V-P ELECTION ON AUGUST 6 The Election Commission on Wednesday finalised the schedule for 16th Vice-Presidential Election The voting and counting of votes, if needed, will be held on the same day THIRUVANANTHAPURAM l thursday l june 30, 2022 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l LATE city EDITION Electoral College comprises 233 elected members of the Rajya Sabha, 12 nominated members of the Rajya Sabha, and 543 elected members of the Lok Sabha, making it a total of 788 members AUG 10 When the term of Vice President Venkaiah Naidu ends According to sources, the BJP-led NDA is likely to field a Muslim face for V-P, with Kerala governor Arif Mohammed Khan being the front-runner. Former Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi’s name is also doing the rounds 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 Uddhav throws in the towel Quits after the SC refuses to stay floor test; BJP expected to stake its claim to run the state E x p ress Ne w s S erv i c e @ Mumbai/ New Delhi Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray threw in the towel on Wednesday night as he resigned shortly after the Supreme Court refused to stay a scheduled floor test on Thursday, capping a day of intense drama. Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari had directed him to take the confidence vote in the Assembly in the wake of a big rebellion in the Shiv Sena. The BJP now has a clear advantage, with former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis expected to meet the Governor soon to stake his claim to form the new government citing support from the Sena rebels. Announcing his resignation in a Facebook live address, Uddhav said, “We respect the SC judgment. Democracy must be followed.” He then went to Raj Bhavan to submit his resignation both as CM and member of the legislative council, which They may have the numbers. I am not a person who believes in head count... I am not interested in a number game. Therefore, I have decided to resign as both CM and MLC Uddhav Thackeray Cabinet clears renaming Aurangabad In its last decision, the Uddhav cabinet on Wednesday approved proposals to rename two districts — Aurangabad as Sambhaji Nagar and Osamanabad as Dharashiv. It was Uddhav’s attempt to retake the Hindutva plank that got diluted within the Aghadi. But, it cannot be implemented since the government has fallen was promptly accepted by Koshyari. “My own people do not want me continue as CM. Sena and Sena supremo Balasaheb Thackeray made these people big. They were commoners; Sena gave them honour and positions, but they left me and pulled down my government,” a hurt Uddhav rued. The day began with the Governor directing him to take a confidence vote in the Assembly at 11 am on Thursday. Sena’s chief whip Sunil Prabhu challenged it in the SC, since it had stayed the operation of disqualification notices to 16 rebels issued by the deputy speaker till July 12. The SC began hybrid hearing of the petition at 5 pm and pronounced its interim order at 9 pm. It said the result of the vote on Thursday will be subject to its verdict on July 11, when it will decide whether a section of MLAs from the Sena should be disqualified. During oral hearing, a vacation bench comprising judges Surya Kant and J B Pardiwala said, “We don’t think the matter will become infructuous. Suppose if we find later that floor test was conducted without authority, we can annul it. It is not irreversible.” The court also allowed jailed NCP MLAs Nawab Malik and Anil Deshmukh to participate P7,8 in the floor test. EXPRESS READ June monsoon deficit highest in decade Despite early onset, the Southwest Monsoon has been 53% deficient in Kerala in June, the highest deficit in the month in 10 years. The state received 291.9mm of rainfall till June 29, against normal 621.9mm. P5 Man, son die during swimming lesson A 50-year-old man and his son drowned in a pond in Kannur while the latter was learning swimming, the police said. The youth, aged 16, was learning swimming to get a certificate that would help him secure grace marks for Plus-I admission. P5 Daily Covid cases cross 4,800-mark Kerala reported over 4,800 Covid cases and seven deaths on Wednesday. Active cases neared 28,000-mark. P2 16 pages, including 4 pages of THIRUVANANTHAPURAM Express Pak angle emerges in Udaipur murder, UAPA slapped on killers Governor Khan slams madrasa education Reacting to the incident, Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan said Islamic law that advocated beheading as a punishment for blasphemy was being taught in madrasas. He said children are prone to be indoctrinated in madrasas and said what is taught there should be examined. P4 R A J E S H A S NANI @ Jaipur AN inter national angle emerged in the barbaric killing of Udaipur tailor Kanhaiya Lal by two Islamists on Tuesday . Initial probe by the National Investigation Agency and Rajasthan police revealed that one of the killers has links with an extremist Sunni group in Pakistan and had undergone training there a few years ago. “Ghouse Mohammad has links with Karachi-based Dawat-e-Islami,” said Rajasthan DGP M L Lather. The possibility of the second killer, Riyaz Jabbar, too having terror links can’t be ruled out, he added. Both the culprits were arrested on Tuesday and booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Three others have also been detained for their alleged involvement in the heinous crime. Confirming the international terror link, Rajasthan home minister Rajendra Yadav said Mohammad went to Karachi in 2014 and stayed there for 45 days. The mobile numbers of several people in Pakistan and some Arab countries were stored on his phone and he was in constant touch with 10 persons in Pakistan. “The Udaipur killing was carried out to spread instability and create an atmosphere of fear and riots,” the minister added.  P8 Kerala stares at huge cut in borrowings as Centre tightens reins M S V i d ya n a n d a n @T’Puram Causing sorrow Efforts of the Kerala government to continue keeping off-budget borrowings (OBBs) out of the purview of the state’s public debt have fallen flat before the stern stand taken by the department of expenditure (DE) under the Union ministry of finance. Multiple communications between the DE and state finance department, between March 31 and June 1, 2022 — exclusively accessed by TNIE — showed that the state had tried its best to account the total borrowings made by the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) and the Kerala Social Security Pension Limited (KSSPL) in the last three years as a separate entry so that the burden of that debt won’t affect the state’s net borrowing ceiling (NBC). Fed up with Kerala's attempts not to account OBBs, the DE warned on May 20 that they might be forced to unilaterally fix the NBC for the state for 2022-23 if the required details of OBBs were not furnished in the prescribed format. The reply of the state filed on May 25 by mentioning net borrowings $7.76 bn INdia’s Marine exports hit highest in 2021-22 State’s net borrowing ceiling for 2022-23: I32,439 cr + 0.5% of GSDP based on certain performance criteria in power sector KSSPL borrowed at least K17,000 cr in the last two fiscals, KIIFB at least K1,000 cr Threat: Sum may be deducted from net borrowing ceiling, forcing a financial emergency in state by both KIIFB and KSSPL was also rejected by the DE, which on June 1 directed the state to furnish details of gross borrowings made during 2020-21 and 2021-22. The gross borrowing figure reflects the actual borrowing till date while net borrowings indicate only the outstanding sum of the borrowed money . The chain of communications revealed that the DE depended mostly on CAG’s State Finance Audit Report for the year ended March 2020 to shoot down state’s counter argu● More on P4 ments on OBBs.  India shipped 13,69,264 tonnes of seafood worth I57,586.48 crore ($7.76 billion) in 2021-22, the highest so far. Frozen shrimp was the major export item | P4