NEW DELHI 02 JUNE 2024 SUNDAY `12 PAGES 24 facebook/TheMorningStandard X.com/TheMornStandard https://epaper.morningstandard.in It Takes a Village PLUS: 12 PAGES Where the Wild Things Are MAGAZINE K IS FOR SKIN EXCLUSIVE VOICES Pushpesh Pant Ravi Shankar Preeti Shenoy Ajai Sahni ALLERGY NATION THUMPING NDA WIN PREDICTED ADVANTAGE BJP IN ODISHA BIG BENGAL GAINS DEBUT IN TN, KERALA Dinesh Singh Prabhu Chawla Shankkar Aiyar Anuradha Goyal The Rediscovery of India SUNSHINE ON A PLATE AMMA SPEAKS ‘I am Not a Method Actor’ 1 2 Poll predicts exit of INDIA challenge, 3rd Modi term P R E E T H A N A I R @ New Delhi Chess world: Chennai bids for title clash S W A R O O P S W A M I N AT H A N @ Chennai CHENNAI has entered the race to host the World Championship final between D Gukesh and Ding Liren. The Tamil Nadu capital is one among three cities-- New Delhi and Singapore are the two other cities -- to have submitted bids to host the prestigious event. The hosting of the event will not come cheap either. All three bidders have agreed to a minimum guarantee money of $8.5 million (approx `71 crore). What seems interesting is that the newly-elected All India Chess Federation (AICF) that doesn’t have any member from chess powerhouses like TN, has backed New Delhi as the host. Yet, according to FIDE, the TN government was the first to submit the bid to host the event in Chennai. According to FIDE, Delhi was the last city to bid. Chennai decided to enter the bidding process after FIDE had approached the TN government. According to a top TN official, the FIDE had written to chief minister MK Stalin urging them to bid. The logic behind this is that Chennai had hosted the Chess Olympiad successfully in 2022. The city had hosted the event in 2013 when Viswanathan Anand faced Magnus Carlsen. Gukesh has had good outings in his hometown during the Chess Olympiad. SDAT member secretary Meghanath Reddy confirmed the development and said the city is bidding independently and has nothing to do with AICF bid. Singapore, because of its neutrality, may find favour, but historically Chennai has the , edge because of its chess legacy However, it all depends . on what FIDE would be looking for while selecting a venue. SEVERAL exit polls on Saturday predicted a comfortable win for the Narendra Modiled NDA government, winning over 350 seats, with the Opposition INDIA bloc trailing with 125-150 seats. The ruling alliance is projected to open its account in the Southern states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and sweep Karnataka. The exit polls also predicted NDA dominance in Maharashtra and a near rout of the CPM-led LDF in Kerala. According to the India Today-Axis My India poll, UDF will bag 17-18, and the NDA will get 2-3 of the 20 seats in the state. As many as six exit polls showed that the BJP-led NDA securing 20-25 seats in the closely fought elections in Karnataka. In UP, they showed an NDA sweep with at least 65 seats. They also predicted big gains for the BJP in Odisha. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the “opportunistic” Opposition bloc has failed to strike a chord with the people, the Congress said the exit polls were orchestrated. “We are confident of a victory The pollsters and . exit polls agency got it from a NDA INDIA Others 152-182 4-12 152 33 371-401 109-139 28-38 285-350 145-201 33-49 125 47 362-392 141-161 10-20 Republic Bharat-Matrize 353-368 118-133 43-48 154 30 145 32 353-383 IABP News-C Voter 358 Times Now-ETG India TV-CNX Dainik Bhaskar 371 India News-D-Dynamics Jan Ki Baat Republic TV-P MARQ POLL OF POLLS 359 362 particular address in Delhi,” said party leader Pawan Khera. In the battle for the 48 seats in Maharashtra, most pollsters predicted 15-20 seats for the INDIA bloc and a decisive win for the NDA with 30-33 seats. According to India TodayMy Axis India, the BJP-led NDA is heading to sweep Maharashtra. It projected 20-22 seats for the BJP and 8-10 seats for Shinde’s Sena. At least three pollsters predicted BJP gains in Bengal. While the India Today-Axis My India predicted 26-31 seats for the BJP, Today’s Chanakya gave it 24 seats. SHORTLY after voting for the seventh phase, various news channels predicted between five -seven seats for BJP while nil and two seats to the INDIA bloc in Delhi. Political analysts believe that the AAP-Congress alliance has helped to stop the division of anti-BJP votes, which is nearly 40-45 per cent. The BJP is contesting all seven seats, AAP four—South Delhi, East Delhi, New Delhi and West Delhi—while its partner Congress has fielded candidates on North East, Chandni Chowk and North West Delhi. Delhi voted in the sixth phase on May 25. The BJP swept all seven seats in the 2014 and 2019 elections. This time, however, Congress candidate JP Aggarwal appears to be giving a tough fight to BJP’s Praveen Khandelwal in Chandni Chowk. Aggarwal is considered the strongest from INDIA bloc in the city. Similarly, Congress candidate from North East Delhi candidate Kanhaiya Kumar is also seen as a potential winner. In East Delhi, AAP’s Kuldeep Kumar has influence in some assembly constituencies, which is 1. People queue up to cast their votes in Varanasi 2. Videograb of an injured voter in Sandeshkhali 3. EVM & VVPAT dumped in a Bengal pond | PTI Sporadic violence in parts of Bengal mars final phase of polls, turnout 60% PREETHA NAIR & SULAGNA S E N G U P TA @ New Delhi/Kolkata PROJECTION FOR RAJ, BIHAR Though the Opposition was hoping to make significant gains in Rajasthan and Bihar, at least three exit polls have predicted massive gains for the NDA in those states The opportunistic INDI Alliance failed to strike a chord with the voters... regressive politics has been rejected Narendra Modi, PM Exit polls suggest BJP win in 5-7 seats in national capital A N U P V E R M A @ New Delhi 3 EXIT POLL RESULTS Source MY AXISINDIA TODAY TIMES NOWETG TV 9 BHARATVASRH INDIA TVCNX BJP: 6-7 BJP: 7 BJP: 7 BJP: 6-7 INDIA: 0-1 INDIA: 0 INDIA: 0 INDIA: 0-1 the reason for analysts to predict his win. A large chunk of voters has voted for AAP’s New Delhi candidate Somnath Bharti, according to exit polls. According to the Axis-My India exit poll, the BJP is leading on six-seven seats while INDIA bloc is leading on one seat. The channel is projecting 54% vote share to the BJP 19% to Con, gress and 25% to AAP . The exit poll of Republic Bharat-Matrize has predicted five-seven seats in favour of the BJP while nil to twofor the INDIA bloc. ChanakyaNews 24 exit poll predicts six seats in favour of the BJP while one for INDIA bloc. TV 9 Bharatvasrh has predicted BJP’s victory on all seven seats. Times Now- ETG exit poll has also given seven seats to BJP . A turnout of 58.69% was recorded in Delhi, with North East Delhi recording the highest and New Delhi the lowest. INDIA bloc candidates Congress candidate JP Aggarwal appears to be giving a tough fight to BJP’s Praveen Khandelwal in Chandni Chowk. Also, Congress candidate from North East Delhi Kanhaiya Kumar is seen another potential winner, as per predictions made in exit polls. Delhi voted in 6th phase on May 26 and 8.69% polling was recorded Over 56% polling in Varanasi The turnout in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency Varanasi was 56.35% as of 10 pm. At 61%, the Sevapuri assembly segment of Varanasi saw maximum polling IT was curtains for the marathon Lok Sabha elections on Saturday with the seventh and final phase of polling coming to an end. The average voter turnout for the last phase was over 60%. The final leg of the election saw voting for 57 seats across eight states and Union Territories, including Varanasi, the high-profile constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is seeking a third term at the top job. Sporadic incidents of violence marred the final phase of polls in West Bengal, as Trinamool Congress and BJP workers clashed in various parts of the state, including Kolkata, SIT to seek access to Apple’s servers in Prajwal case R I S H I TA K H A N N A @ Bengaluru THE Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the alleged sexual assault cases involving Hassan JDS MP Prajwal Revanna will soon request Apple to give access to its servers to gather evidence against him. A source in the SIT told this newspaper that the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), under which the SIT functions, has been requested to help it get information from Apple. “Besides the statements of the survivors, evidence in the form of texts, pictures, videos and locations from Apple’s servers will strengthen the cases,” the source said. If Apple grants permission, it will be a boost to the SIT. However, nothing can be predicted at this point as Apple has a strict customer privacy policy the source said. , The source said that Apple stores a comprehensive range of data, including texts, videos and photos, in iCloud. If granted permission, the SIT can access the data stored in iCloud. The texts, videos and photos from Apple servers can be compared with the publicly shared content to verify the allegations against the MP the source said. , The 33-year-old MP has been remanded in police custody till June 6. Prajwal met his advocate Arun Kumar on Saturday evening and spoke for almost one hour at the SIT office, the source added. Sensor errors led to Mungeshpur temp @ 52.90 C, says IMD I F R A H M U F T I @ New Delhi AFTER recording 52.9 degrees Celsius temperature a few days ago at Delhi’s Mungeshpur and 56 degrees in Maharashtra’s Nagpur, the India Meteorological Department has watered down its measurement, blaming it on malfunctioning of the sensors. Ergo, the Delhi temperature on May 29 stood corrected: 49.9 degrees Celsius. The original reading drove COOL IT THIS WEEK Weather office says it won’t be hotter than 44oC till June 7 The heat wave will prevail only in isolated parts of the national Capital Cloudy sky followed by light rain and gusty winds for June 2, while partly cloudy sky for June 3, 6 and 7, says IMD Safeguarding Ideals the already dreary Delhiites to the brink of exasperation until IMD sent a panel to its weather station to look at its instruments’ truthfulness. The committee found the “anomaly” as it compared the readings with other automatic weather stations (AWS) in Delhi, revealing a positive bias in the temperature readings at Mungeshpur. The AWS at Mungeshpur reported temperatures approximately 3 degrees Celsius higher than the standard instruments during peak periods. This means the peak temperature in parts of Delhi on May 29 was around 49.9 degrees Celsius. Officials noted that these high temperatures were recorded because areas like Mungeshpur, Narela, and Najafgarh are particularly susceptible to the early arrival of hot winds from Rajasthan. “Remedial measures are being taken up by the IMD to avoid the repetition of such errors in AWS,” the IMD said in a statement. The Saturday weather needed any sophisticated device to measure the nature’s cool Uturn. A dust storm accompanied by gusty winds swept across the city at 3:15 pm, bringing much-needed relief. On Friday, the maximum temperature shot up marginally, making it the sixth consecutive day when Safdarjung recorded a thermometer high above the 45-degree mark. Jadavpur and Diamond Harbour constituencies. In Kultoli in South 24 Parganas district, a mob forced its way into a polling station, seizing a reserve Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) along with the Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) unit and threw them into a nearby pond. They were angry as some polling agents were allegedly barred from entering the booths. Clashes were also reported in the Satuliya area of Bhangor in the Jadavpur constituency between the Indian Secular Front (ISF) and CPI(M) supporters. Country-made bombs were freely hurled, injuring several ISF members. Elsewhere in Bhangor, clashes erupted between TMC and All India Secular Front (AISF) activists early on Saturday in, juring a woman AISF member. AISF candidate Nur Alam Khan’s car was vandalised. Chief Minister and TMC head Mamata Banerjee cast her ballot at 4.30 pm at Bhowanipore constituency . Sandeshkhali, a major flashpoint and an embarrassment for the ruling TMC before the beginning of polls, witnessed tension since Friday night that spilled into the early hours of polling on Saturday. Local women, armed with bamboo sticks, protested ag ainst threats from TMC members and the police. They said the goons of the now-suspended TMC leader, Sheikh Shahjahan, were intimidating them. However, the police blamed the unrest on the BJP . PG 7 & 8 Court reserves Kejriwal bail order till June 5, CM goes back to Tihar today S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi A city court on Saturday reserved for June 5 its order on Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s plea seeking an extension of his interim bail in the liquor scam case. With no relief from the court, Kejriwal will return to Tihar jail on Sunday after his interim bail period ended on June 1. A two-judge bench led by Justice Sanjiv Khanna, in its May 10 order, directed the CM to surrender on June 2. Special judge Kaveri Baweja of the Rouse Avenue Court, who had sought the ED’s response on Thursday reserved the order for , Wednesday (June 5). Vehemently opposing Kejriwal’s plea, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the ED, said that the CM did not explain why he did not go for a test. Kejriwal has filed two separate petitions before the trial court. While his first plea sought regular bail, the second sought interim bail for seven days on medical/health grounds. His regular bail plea is scheduled for hearing on June 7. Pleading for not extending his bail, Mehta stated that Kejriwal’s weight has remained constant. “He is lying about experiencing health problems. His claim that CM Arvind Kejriwal at the INDIA bloc meet at Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence on Saturday | SHEKHAR YADAV he has lost 5-6 kgs of weight is incorrect. He has gained 1 kg,” he told the court. Mehta said that Kejriwal on Friday declared that he would surrender on June 2. “Is he taking a chance and then surrendering? I want to ask if his statement is genuine. We have preliminary objections. False statements have been made about his health; there is suppression. We have objections to the filing of interim bail as well. This court cannot modify the Supreme Court order,” he said. Additional Solicitor General S V Raju said that a person feigning sickness, concocting reason, can’t be granted interim bail. EXPRESS READ Technical snag delays Arunachal, Sikkim poll Canada-bound AI flight results to be out today Air India’s Delhi-Vancouver flight, which was to take off early Saturday morning, faced an inordinate delay due to technical issues. The airline said the flight is now expected to depart early morning on Sunday. This is the second instance in a span of three days that a long-haul Air India flight is delayed for long hours. The results of Assembly elections in Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim will be declared on Sunday. While the ruling BJP is on a firm footing in Arunachal, the contest in Sikkim is expected between the ruling Sikkim Krantikari Morcha and the Sikkim Democratic Front. Political observers are also not writing off the BJP in Sikkim.
Express Network Private Limited publishes thirty three E-paper editions of The New Indian Express newspaper , thirty two E-paper editions of Dinamani, one E-paper edition of The Morning Standard, one E-paper edition of Malayalam Vaarika magazine and one E-paper edition of the Indulge - The Morning Standard, Kolkatta.