BHUBANESWAR l monday l march 09, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late CITY EDITION RSP all set to sweep Nepal polls as counting reaches final stage As of Sunday evening, the Rashtriya Swatantra Party (RSP) won 122 of 165 seats and was leading in six others, Nepal’s Election Commission said counting for 159 seats completed poll panel withholds result in one seat As per the latest update, the Nepali Congress (NC) is a distant second with 17 seats, while the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) led by K P Sharma Oli has won eight seats, and the Nepal Communist Party has secured three seats. As per an official update on Sunday evening, the counting was completed in at least 159 seats ■ ■ The result in one seat, Dhanusha Constituency-1, may take a while longer as a court order is pending on the eligibility of RSP’s candidate Among the three former Nepal prime ministers who contested the March 5 general election, only Pushpakamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ managed to win. Both K P Oli Sharma and Madhav Nepal lost | P9 24,55,764 won by RSP in proportional voting system 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 Iran picks new Supreme history makers at home Leader as war deepens 1 2 Defending champs India won their third T20 World Cup, becoming the first team to do so in process 3 Co-hosts became the first team to lift T20 WC at home. In previous 9 editions, no home team had won 4 India’s total of 255/5 is the highest in a T20 WC final, bettering their 176/7 vs SA in 2024 Gautam Gambhir became the first India head coach to capture two ICC titles US-Israel strike oil infra in Tehran; Iran hits Kuwait, Bahrain s w a r o o p s w am i nathan A G E N CI E S @ Tehran, Tel Aviv, Dubai At long last, glory and a batting spectacle. Release. An outpouring of love from over a lakh of people, most of them dressed in various hues of India blue. In the scene of their greatest defeat, one of their biggest wins. The scars of November 19 (loss to Australia in ODI World Cup final) will remain but March 8 will bring with it the necessary balm to tide over the ghost of that horror. The stadium, gateway to India’s biggest sporting project, can heal. The T20 World Cup will stay with them. For the tens of thousands who were part of the imposing circular Blue Wall from as early as 4.30 PM, this was a memory for a lifetime. Even as Suryakumar Yadav & Co. took turns to hold aloft the shiny 6kg mostly silver trophy deep into the Ahmedabad night, nobody was prepared to go home. Board exams be damned, a new work week could wait. Sleep was set aside for a few hours to watch their favourite sporting team create history . IRAN’s Assembly of Experts tasked with appointing the next Supreme Leader reportedly arrived at a majority decision on Sunday but stopped , short of naming him. The 88-member clerical body has sought some time to remove “some obstacles” before announcing the name. Khamenei’s son Mojtaba is billed to be the front-runner to succeed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, killed over a week ago in the strikes that triggered the war between Iran and Israel-US. The development came on a day when US-Israeli air strikes destroyed fuel dumps and triggered fires that choked much of Tehran in a thick blanket of smoke. In response, Iran struck Gulf infrastructure, hitting fuel tanks at Kuwait’s international airport and hit a desalination plant in Bahrain with the war reaching its second week. The war, which Israel and @ Ahmedabad Budget session Sparks to fly as motion against Speaker in Lok Sabha today P r eetha N a i r @ New Delhi The stage is set for a stormy start to the second leg of the Budget session of Parliament on Monday with the Lok Sab, ha set to take up an Opposition motion seeking the removal of Speaker Om Birla. The rare move, which is the first in nearly four decades, highlights the deepening rift between the Opposition and the ruling side. The government is likely to allocate around three hours for the discussion on the motion, with three members each from the Treasury and Opposition benches expected to participate, sources said. From the Congress, either Deputy Leader in the Lok Sabha, Gaurav Gogoi or K C Venugopal, is likely to participate in the debate, sources said. While both the Congress and the BJP have issued whips directing their members to be present in the House, the BJPled NDA holds a clear numerical advantage to defeat the resolution in the 543-member Lok Sabha. However, the Opposition received a boost after the Trinamool Congress announced Saturday that it would support the Continued on P5 motion.  India players lift the trophy after their victory in Ahmedabad on Sunday I debadatta mallick No side had ever won this title at home. No team had ever defended this title. Nobody had won it thrice. India took a sledgehammer to history. That’s how you create a new sporting identity. Not by winning it once but doing it again and again. It’s why Australia have an aura about them. It’s why Brazil are football’s aristocrats. It’s the only path towards invincibility You can be good, . but to be truly immortal, you need to make winning your only calling card. And they did everything in their power. Eighteen months of preparation was followed by trips to temples, delaying a training session as it collided with a lunar eclipse during their World Cup campaign. There was even an apocryphal story about changing hotels. And it was apt that Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan and Abhishek Sharma, the three musketeers who had been identified to redefine the art of batting in this format, took them there. They have shown the limits of what’s possible in this format. Needing 255, it was too P11 much for the Kiwis.  US launched on February 28, has so far claimed at least 1,230 lives in Iran, 397 in Lebanon including 83 children, 11 in Israel, and six US soldiers. The impact of the conflict is no longer limited to West Asia as it has rattled global markets, oil indices and disrupted air travel. If the war continues for long, it could impact energy prices worldwide. In India, cooking gas prices have already gone up. With the joint US-Israeli strikes continuing on Tehran, Iran’s president Masoud Pezeshkian vowed to expand attacks on US targets across the Gulf. “The more pressure they impose on us, the stronger our response will naturally be,” Pezeshkian said. Neighbouring countries have borne much of Tehran’s brunt, with 16 people killed in the Gulf states since the war began, according to an AFP tally.Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait all reported new attacks on Sunday . Israel-US hit Iran’s oil well A thick plume of smoke rose from an oil well hit by a US-Israeli strikes in Tehran Sunday. Israel said it struck “a number of fuel storage facilities in Tehran” used “to operate military infrastructure” Brent crude at 5-year high Crude oil price continued rising after some key countries slashed their output. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) soared to $115 on Sunday. Brent rose to $117, the highest level since 2022 Arab League warns Iran Arab League’s secretarygeneral Ahmed Aboul Gheit said Sunday that Iranian attacks on Gulf member states were “reckless”, urging Tehran to reverse what he called a “massive strategic mistake” MHA asks Bengal chief CM transfers `5,106 crore to 1.02 crore Subhadras secretary to explain lapses during Prez visit E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Bhubaneswar S U B H E N D U M A I T I & PA RV E Z S U LTA N @ Kolkata / New Delhi THE Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Sunday sought a detailed report from the West Bengal government on the alleged protocol violation and lapses during President Droupadi Murmu’s visit to the state on Saturday to attend the International Santal Conference in Darjeeling district. Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan directed West Bengal C h i e f S e c re t a r y N a n d i n i Chakraboty to explain the alleged lapses in security protocol, venue arrangements, and travel route during the President’s programme. Sources said the MHA also wanted to know the reason behind the failure the chief minister, chief secretary, and DGP to receive the President upon her arrival, which is a gross violation of protocol. The conference was held at a ground near the Bagdogra airport in Gosainpur, instead of the planned venue in Bidhannagar. Speaking at the event, on Saturday, Murmu had publicly expressed displeasure over the low turnout, attributing it to the change of venue, and noted the absence of the CM and her ministers. In her response, Banerjee accused the President of playing President Droupadi Murmu | PTI No violation: Mamata West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday claimed there was no protocol violation at the President’s programme, terming it a “private event” politics at the best of the BJP ahead of the state polls, triggering a political firestorm. On Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tore into the Trinamool Congress (TMC) saying the “enlightened people” of West Bengal would never forgive the party for “insulting” the President, who is a woman and a tribal. “The dirty politics and arrogance of power of the TMC, which has gravely insulted a tribal President, will soon be shattered... The country will not forgive them, the tribal community will not pardon them, and the women of the nation will not forgive them,” Modi said. Marking the International Women’s Day, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Sunday released the fourth instalment of financial assistance und e r S u b h a d r a Yo j a n a , transferring more than `5,106 crore to over 1.02 crore women beneficiaries across the state. At a state-level programme held in Puri, the chief minister credited the scheme for bringing a “transformational change” in the lives of women within a short period. During the fourth phase, 1,02,12,665 beneficiaries received `5,000 each directly into their bank accounts. Of them, 4,20,854 beneficiaries belong to Puri district. Addressing the gathering, CM Mohan Charan Majhi launching the 4 th phase of Subhadra Yojana at Puri | Express Majhi said the Subhadra scheme has emerged a powerful tool for women’s empowerment in Odisha. “Within just one-and-half years, Subhadra Yojana has become a messenger of remarkable transformation for our moth- lakshya falls at the final hurdle again Lakshya Sen loses to Lin Chun-yi of Chinese Taipei in the final of the All England badminton. This was his second final outing in the premier competition | P11 C o n s e r v a t i o n s u cc e s s Fishbone breathes new life into Bhitarkanika mangroves A s h i s Sena pat i @ Kendrapara In a major success for the conservation efforts, mangrove forest cover in Bhitarkanika National Park has increased by around 100 hectare in the last four years, thanks to the unique fishbone plantation method used by the Forest department. The innovative technique for restoring mangrove ecosystems involves creating a network of feeder irrigation channels branch- ing off from a main canal, forming a structure resembling a fishbone. These channels help facilitate the flow of saline tidal water into previously dried-up or degraded coastal land, making the soil suitable for mangrove growth. Out of 259.06 sq km of mangrove forests across six coastal districts in Odisha, Bhitarkanika in Kendrapara district accounts for the major chunk of 212.69 sq km. Bhitarkanika assistant conservator of forests (ACF) Manas Kumar Das said, “Fishbone plantation is an eco-friendly restoration technique in which herringbone- patterned channels are dug in degraded, high-salinity tidal mudflats. By mimicking natural tidal creeks, the method improves water circulation, reduces soil salinity and allows nutrients to reach barren areas, enabling rapid regeneration of mangrove forests.” The Forest department first introduced the technique in 2022, facilitating saline water to reach previously barren coastal land by digging channels in areas with limited tidal inflow.  Continued on P5 ers and sisters. In the coming days, more and more women will join this journey of change,” the chief minister said. Majhi said that the initiative has provided financial independence and distinct identity, boosting their confidence and self-identity. Highlighting the impact of the scheme, the chief minister said many beneficiaries across districts such as Angul, Balangir, Bargarh, Bhadrak and Cuttack have successfully started ventures including mushroom cultivation, poultry farming, bamboo enterprises and small business using the assistance. He also released the Subhadra evaluation report prepared by the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Sambalpur. According to the survey, 25.52 per cent of the beneficiaries used the fund to start business, while 35.7 per cent utilised it for household needs. Others invested in savings, skill development and loan repayment, improving their status within Continued on P5 families.