the battle for the remaining 122 — those border districts where sentiment often travels across rivers and frontiers — will begin soon. And through it all, there hangs a curious quiet. Whether in Nitish Kumar’s native Bakhtiyarpur, or hamlets like Gauspur and Chitapur fringing Patna, whether in Dalit ‘tolas’ where caste is still geo-tagged or along the mobile 100-km sweep to Gaya on NH-22, out in villages like Barachati and Tekari near where a legend named Dashrath Manjhi once moved mountains, the stillness is audible. Even in places like Mokama where bullets flew the other day or Barh, , which saw fisticuffs after this writer left, the action is all on one slim band where politics does its business. The people santwana seem unmoved. Almost cold. bhattacharya This is not indifference. It is Editor an extended pause — a thinking state, perhaps it’s the hush of crores of people thinking harder. The old Bihar election grammar is still here: the woven caste alliances, the search for the right symbol atop the right community the deft stitch, ing of booth workers and social equations. But listen closely, and the dialogues are shifting pitch. It is no longer enough to promise representation; people want opportunity Bihar’s young . — impatient, painfully aware of the ticket-to-life stamped “migration” that’s been their lot for years, and now uniformly literate about the ways of the world beyond their panchayat WhatsApp group — are asking sharper questions. Identity of the other sort has not dissolved; only its fabric has thinned in the face of this new common identity, an identity of experience. Numbers are never incidental here. OBCs and EBCs together form roughly two-thirds of Bihar — a demographic truth that still underwrites strategy Yadavs remain the single biggest OBC . bloc, Kurmis and Kushwahas count in pockets where one village’s mood can bend a seat, Dalits and Mahadalits together hold a weight politicians can never ignore, and the elite castes — though numerically modest — continue to influence candidate choice and the political discourse, particularly in the plains.  Continued on: P8 Aftab Pureval Indian roots Ghazala Hashmi, L-G-elect Virginia was born in Hyderabad. Aftab Pureval is the son of a Punjabi father and a Tibetan mother In an extraordinary moment for diversity in American politics, three Indian-origin Americans carved history across key states signalling a possible new era in the United States. Zohran Mamdani became the first Indian-American and Muslim to be elected Mayor of New York City, Ghazala Hashmi was chosen as Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, and Aftab Pureval secured a second term as Mayor of Cincinnati. Together, their victories mark a milestone in the growing political influence of South Asian Americans. At just 34, Zohran Kwame Mamdani’s stunning win has made him New York City’s youngest mayor in over a 100 years and the first of Indian heritage to hold the post. Running as a Democratic Socialist, Mamdani triumphed over two formidable opponents, former governor Andrew Cuomo, contesting as an independent with the backing of President Donald Trump, and Republican Curtis Sliwa. With 83% of votes counted, Mamdani secured “We have crystal-clear proof that 25 lakh voters in Haryana Leader of Opposition Rahul are fake, that they either don’t Gandhi on Wednesday accused exist, are duplicates, or were the Election Commission of designed in a way that allows India of colluding with the anybody to vote. One in eight BJP to ‘steal’ the 2024 Haryana voters in Haryana is fake, elections in the saffron party’s that’s 12.5%,” he said. favour and claimed To substantiate the same sinister his claim, he cited plan will be used in the example of a Bihar to ensure the woman who apBJP’s victory . peared 223 times on Addressing a the voter list. He press conference at also showed the the AICC headphoto of another quarters here on woman, which he We d n e s d ay, t h e SIR: Integrity of claimed was a BraCongress leader alzilian, saying it appoll main issue leged that 25 lakh peared 22 times unOn INDIA bloc’s votes were ‘stolen’ der different names strategy to protest in Haryana through in 10 booths. 5.21 lakh duplicate against SIR, Rahul said “This is proof of the “integrity of the votes, 93,174 invalid a centralised operaelection” is the addresses, and 19.26 tion. What is a Brafundamental issue lakh bulk voters. zilian person doing Haryana has a total on the voters’ list of two crore voters. in Haryana?” he asked. “I am confident that after the Responding to the allegaBihar poll, we will make a pres- tions, Election Commission ofentation that the same thing ficials said the vote manipulahappened in Bihar,” he said, tion charge is unfounded as no adding political parties are un- appeals were filed against Harable to check the ‘vote theft’ as yana electoral rolls, nor was they are provided with the vot- any multiple voting flagged er list at the last moment. when it allegedly happened. PREETHA NA I R @ New Delhi H a p r e e t B a j w a @ Chandigarh Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani (2nd from right), with wife Rama Duwaji (2nd from left), father Mahmood Mamdani and mother Mira Nair in New York on Tuesday | AP 948,202 votes (50.6%), while Cuomo managed 776,547 (41.3%). The city saw a record turnout of nearly two million votes, the highest since 1969. Born in Kampala, Uganda, Mamdani moved to New York at the age of seven. His mother, acclaimed filmmaker Mira Nair, and father, Columbia University scholar Mahmood Mamdani, have long been symbols of cultural and intellectual achievement. In his victory speech, Mam- dani called his win a “mandate for change,” thanking his parents and wife, Syrian-American artist Rama Duwaji. His campaign, which resonated with young and workingclass voters, centered on reducing living costs, expanding housing, and improving public transport—a continuation of his progressive record as a Queens assemblyman, where he introduced a pilot programme for free city buses.  Continued on: P9 ‘Vijay will be CM’, TVK snubs EPS’s tie-up call S K U MARESAN @ Chennai ‘Security lapse in Karur’ A resolution on the Karur stampede raised doubts whether “large-scale security lapse in Karur” and “artificial commotion” were because of frustration of those in power due to Vijay’s popularity In its first special general council meeting after the Karur stampede, Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) on Wednesday made it clear that the party will fight the 2026 Assembly election with president Vijay as its chief ministerial candidate and declared that it will be a direct contest between the TVK and the DMK. The announcement, for now, closes the door on a possible alliance with the AIADMK and BJP, and comes as a rebuff to the open overtures made by AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami (which he later denied). A resolution passed at the meeting held in Mahabalipuram vested leader Vijay with full authority to take decision on poll alliances. A total of 12 resolutions on issues, including the recur- ring arrests of fishermen from Tamil Nadu by the Sri Lankan navy, protection of natural resources, women’s safety particularly justice for , the Coimbatore gangrape survivor, and against SIR of electoral rolls were adopted at the meeting. The general council also passed a resolution urging the TN government to provide security ‘without any bias’ to public meetings of the party to ensure the safety of Vijay and the general public. Speaking at the meeting about the Karur tragedy Vijay , said, “We have been through indescribable pain and anguish. During such a period, it was our duty to remain by the side of our people. That is why I stayed silent all this while.” He added that even as the party maintained restraint, “political traps and baseless allegations” were being spread against him and his party  P5 . Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) president Vijay along with office bearers during the party’s special general council meeting at Mahabalipuram in Chennai on Wednesday | express National pride Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets the victorious ICC Women’s World Cup team in New Delhi on Wednesday | PTI Coimbatore woman robbed by ‘online friend’, DSP’s son Express News Service @ Coimbatore On the fateful night of November 2 when a 20-year-old girl was gangraped in Coimbatore, another 25-year-old woman was robbed of gold and cash by a man, she had befriended through a dating app, and his accomplice, who is the son of a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), in another part of the city . Police have launched a hunt for the two suspects identified as Tharun (28) and Dhanush (28) of Ramanathapuram in Coimbatore. Dhanush is the son of a DSP who is currently working in southern TN, sources said. Police sources said the victim, who is from Pollachi, is an inmate of a women’s hostel in Pappanaickenpalayam and works in a private firm in Coimbatore. She developed friendship with Tharun after getting in touch with him through a dating app four days ago. On November 2, Tharun picked up the girl from her hostel at 7pm in an SUV  . P5 express read Boost for blue economy DMK, AIADMK flag SIR issues on Day 1 Net cast to catch unsustainable fishing practices Chennai: DMK’s legal wing secretary NR Elango said the SIR in TN started with confusion on Wednesday with several BLOs saying that they have not received the enumeration forms. AIADMK, meanwhile, petitioned CEO alleging that DMK cadre were intimidating BLOs to give SIR forms to them | P4 KL parties decide to fight SIR legally T’puram: Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday announced that the state will legally challenge the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The decision was taken at an all-party meeting held online, where all parties except the BJP supported the move | P5 200 Nautical miles from a country’s coast is the extent of EEZ. It grants countries the right to exploit resources J i t e n d r a C h o u b e y @ New Delhi The Centre has issued a notification to promote the sustainable exploitation of fisheries within India’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The newly introduced rules, titled ‘Sustainable Harnessing of Fisheries in the Exclusive Economic Zone Rules, 2025’, focus on licensing, registration, and scientific monitoring of fishing activities in the EEZ. They seek to encourage sustainable mariculture, including seaweed cultivation, reduce fishing pressure, create new livelihood opportunities, and enhance overall marine production. The rules recognise Fisheries Cooperatives and Fish Farmer Producer Organisations (FFPOs) as key stakeholders in managing the EEZ. In addition, the government will provide training and capacity-building for traditional and small-scale fishers, including fisheries cooperatives and SelfHelp Groups. Trained and registered fisherfolk entities, such as SHGs and FFPOs, will be eligible to obtain licences through the government’s ReALCRaft portal, ensuring greater participation of organised fishing communities in offshore resource management. Finally, the rules lay down guidelines for issuing health certificates for catches in line with relevant national and international regulations. Woman staff puts camera in hostel bathroom, held Express News Service @ Krishnagiri A 22-year-old woman employee of Tata Electronics was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly installing a spy camera inside the bathroom of a women’s hostel where she was residing. The accused, identified as S Neelu Kumari Gupta (22) of Odisha, was allegedly acting on the instructions of a man from another state, who is currently absconding. During interrogation, Gupta allegedly told that she was in a relationship with the man who coerced her into planting the camera by threatening to expose her personal photos. She admitted to recording a video but said it was never shared with him. Police have launched a search for the man but did not reveal his identity . Police sources said the incident came to light after Gupta placed the camera in her own bathroom at the hostel near Uddanapalli on Sunday morning before removing it and fixing it in the bathroom of another room occupied by a 21-year-old employee from Maharashtra. When the latter returned after taking bath, Gupta entered the bathroom again, raising suspicion among other inmates.  P5