Kohli in cruise control as India take 1-0 lead against Black caps Virat Kohli rose to the occasion in a rain-affected encounter to help visitors beat New Zealand. A look... hubballi l Thursday l November 05, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l city EDITION While Virat Kohli stole the show with a sublime fifty, Anshul Kamboj, with just two wickets, broke the match for India during the middle-overs. Arshdep Singh (4/70) and Gurnoor Brar (3/44) led the charts, but Kamboj, after a forgettable debut vs West Indies, stole the show with a mesmerising spell of 2/22 in 10 overs as NZ were all out for 185 On an Auckland pitch that had lot of assistance for pacers, Kohli made a mockery of the hosts as he cruised to 51-ball 74 Kohli smashed 13 fours and a six in his strokefilled knock | P15 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 Bus fares hiked up to 23% for RTCs, 35% for BMTC MID-TERM ELECTIONS Senate 54 House of Representatives 7 Democrats 50 Not up for election 7 44 Republicans 228 25 218 to win Democrats 25 139 Republicans Trump loses U.S. grip Democrats wrest control of both Senate and House of Representatives in mid- term polls A G E N CI E S @ Washington IN a major political setback to US President Donald Trump and the Republican Party, the opposition Democratic Party swept the mid-term elections by winning a majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate and flipping key gubernatorial posts. Of the 470 Congressional seats for which elections were held on November 3, the Democrats won 282, according to the Associated Press race call. The Dems crossed the halfway mark of 218 in the 435-seat House with 228 seats, pushing the Republicans to 139, with 68 seats yet to be called. In the outgoing House, the Republicans had a slim margin of 220-215. In the 100-seat Senate—of which 35 went to polls—the Democrats now have a comfortable majority with 54 seats, while the Republicans have been reduced to 44. Republicans had a 53-47 majority in the outgoing Senate. With an upper hand in Congress, the Democrats have effectively ended the Republicans’ hold on Washington and opened the window to block Trump’s legislative agenda and launch Congressional investigations over the remaining two years of his presidential term. The results are believed to indicate voters’ frustration with Trump’s policies, including the war on Iran, which contributed to rising living costs. Trump conceded defeat and congratulated the Democrats, saying he was ready to work with them. However, he refused to take responsibility for the debacle. In a social media post, he claimed the outcome would have been different had he been running. “I wasn’t on the ballot, and there was nothing that could be done about that. If I was, we would have won,” he boasted on Truth Social. He also threatened to use his presidential veto power to strike down legislation passed by Congress. “I think they’re gonna want to work with me. Otherwise I’d just veto everything, and they’re not gonna want that,” he said. He later posted an image of a red cap bearing the word VETO on social media.  P12, 13 Los Angeles mayoral candidate Nithya Raman dances with supporters at an election night event Wednesday | afp/ap J ayanth J a c o b @ New Delhi Iran has exempted merchant vessels from India, China, Iraq and Qatar from restrictions on transit through the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz, with the move aimed at facilitating medicine imports from India, a senior Iranian lawmaker has said. Amir Hayat-Moghaddam, deputy chairman of the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said ships from the four countries were allowed to pass freely through the waterway and were not being intercepted by the United States. “We have currently exempted India, China, Iraq and Qatar from transit restrictions in the Strait of Hormuz. Ships from these countries pass freely, and the Americans do not intercept them either,” HayatMoghaddam told the Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA) in an interview on Tuesday . Explaining the rationale behind the exemptions, Hayat-Moghaddam said Iran was facilitating the passage of Indian vessels to enable the procurement of medicines from India. The exemption for Chinese ships, meanwhile, was intended to secure Beijing’s political support, he indicated. There was no immediate reaction from the Ministry of External Affairs or Iran’s Foreign Minister. But Tehran seems to be using selective exemptions from transit restrictions in Hormuz to advance its diplomatic and economic interests amid tensions over the strategic shipping route and fresh threats from Donald Trump. The Union Cabinet on Wednesday rewrote a key provision of the Agnipath scheme, giving two more years in uniform for 75% of personnel not retained after the initial four-year stint, along with another shot at becoming regular soldiers. It comes weeks before the first batch of Agniveers, who joined in 2022, is due to leave the armed forces after completing their four-year stint. The new “second engagement period” effectively creates a six-year pathway to regular military service for those willing to stay on and able to meet the selection criteria. The original provision for 25% of each batch to be absorbed on merit at the four-year mark remains untouched. Announcing the decision, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General NS Raja Subramani said the scheme was “not set in stone” and would be reviewed periodically adding that more , tweaks could follow. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh dubbed it a ‘Second Tour of Duty’. To sweeten the deal, the second tour comes with higher pay and a bigger Seva Nidhi package. Agniveers, however, remain outside the pension and gratuity net. Those enrolled as regulars after six years will rank below the 25% of personnel absorbed at the four-year mark, the CDS said. The push came from the armed forces themselves. They had increasingly questioned the logic of showing the door to soldiers just when they had become operationally useful. Man beats staffer, daughter’s BF, to death in B’luru Poll bar on people with over two kids irrelevant, says SC E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi A 24-year-old man was allegedly beaten to death by his employer after the latter found him with his daughter in a compromising position at their house near Kogilu Cross in the Yelahanka police limits on Tuesday afternoon. The police have arrested the accused. The deceased, Kiran (24), hailed from Kerala. The accused, Anandraj (45), who is from Tamil Nadu, runs a pushcart manufacturing business on Kogilu Main Road. Kiran had been working for him for the past few years. Anandraj’s 19-year-old elder daughter was pursuing pre-university in Mysuru and had returned home for the holidays.  CONTINUED ON: P7 IN a landmark decision, the Supreme Court on Wednesday set aside the poll disqualification of a former sarpanch for having more than two children, noting that laws prescribing such penalties have lost all relevance in modern India. The court also referred the SC’s 2003 precedent-setting judgment on such laws to a larger bench. Mangala Bhimrao, former sarpanch at the Kakoda GP was dis, qualified under Section 14(1)(j-1) of the Maharashtra Village Panchayat Act, 1959, following the birth of her third child. The state law has imposed this restriction on candidates since September 2000. However, the bench of justices P S Narasimha and Alok Aradhe said the rationale for restricting democratic participation based on family size has crumbled due to demographic changes. In 2003, the SC had upheld the Harya- @ Bengaluru Army personnel patrol along the Line of Control (LoC) in Akhnoor | PTI @Bengaluru Democratic US Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed and his wife, Dr Sarah, take the stage after he declares victory against Republican Mike Rogers in Michigan on Wednesday | afp/ap First Muslim Senator has K’taka connection Early Diwali for Agniveers Iran exempts Indian as defence hire path opens vessels from curbs J a v a r i a Rana @ New Delhi E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e na Panchayati Raj Act of 1994, validating the disqualification of local poll candidates with more than two children, in the Javed vs State of Haryana case. With the latest order finding it infructuous and sending the 2003 verdict for review to a larger bench, the court has opened the door to an overhaul of poll eligibility rules across local bodies. Justice Narasimha said, “The foundation of such laws, that is the fear of overpopulation, has crumbled due to demographic changes... We have explained how, from 2003 after Javed vs State of Haryana upheld such laws, India’s total fertility rate has fallen from 3 to 1.9. A total rate of 2.1, known as the replacement rate, would allow one generation to completely replace itself... the total fertility rate falling below the replacement rate would soon result in a demographic transition to an older population, with a declining share of the working population.” Progressive Democrat Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed (42), America’s first Muslim Senator, has an India connection. His wife, Dr Sarah El-Sayed, a psychiatrist, has her roots in Karnataka’s Bhatkal. Sarah’s father, Dr Jukaku Tayeb, was born and grew up in Bhatkal and Sarah’s grandfather Jukaku Shamsuddin was the deputy finance minister in the then BD Jatti govt | P9 Close on the heels of milk price rise, Kar nataka on Wednesday announced a bus fare hike of up to 35% for Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) and an average increase of 23% for the three other state-run transport corporations — KSRTC, KKRTC and NWKRTC. The revised fares came into effect from Wednesday midnight. Transport Minister Byrathi Suresh told the media that the fare revision was necessary to address rising diesel prices, employee salaries and dearness allowance, higher spare parts costs and financial burden on the four transport corporations. Around 80% of their total expenditure goes towards diesel and staff costs, he added. He said BMTC had sought a 90% fare hike, while KSRTC and the other two corporations 32% to 34%. But the government decided to limit the increase to an average of 33% CM defends hike Defending the hike, CM DK Shivakumar said, “If the Centre reduces the prices of petrol and diesel, we are prepared to reduce bus fares.” BJP protest today The BJP will protest across Karnataka on Thursday opposing the state government’s decision to hike milk, curd and bus fares. to 35% for BMTC and 23% for the other three corporations. He said the four corporations have accumulated losses of around Rs 10,200 crore, of which the combined outstanding liabilities and loans, including the pending payments from the government towards the Shakthi scheme, stood at Rs 9,912.10 crore as of September 30.  P4