WEDNESDAY Lowest margin of 32 votes 09 The Uchana Kalan seat in Haryana saw one of the fiercest poll encounters with BJP’s Devender Chatar Bhuj Attri defeating Congress candidate Brijendra Singh by just 32 votes. The margin of 32 votes was the lowest among the 90 assembly segments of the state. Meanwhile, Congress candidate Mamman Khan won the Ferozepur Jhirka seat in Nuh district by a highest margin of 98,441 votes. OCTOBER, 2024 epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard X.com/TheMornStandard ASSEMBLY ELECTION RESULTS HARYANA ISRAEL EXPANDS ATTACKS ON HEZBOLLAH Israel ramped up its ground offensive against Hezbollah along the southern section of the Lebanese coast on Tuesday, deploying more troops. PAGE 9 BJP INC Others 90 TOTAL INLD 48 37 2 3 BJP (+8) A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS  NEW DELHI  J8.00  Congress PAGES 12 (+6) INLD CONG VOTE SHARE IN HARYANA JUST 0.85% BEHIND BJP, BUT SEAT DIFFERENCE 11 NC IMPROVES ITS VOTE SHARE BY 2.66%, ADDS 27 SEATS TO ITS 2014 TALLY BJP 1, CONGRESS 0 ‘Double-engine’ sarkar National Conference for 3rd consecutive time gets the right to rule H A R P R E E T B A J W A @ Chandigarh F AYA Z W A N I @ Srinagar DESPITE facing huge anti-incumbency farmers’ unrest, protest , by wrestlers and widespread discontent over the Agniveer scheme, the BJP managed to retain power for the third consecutive term in Haryana. No party has won a third consecutive term in the state ever since its inception in 1966. This mandate for the ‘double-engine sarkar’ could have a bearing on the forthcoming polls in Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Delhi. While the BJP got 48 seats — 8 more than 2019 — and crossed the halfway mark of 46, it was just 0.85% ahead of the Congress in terms of vote share. The Congress had a whopping 11.01% positive swing, yet it could add just six seats to its 2019 tally of 31. The AAP scored a duck but polled 1.79% votes. At hindsight, had the Congress done a deal with AAP it could have possibly , made a winning combination. Analysts blamed the Congress debacle on its chronic infighting, flawed ticket distribution and party leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s undue emphasis on the Jat vote bank, which comprises almost 27% of the state’s electorate. Sirsa MP and the party’s SC face Kumari Selja’s animosity with Hooda appears to have played a key role in the party’s loss. The Muslim vote bank, however, remained firmly behind the Congress. Its Ferozepur Jhirka candidate, Mamman Khan, won. Two other Muslim-dominated seats of Nuh and Punahana, too went to the party . Talking to this daily, Dr S S Chahar, former director of the Centre for Haryana Studies in Rohtak, said, “The micro management by the ruling BJP was perfect. Also, the RSS played a vital role in sorting out intra-party differences in the BJP The . migrant and floating votes went to the party And the BJP vote . was silent this time. Besides, Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini was accessible to the public.” The party also managed to get SC votes and the support of women self-help groups in villages. IN the first assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir after Article 370’s abrogation, the National Conference did spectacularly well to bag 42 seats and get the right to form the new government with the Congress, its alliance partner. For all the highpitched campaign by the BJP, its ‘Naya Kashmir’ narrative managed to add just four seats, taking its tally to 29. NC leader Omar Abdullah would be the new chief minister. The Congress performed poorly in the Jammu region, picking up just one of its six seats there — Rajouri (ST). The other five came from the Kashmir valley CPM leader Mohammad Yousuf . Tarigami, who is an ally of NC-Congress, retained his Kulgam seat for the fifth consecutive time. The tally could go up as at least two NC and Congress rebels each contested and won. They are likely to return to their respective parties. The NC’s strike rate was very high, having contested from just 51 seats. It had a positive swing of 2.66% votes as compared to the last assembly elections in 2014, but in terms of seats it captured 27 more. Besides, the NC and Congress were involved in friendly fights on five seats. Omar’s party also won seven seats in the Jammu region. The election result is a setback for the BJP Its party president . in J&K Ravindra Raina lost to NC’s Surinder Chodhary from his home constituency in Nowshera in Rajouri. Jubilant NC and Congress workers danced and burst crackers to celebrate their win around their party headquarters. “The result has shown that the NC is a force to reckon with and can’t be crushed,” said a party worker Ghulam Ahmed. Omar, who had initially reluctant to enter the poll fray till the restoration of statehood, contested from two seats — Budgam and Ganderbal — and won both. MORE REPORTS ON P7 & 8 HARYANA JAMMU & KASHMIR RAJESH KUMAR THAKUR @ New Delhi PRIME Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that voters in Haryana chose truth, development, and good governance over ne gativity and falsehood. Addressing BJP workers at the party headquarters here, Modi said the people accepted the BJP’s guarantee of development and rejected the Opposition’s pack of lies, giving the saffron party its third consecutive victory in the state. “In the land of Gita, truth and development and good governance have won,” he said. Narendra Modi, PM PM Narendra Modi and BJP chief JP Nadda at the party HQ in Delhi on Tuesday | PARVEEN NEGI A S H I S H S R I V A S TA V A @ New Delhi IN a show of solidarity, junior doctors from AIIMS and other medical institutions in Delhi will join their counterparts at RG Kar Medical College in a “fast unto death” protest on Wednesday This action marks . two months since the rape-murder of a trainee woman doctor at RG Kar, a case that has sparked widespread outrage. The fresh protest also follows a nationwide hunger strike called by the Federation of Resident Doctors Association aimed at supporting the ongoing agitation in Bengal. “We’ll stage a nationwide hunger strike in solidarity with our Bengal colleagues. I will lead a delegation to the protest site in Kolkata. We will decide further action if the state government fails to ignore our demands,” said Dr Suvrankar Datta, president of FAIMA and vice-president of RDA-AIIMS. OTHERS No surprise expected I want to thank the people who gave the verdict in favour of NC-Congress and rejected the August 5, 2019 decision when J&K’s special status was abrogated Farooq Abdullah, NC patriarch There is unexplained slowdown in updating Haryana results... this allows bad faith actors to spin narratives that undermine the process Nayab Singh Saini, Haryana CM PM Modi praises the leadership of Nayab Singh Saini, who is all set to retain his chair as the chief minister of Haryana AAP BJP CPM Cong Others NC SWING FACTOR NC: +2.66% BJP: +2.66% Cong: -6.04% PDP: -13.8% There is nothing on record to substantiate your ill-founded allegation of slowdown in updating of results. Your memorandum also does not bring out any contrary facts Cong: +11.01% PDP National Conference 42 29 6 3 1 1 8 (+27) BJP (+4) Congress EC’s sharp response to Jairam Ramesh (-6) PDP 90 TOTAL (-25) AAP Omar rises from the ashes, set to be CM Kumari Selja, Sirsa Lok Sabha MP BJP: +3.45% JAMMU & KASHMIR Jairam Ramesh, Cong, in letter to EC The results are disappointing. It will not be business as usual in Haryana and I am sure the Congress high command would identify those who negated the efforts to bring the party to power after 10 years SWING FACTOR Omar Abdullah, National Conference leader NC president Farooq Abdullah announces that his son Omar Abdullah will be the CM, a post the latter held between 2009 and 2014. “The priority of the new government is to fulfill people’s expectations,” Omar tells reporters in Budgam (1) CPM (0) OTHERS However, J&K Congress chief Tariq Hamid Karra said the CM’s post needs to be discussed between the partners Haryana win a vote for development: Modi People of Haryana have achieved something remarkable. For the first time, a govt has been given the opportunity for the third consecutive term Medicos from AIIMS to join Bengal protest (+1) 50 senior docs at RG Kar resign, decide to join stir S U L A G N A S E N G U P TA @ Kolkata IN a major escalation of the doctors’ protest in West Bengal, around 50 senior doctors of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on Tuesday tendered their resignations in solidarity with the medics who have been on a hunger strike demanding action on the 10-point agenda. Their demands include security measures in hospitals, better working conditions, and systemic reforms in state-run hospitals. The senior doctors who put in their papers on Tuesday include department heads. They said they took the step as “there has been no response from the appropriate authority to solve and to save our children from impending health disaster”. The doctors claimed that medics from other prominent medical institutions such as SSKM and NRS may follow suit, further intensifying the pressure on the state government to act. The junior doctors’ protest has gained significant momentum with their seniors joining the movement. However, the protests have badly hit healthcare services in the state. The mass resignations of senior doctors and the growing number of participants in the hunger strike have left the state’s health services in a precarious position. The state gover nment has promised to roll out safety and security measures by the first week of November. The doctors say their protests will continue till that is done. Meanwhile, junior doctors will distribute leaflets outlining their demands for justice for their murdered colleague at Durga Puja pandals on Wednesday besides holding a blood donation camp. On Tuesday evening, junior and senior doctors staged two rallies in support of their fasting colleagues. Commenting on the Jammu and Kashmir election results, Modi said they reflect the vibrancy of India’s Constitution and democracy while crediting his government for the conduct of peaceful elections there. Launching a fresh broadside against the Congress, Modi accused the party of helping evil forces that are trying to destroy India by obstructing the country’s growth. “Many conspiracies are being hatched globally to weaken India’s economy de, mocracy and society Congress , . and its cronies are part of this game,” he alleged. Modi also alleged that the Physics Nobel goes to AI scientists John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton Duo laid foundation for machine learning The duo won the coveted prize for helping create the building blocks of machine learning that is revolutionising the way people work and live “The two Nobel Laureates have used tools from physics to develop methods that are the foundation of today’s powerful machine learning,” the Nobel committee said in a press release. Hinton, 76, who is known as the ‘Godfather of artificial intelligence’, is a citizen of Canada and Britain who works at the University of Toronto; Hopfield, 91, is a US professor at Princeton University John Hopfield Congress wants to weaken India by weakening the society and spreading anarchy in the country “That is why they are . provoking different sections, constantly trying to ignite a fire in the names of castes,” he alleged, adding that the paty made many attempts to instigate farmers but people saw through its tricks and propaganda and rejected the party . Modi also claimed that whenever the BJP forms a government in a state, people support it for a long time but the Congress rarely comes back to power as people put a ‘no entry’ board for the grand old party. Built neural networks that mimic brain Inspired by the workings of the human brain, Hinton and Hopfield built artificial neural networks that can store and retrieve memories like brain and also learn from information fed into them Hinton made headlines last year when he quit Google and warned about the dangers of machines outsmarting humans in the long run | P9 SEK 11 million Geoffrey Hinton PHYSICS PRIZE CARRIES A CASH AWARD OF 11 MILLION SWEDISH KRONOR ( $1 MILLION) EXPRESS READ Maoist killed in C’garh encounter, 4 surrender Gujarat cops arrest journalist in ‘GST scam’ Live-In: HC rules enough for dowry death case A Maoist was gunned down in an encounter with security forces at the forested hilly terrain of Pamlur in Sukma, 450 km south of Raipur, police said on Tuesday. In another incident, four Maoists surrendered before the Dantewada police. The Ahmedabad Crime Branch on Tuesday arrested senior journalist Mahesh Langa in an alleged GST scam. Following detailed questioning, Langa was arrested, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Ajit Rajian said. The Allahabad HC has observed for an offence of dowry demand or in case of dowry death, it is sufficient to show that the victim woman and the accused man were “residing as husband and wife at the relevant point of time”. “It was 13 years ago that the Congress came back to power in Assam and there are some states where the Congress has not returned to power for 60 years,” he said. Focusing a major part of his speech in targeting the Congress, Modi went on to allege that the oppositon party has been working against t h e i n t e re s t s o f S C / S Ts and backward classes by trying t o p rovo ke t h e m w i t h misleading agenda. “Today when the Dalits, backward classes, and tribals are reaching top positions, the Congress is nervous,” he said. John Hopkins keen on B’luru branch: Minister E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ B’luru KARNATAKA Minister for Large and Medium Industries MB Patil has said that US-based Johns Hopkins University is keen on setting up its higher education institution at KWIN City (Knowledge, Well-being and Innovation City) at Doddaballapur here. Patil, who is in the US, held a meeting with the officials of the university on Monday and explained to them about his vision to make Karnataka a global leader in research, healthcare and higher education sectors. Patil interacted with representatives of US institutions like Carey Business School, Bloomberg School of Public Health and the School of Medicine. The minister also held meetings with leaders of healthcare, aerospace, defence and higher education sectors in the US on having partnerships with Karnataka through investments.