WEDNESDAY 09 OCTOBER 2024 www.thestatesman.com Pages 12 |` 5.00|LC X.com/thestatesmanltd. Fb/thestatesman1875 INDIA’S NATIONAL NEWSPAPER SINCE 1818 KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR RBI SHIFT TAKE A LESSON FROM J&K POLLS VERDICT, MEHBOOBA TELLS BJP THE REFORMER AS A HEALER P4 SENSEX 81,634.81p584.81 PARTLY CLOUDY SKY. THE MAXIMUM AND MINIMUM TEMPERATURES WOULD BE AROUND 35 AND 23 DEGREES CELSIUS RESPECTIVELY. RAINFALL: Nil RELATIVE HUMIDITY TEMPERATURE NIFTY 25,013.15p217.40 ` vs $ 83.96 P7 GOLD 77,930.00 P12 BRENT CRUDE (IN $) 79.53q1.40 SILVER 96,000 BJP hat-trick in Haryana; NC-Cong back in J&K WEATHER Max. 91 % P10 INDIA AIM FOR BIG WIN AGAINST SRI LANKA Min. 40 % Max: 35.7 °C (+1) SUN RISES 06:19 hrs MOON RISES 13:05 hrs Min: 23.0 °C (+2) SUN SETS 17:58 hrs MOON SETS 22:13 hrs THUMBNAILS The mountaineering team of INS Satavahana holding the National Flag poses for a picture on summiting Mt.Yunam (20,500 ft) commemorating the Submarine Training Base's golden jubilee, on Tuesday.n ANI Crucial top Army brass meet in Sikkim this week, Defence Minister to address: In a strong message to China, the top brass of the Indian Army led by Gen Upendra Dwivedi would be meeting in Sikkim near the Line of Actual Control. where they would be addressed by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. This is the first time that the crucial meeting of the top Army commanders would be held at a location close to the Line of Actual Control, defence officials told. The BJP retained power in Haryana for a third consecutive term, and its arch-opponent Cong was set to enjoy power in J&K with NC DEEPAK RAZDAN NEW DELHI, 8 OCTOBER D efying all exit polls, the BJP on Tuesday registered a hat-trick victory in the Haryana Assembly election, inflicting a big jolt to the Congress, which had overestimated its performance and prematurely thought it was time to celebrate. The Jammu and Kashmir Assembly poll results, on the other hand, unveiled a comfortable win for the National Conference-Congress alliance, which kept the BJP under check and decimated the People's Democratic Party (PDP) which ran the government in the previous Assembly. The BJP won 48 seats in Haryana, while the Congress was restricted to 37, with the INLD winning two and Independents three in the 90-member House. The election proved lucky for Chief Minister Nayab Saini who had replaced Mr Manohar Lal Khattar, Chief Minister since 2014, only six months ago. In Jammu and Kashmir, the National Conference (NC) won 42 seats, its electoral partner Congress secured six, while the BJP won 29 seats. The PDP was reduced to just three seats, and the CPI (M) and the AAP won one seat each in the 90-member Assembly. NC leader Omar Abdullah was all set to take over as Chief Minister of the Union Territory. He won from both Ganderbal and Budgam seats. The BJP retained power in Haryana for a third consecutive term, and its archopponent Congress was set to enjoy power in Jammu and Kashmir with its bigger partner National Conference. The results overall showed the magic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s programmes and policies and his campaign, acknowledged by voters in both States. The Jammu and Kashmir Assembly is all set to witness BJP’s impressive membership, while Haryana has gone all the way to Cong rejects Haryana election results, calls it victory of BJP's 'manipulation' STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 8 OCTOBER The Congress on Tuesday rejected the outcome of the Haryana Assembly polls and called it a victory of “manipulation” by the ruling BJP. Claiming that it has received very serious complaints on the process of counting and functioning of EVMs in at least three districts, the Congress said it would seek time from the Election Commission (EC) to apprise the matter. Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters, Congress general secretary in-charge of Communication Jairam Ramesh while referring to the Haryana Assembly election results, said: “I just want to reiterate that the results in Haryana are totally unexpected, completely surprising and counterintuitive. It goes against ground reality, it goes against what the people of Haryana had made their mind for which was for change and transformation.Under these circumstances, it is not possible for us to accept the results that have been announced today.” “The reason we are not accepting it is because it is surprising and unexpected. Serious issues are raised on the integrity of the counting process, of the functioning of the EVMs in at least three districts in which about 12 to 14 constituencies are involved. It could be more. We will have the final list tomorrow,” he said. Mr Ramesh, who is a Rajya Sabha MP, said: “We will bring it to the notice of the EC. What we have seen today in Haryana is a victory for manipulation, a victory for subverting the will of the people. It’s a defeat for transparent , democratic processes. Congress has not lost. Congress has been made to lose in Haryana.” Attacking the BJP, Mr Ramesh said: “Haryana has been a double-engine government. So it’s a double engine pressure. Pressure from the State government and Union government as well. People who had healthy leading margins have ended up losing by 100 or 200 votes. This can only be explained by manipulation and pressure.” “The chapter on Haryana is not complete. It will continue,” he said. affirm where its heart lay. In the great upset of the day, the Congress has been rejected by Haryana voters for a third consecutive time. Early trends did not show this. At 8.45 am, the counting of votes showed the Congress 'winning' the poll. The picture was just the opposite in just one hour. The BJP was leading in more seats and the trend continued till the BJP trounced its arch-rival in the state convincingly in a steady counting of votes. The Congress till the last did not believe it could lose the election. Former Congress Chief Minister Bhupinder Hooda won his Garhi Sampla-Kiloi seat by a comfortable margin of 71,000 votes. Contesting on Congress ticket, wrestler Vinesh Phogat was initially trailing in Julana Pioneers in AI win Physics Nobel ASSOCIATED PRESS STOCKHOLM, 8 OCTOBER Two pioneers of artificial intelligence – John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton won the Nobel Prize in physics Tuesday for helping create the building blocks of machine learning that is revolutionizing the way we work and live but also creates new threats to humanity, one of the winners said. Hinton, who is known as the Godfather of artificial intelligence, is a citizen of Canada and Britain who works at the University of Toronto and Hopfield is an American working at Princeton. “This year’s two Nobel Laureates in physics have used tools from physics to develop methods that are the foundation of today’s powerful machine learning,” the Nobel committee said. (Details on Page 9) In solidarity with juniors, senior doctors at R G Kar tender mass resignation STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE KOLKATA, 8 OCTOBER In solidarity with agitating junior doctors fasting unto death at Esplanade, senior medics of R G Kar Medical College Hospital, where the 31-year-old woman postgraduate trainee (PGT) doctor was raped and murdered inside her workplace on 9 August, tendered their resignations on Tuesday. Amid the mass resignations of over 50 senior doctors, including heads of different departments of the R G Kar Medical College Hospital, the state government held a meeting with the principal and medical superintendent cum vice principal (MSVP) of the institute this evening at Nabanna, it is learnt. On Monday, the state chief secretary, Manoj Pant, urged the agitating junior doctors to return to work. However, the agitators decided to continue their 'fast-unto-death' for the fourth consecutive day on Tuesday amid Durga Puja festivities, demanding justice for the RG Kar rape-murder victim, even as around 15 senior doctors joined them in solidarity by staging a symbolic hunger strike. “We have submitted a mass resignation letter signed by around 60 senior doctors, including heads of different departments in our hospital, to the director of medical education (DME) today in protest against the government’s inten- tional silence to fulfil demands of agitating junior doctors. We have requested the DME to accept our resignations or otherwise solve the 10-point unresolved issues of fasting juniors,” said Prof (Dr) Bhuban Majhi, an interventional cardiologist of R G Kar medical College hospital. “Following government rules, we will tender resignation individually if the health department does not respond to our mass resignation,” Prof Majhi said, adding: “Senior doctors of several other government teaching hospitals like SSKM Hospital, Medical College, NRS Medical College will also follow us soon.” Around 40 teaching doctors of Medical College Hospital (MCH) may also tender mass resignation in a show of solidarity with their agitating junior colleagues. Today, senior doctors started their hunger strike at 9 a.m. at Dorina Crossing in Esplanade area of central Kolkata, where the medics have been on 'fastunto-death' since Saturday evening. Durga Puja festivities have begun, and Tuesday is 'Panchami'. The agitating junior doctors also brought out a huge procession in the city this evening, eschewing police permission, to press for their demands, including safety at the workplace. Doctors Snigdha Hazra, Tanaya Panja and Anustup Mukhopadhyay of Kolkata Medical College and Hospital, Arnab Mukhopadhyay of SSKM, Pulastha Acharya of NRS Medical College and Hospital, Sayantani Ghosh Hazra of KPC Medical College and Aniket Mahato are staging the 'fastunto-death' since Saturday evening and were joined by Aniket Mahato of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on Sunday. after leading but was finally declared winner by over 6,000 votes. The Congress attributed its victories to its support for farmers. As Congress charged that the Election Commission website was slow in updating data on the results, it was getting clear the BJP was reducing the antiincumbency factor due to 10 years of its rule irrelevant in the state. The Haryana elections beat all exit polls which had predicted a clear win for the Congress. The Congress started distribution of 'laddoos' early in the day, but the celebrations had to be paused and abruptly halted as a different picture started emerging. It was quite a jolt for the Congress and hopes of the party ending its 'drought' in the key northern state were dashed. The BJP showed it can be at its deadly best when under pressure and is being taken for granted. Prime Minister Narendra Modi called up Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini as the BJP went on to script history in the state. PM Modi congratulated Mr Saini for the party’s victory and for his stellar performance in the Ladwa constituency. I salute the people for clear majority: PM National Conference-Cong alliance seals the deal in J&K SP SHARMA NEW DELHI, 8 OCTOBER NEW DELHI, 8 OCTOBER Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday termed the BJP's third successive win in Haryana Assembly elections as " the victory of politics of development and good governance" and complimented National Conference (NC) for their commendable performance in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly polls. In a post on X, Modi said, "Heartfelt gratitude to Haryana! I salute the people of Haryana for giving a clear majority to the Bharatiya Janata Party once again. This is the victory of politics of development and good governance. I assure the people here that we will leave no stone unturned to fulfill their aspirations." (See also page 03 ) Despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah aggressively targeting the National Conference (NC) and Congress for being "pro-Pakistan", the alliance gained a comfortable majority as the assembly results came on Tuesday in Jammu and Kashmir. The NC President Dr Farooq Abdullah announced that his son Omar Abdullah, who won both Ganderbal and Budgam seats, will be the next chief minister. This will mark the return of Omar Abdullah as chief minister after a gap of ten years. He was CM from 5 January 2009 to 8 January 2015. These elections to the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly were held after a gap of a decade and the first after the abrogation of Article 370 and downgrading of the state to a union territory. Out of the total 90 seats, NC has won 42, BJP bagged 29, Congress got 6, PDP 3, Peoples Conference 1, CPI(M) 1, AAP 1 and independents 7. The Lt. Governor will later nominate 5 members to the assembly. In a related development, the BJP has reportedly dispatched its two senior leaders, Devinder Rana and Tarun Chugh to Srinagar. Their mission to the valley is not yet known but Rana was a right-hand man of Omar Abdullah before he quit the NC and joined BJP. The PDP also suffered a shock with the defeat of Mehbooba Mufti’s daughter Iltija Mufti in a triangular contest in her family’s Bijbehara seat. However, the party managed to win three seats in the valley, Kupwara, Tral and Pulwama.