FOLLOW US: @TheStatesmanLtd @thestatesmanltd thestatesman1875 www.thestatesman.com People’s Parliament, Always in Session India’s National Newspaper since 1818 | Pages 16 | ` 5.00 | KOLKATA LC | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR | Thursday, 20 November 2025 SPORTS WORLD NATION Talaq-e-Hasan: SC signals possible strike-down US Congress passes Bill to force release of Epstein files PERSPECTIVE How India will handle the Hasina imbroglio Page 11 BRIEFLY PM Modi to attend G20 Summit: Nitish Kumar set to take oath for record 10th term IMRAN MOJIB Patna, 19 November J New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will undertake a visit to Johannesburg, South Africa from 21 to 23 November to attend the 20th G20 Leaders’ Summit, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Wednesday. The Summit is being hosted by the Republic of South Africa. “This will be the fourth consecutive G20 Summit held in the Global South,” the MEA said in a statement. At the Summit, PM Modi will put forth India’s perspectives on the G20 agenda. D(U) chief Nitish Kumar on Wednesday met Bihar Governor Arif Mohammed Khan and formally staked claim to form the next government, setting the stage for a record 10th term as Chief Minister. He was accompanied by senior leaders of the NDA. Earlier in the day, Mr Kumar was unanimously elected the leader of the NDA legislative party. Mr Kumar led the NDA to a historic victory in the 2025 Bihar Assembly elections steering the alliance to a sweeping win with 202 seats in the 243-member House. In a meeting of the newly-elected MLAs held in the Central Hall of the Bihar Legislative Assembly, BJP legislative party leader Samrat Choudhary proposed Mr Kumar’s name as the NDA leader, which was seconded by Vijay Kumar Sinha, deputy leader of the Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar leaves after the NDA’s legislators meeting, in Patna on Wednesday. AGENCIES BJP legislative party. Mr Kumar is scheduled to take oath as Chief Minister along with his council of ministers at 11 a.m. on Thursday at a ceremony at Patna’s Gandhi Maidan. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP National President JP Nadda, and several Chief Ministers of NDA-ruled states will be present. Earlier, separate legislative party meetings of the JD(U) CM condoles BLO’s death by suicide, urges ECI to halt ‘unplanned’ exercise STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE Kolkata, 19 November Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday condoled the death of a Booth Level Officer (BLO) in north Bengal who was engaged for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, and urged the ECI to immediately halt the ‘unplanned’ SIR exercise before more lives are lost. Shantimoni Ekka (48), a resident of Rangamati Panchayat, apparently took her own life in the early hours today, with her family finding the body in the courtyard of her home in Malbazar. The family has alleged that it was due to the pressure of her Special Intensive Revision (SIR) work. Miss Banerjee, posting on social media, wrote: “Today again we lost a Booth Level Officer in Mal Jalpaiguri. An anganwadi worker who took her own life under the unbearable pressure of the ongoing SIR work.” She urged the Election and BJP were held. In the BJP meeting, Samrat Choudhary was elected leader and Vijay Kumar Sinha deputy leader. Meanwhile, the shape of the new Cabinet is being finalised. It has already been decided that Mr Choudhary and Mr Sinha will continue as Deputy Chief Ministers. The BJP is likely to retain many of its former ministers. From the JD(U), Mr Kumar’s close aides Vijay Choudhary, 272 eminent citizens condemn Rahul’s attacks on ECI STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE New Delhi, 19 November Commission of India (ECI) “to act with conscience and immediately halt this unplanned drive before more lives are lost.” Miss Banerjee further said 28 people have lost their lives because of unplanned, relentless workload imposed by the Election Commission of India. A process that earlier took three years is now being forced into two months on the eve of elections to please its political masters, putting inhuman pressure on the BLOs, Miss Banerjee said. Ekka had recently been assigned SIR duties as a BLO and had been going from house to house distributing and collecting forms. Her family alleges that she had been under tremendous pressure and had become mentally distressed, stating that she was the only BLO for her booth. • More reports: Page 4 A coalition of 272 d i s t i n g u i sh e d p u b l i c figures ~ including 16 former j u d g e s, 1 2 3 re t i re d b u re a u c r a t s w i t h 14 ex-ambassadors among them, and 133 retired armed forces officers ~ has issued a s t ro n g o p e n l e t t e r condemning C ongress leader Rahul Gandhi and t h e p a r ty ’s re l e n t l e s s attempts to undermine the credibility of the Election Commission of India (ECI). The letter, titled ‘Assault on National Constitutional Authorities,’ expresses grave concern over what the signatories describe as a growing campaign of venomous rhetoric aimed at the foundational institutions of Indian democracy. SC strikes down Tribunal Reforms Act, 2021 provisions relating to appointment & tenure of tribunal members PARMOD KUMAR New Delhi, 19 November Taking strong exception to the Union government for reenacting the tribunal law with only marginal alterations of the provisions earlier invalidated by it, the Supreme Court on Wednesday struck down key provisions of the Tribunals Reforms Act, 2021 concerning the appointment and tenure of tribunal members, observing that the Centre had effectively brought back what had already been quashed in previous rulings. Striking down the provisions relating to the appointment of the tribunal members and their tenure, Chief Justice B.R. Gavai, heading the bench also comprising Justice K. Vinod Chandran, pronouncing the judgment, said: “...the provisions of the Impugned Act cannot be sustained. They violate the constitutional principles of separation of powers and judicial independence, which are firmly embedded in the text, structure, and spirit of the Constitution.” The judgment said that the “principles of separation of powers and judicial Page 16 Page 9 Page 6 independence are not vague, free-floating ideals. They are structural pillars of our constitutional order and integral components of constitutionalism worldwide.” Justice Vinod Chandran, in a separate observation, said: “I respectfully concur with the reasoning and directions. The Tribunal Reforms Act, 2021 is a replica of the struck down Ordinance; old wine in a new bottle, the wine whets not the judicial palette, but the bottle merely dazzles.” Stating that the doctrine of separation of powers is not merely philosophical, the judgment reads: “It underwrites the very distribution of authority among the three branches of government. It is reflected in Articles 32, 136, 141, 226, and 227 of the Constitution, which vest the judiciary with the power to interpret the law, enforce fundamental rights, and supervise subordinate courts and tribunals.” “Instead of curing the defects identified by this Court, the Impugned Act merely reproduces, in slightly altered form, the very provisions earlier struck down,” said Chief Justice Gavai. Ashok Choudhary, and Bijendra Prasad Yadav are certain to become ministers. Shravan Kumar, Lesi Singh, Madan Sahni and Shyam Rajak are also being discussed. JD(U)’s Zama Khan is the only Muslim MLA elected on an NDA ticket, making it almost certain that he will again become the Minority Affairs Minister. Apart from Mr Choudhary and Mr Sinha, the BJP ministers expected to take oath on Thursday are Mangal Pandey, Nitish Mishra, Renu Devi, Nitin Navin, Prem Kumar, Ram Kripal Yadav, Jibesh Kumar Mishra and Neeraj Kumar Singh. From Chirag Paswan’s LJP (Ram Vilas), Raju Tiwari and Sanjay Paswan are being considered for ministerial positions. Jitan Ram Manjhi’s son Santosh Suman from Hindustani Awam Morcha and Upendra Kushwaha’s wife Snehlata Kushwaha from RLM are expected to join the cabinet. FIFA World Cup Qualifiers: Scotland seal spot after 26 years Two new Indian Consulates opened in Russia; will help to boost bilateral trade, says EAM NIKHIL VYAS New Delhi, 19 November External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar on Wednesday said that the opening of the two new Consulates General of India in Kazan and Yekaterinburg in Russia will boost trade, tourism, economic, scientific, technological, academic and cultural ties between India and Russia. "The opening of these consulates will not only enhance our diplomatic presence in Russia but will act as a catalyst to further boost trade, to increase tourism, economic, scientific, technology, even academic and cultural ties between o u r two c o u n t r i e s. T h e Consulates will contribute to our joint efforts in increasing our bilateral trade to USD 100 billion by 2030, as envisaged by the leaders," the EAM said. The event was attended by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko, Indian Ambassador to Russia Vinay Kumar, representatives from the governor's office in Kazan and Yekaterinburg, off icials of the Russian government, and several memb ers of the Indian community. In a post on X after the inauguration of the two new Consulates General of India in Russia, Mr Jaishankar said: "Delighted to inaugurate Consulates General of India in Yekaterinburg and Kazan, a l o n g s i d e D FM A n d re y Rudenko, Amb Vinay Kumar and representatives from Sverdlovsk and Tatarstan." “C o n f i d e n t t h a t t h e establishment of the new Consulates will boost trade, tourism, economic, scientific, technological, academic and cultural ties between India and Russia," the External Affairs Minister added. Earlier, speaking at the inauguration event, the EAM said: "This is an important day for us when we are adding two more Consulates General in this country. I want to say that ove r t h e l a s t m o n t h s , consistent work has been underway to establish these Consulates as you heard from the Ambassador at the earliest possible time."