FREE PRESS - VOL. XXXIX NO. 184 | INDORE | FRIDAY | DECEMBER 9, 2022 | PAGES 14 Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2021-2023; `3 QUALITY AT VALUE RNI No. 38281/83 WEATHER 29.40c. 16.20c BJP LANDSLIDE IN GUJARAT WWW.FREEPRESSJOURNAL.IN EDITIONS: INDORE, BHOPAL, UJJAIN, MUMBAI, PUNE FOR 24X7 UPDATES EDIT INVINCIBLE IN GUJARAT, VULNERABLE ELSEWHERE DARSHAN DESAI / AHMEDABAD Mixed bag in bypolls , The BJP led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Thursday stormed into its seventh consecutive term in Gujarat bagging 156 out of 182 seats in the Assembly in election results unparal. leled in the state’s history The election also saw the Congress facing a wipe-out, getting only 16 seats, even as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), a newcomer in the state election arena, won five. The BJP got 53% of the votes, a significant rise from the 49.05% it got in 2017. The vote share of the Congress fell drastically from 41% in 2017 to 27%, while AAP got 14%. As many as 44 Congress candidates and 128 AAP candidates forfeited their deposits. The turnout this time was 65%, a sharp drop from 71% in 2017, when the BJP got only 99 seats and the Congress bagged 77. However, the relatively low turnout did not adversely affect the . BJP The margin of victory came as a surprise even to the BJP and the Congress, The Samajwadi Party (SP) retained the high-profile Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wrested Rampur Sadar assembly seat in Uttar Pradesh from it and Kurhani constituency in Bihar from the ruling Nitish Kumar-led alliance in results of the December 5 by-elections an. nounced on Thursday The ruling BJP in Uttar lost however, Pradesh, Khatauli to SP ally Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD). The Congress retained its two assembly seats, Bhanupratappur in Chhattisgarh and Sardarshahar Assembly seat in Rajasthan's Churu district. The party is in power in the two states. The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) continued its dominance in Odisha, winning the Padampur assembly seat in Bargarh district. Out of the six Assembly seats in five states where bypolls were held on Monday, the Congress and the BJP won two each, while one each went to the BJD and SEE PAGE 6 RLD. Modi juggernaut crushes Congress, shows AAP its place News Brief Hijab protest: Iran executes 1st prisoner Iran said Thursday it executed a prisoner convicted for a crime allegedly committed during the country's ongoing nationwide protests, the first such death penalty carried out by T ehran. EC accepts TRS to Bharat Rashtra Samithi The EC on Thursday informed TRS President K Chandrasekhar Rao that it has accepted the name change of his party from Telangana Rashtra Samithi to Bharat Rashtra Samithi. In a letter, the EC cited a request from the party to accept its name change. EC said necessary notification in this regard will be issued." ADB okays $780 mn for Chennai metro The Asian Development Bank on Thursday said it has approved a $780 million multi-tranche financing facility (MFF) to build new lines and improve the connectivity of the metro rail system in Chennai with the city's existing bus and feeder services. Threat of N-war growing: Putin Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed on Wednesday that the threat of a nuclear war is increasing. However, he told the country’s Human Rights Council that he still views nuclear weapons as a deterrent measure. In Ukraine, Kyiv’s Mayor Vitali Klitschko warned of an “apocalypse” scenario in the winter if Russian air strikes on the infrastructure located in the capital city continue. Sanjay Pandey gets bail Delhi High Court on Thursday granted bail to former Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Pandey in connection with a money laundering case in relation to the alleged illegal phone tapping and snooping of National Stock Exchange employees. US green card quotas may go The White House has supported Congress to pass a legislation that seeks to eliminate the per country quota on green cards to allow U.S. employers to focus on hiring people based on merit, not their birthplace, a bill if passed would benefit several hundreds of thousands of immigrants, especially Indian-Americans. Court grants bail to TMC’s Gokhale A Gujarat court on Thursday granted bail to Trinamool Congress (TMC) spokesperson Saket Gokhale in a complaint filed against him over his tweets about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Morbi after the suspension bridge collapse. PTI / NEW DELHI/LUCKNOW though the results were on lines predicted by exit polls. Polling trends suggested that the BJP could face discomfort as the turnout was lower in the party’s urban strongholds and better in Congress-dominated the tribal belts and rural areas. However, it was clear that those who did vote chose the lotus. CONTD. ON P6 Congress takes HP PTI / SHIMLA Gandhi said. The Congress had promised to bring back The Congress on Thursday the old pension scheme and wrested Himachal Pradesh provide jobs to the youth. , from the BJP winning 40 Chief Minister Jai Ram seats in the 68-member As- Thakur said he respects the sembly as the state kept up mandate of the people and its tradition of not voting an submitted his resignation incumbent government to Governor Rajendra CONG Vishwanath Arlekar, to power after 1985. The BJP won 24 seats who accepted it. and was leading in one. Mr Thakur was leadwon Independents ing over his Congress BJP three. The Aam Aadmi rival in the Seraj seat Party (AAP), which in Mandi district. Howhad fielded candidates ever, many ministers, AAP in 67 seats, failed to Suresh including make its debut and had Bhardwaj, Ram Lal a meagre vote share of Markanda and Surveen OTH 1.1%. The Congress got , Chaudhary lost. 43.9% of the votes “We will give conpolled, while the BJP’s structive support, risshare was 43%. ing above partisan poliCongress leader Rahul tics, but where we feel the Gandhi thanked the people interests of the state have of Himachal Pradesh for not been protected, we will . the “decisive” victory All raise the issues before the the promises made by the people,” Mr Thakur said. Congress will be kept, Mr CONTD. ON P6 40 25 0 3 GOVERNMENT NEW LAW COLLEGE SCANDAL Principal, prof suspended; 3 contractual faculty terminated, author arrested OUR STAFF REPORTER Indore Citing inquiry report in Government New Law College scandal, Department of Higher Education (DHE) on Thursday suspended principal Dr Inamur Rahman and a professor and terminated the services of three contractual teachers even as author of a controversial book Dr Farhat Khan was arrested from Pune. “We have suspended the college principal and a professor (Mirza Moziz Beg) and terminated and black- listed three contractual teachers (viz Prof Feroze Ahmed Meer, Prof Suhail Ahmed Wani and Prof Ameek Khokar) after an inquiry committee found them involved in teaching controversial literature,” higher education minister Mohan Yadav told Free Press. Besides, Dr Farhat Khan, whose controversial book titled 'Collective Violence and Criminal Justice System' containing objectionable content against Hindu community and other Hindu outfits, was arrested from Pune while she was Follow the law of the land, SC tells Govt FPJ BUREAU / NEW DELHI Barely 10 days after it issued a stern warning to the Centre on the continued delay in clearing appointments to the higher judiciary the Supreme on Court Thursday pulled it up for weekly swipes by ministers at the collegium system. The collegium system is the “law of the land” and should be “followed to the teeth”, the court said, adding that just because some sections of society ex- ‘No plan to bring back NJAC’ There is no proposal to reintroduce a bill on the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC), the Rajya Sabha was told on Thursday. Responding to a question on whether the Government plans to reintroduce the NJAC Bill with “suitable modifications”, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju said in a written reply that “at present there is no such proposal”. press a view against it does not mean it ceases to be the law of the land. CONTD. ON P6 undergoing dialysis in a hospital. Home Minister Narottam Mishra confirmed the development saying she would be also booked for another controversial book also found in the Government New Law College if its content is also found objectionable. On Dec 1, college principal Dr Inamur Rahman had sent six teachers including four Muslims on forced leave for five days after ABVP had accused them of being anti-establishment and promoting religious fundamentalism. CONTD. ON P6 City to host India-NZ ODI on January 24 MUMBAI: The BCCI on Thursday announced the schedule for the upcoming home series against Sri Lanka, New Zealand, and Australia "India's 2022-23, the international home season will commence with a three-match T20I and threematch ODI series against Sri Lanka in January," BCCI said. The three-match ODI series against New Zealand Hyderabad, wherein Raipur and Indore will play the hosts on January 18, 21 . and 24, respectively The second ODI on January 21 will be a marquee ODI for the city of Raipur as they will host their first international fixture. (Details on Sports page) Food for thought: Tribal athletes get only potatoes OUR STAFF REPORTER city.bhopal@fpj.co.in Tribal athletes lodged in a government hostel for national training camp are not getting nutritious food. The matter came to light when a video clip in which the athletes are seen complaining about absence of nutritious food went viral on social media. These athletes hail from different parts of the state and are in Bhopal for the Sunrise : 06.54 Sunset : 05.42 ENGLAND PLAYER RAHEEM STERLING TO RETURN TO WORLD CUP Pg-12 training camp to participate in the Eklavya Adarsh Awasiya Vidyalaya's upcoming All-India Sports Competition to be held in Andhra from Dec 17 to 22. A member said:"We are not getting enough protein in our food which is vital for our training programme. All we get here in the name of vegetables is potato. We have been here for the last eight days and we hardly get any fruit. Most of the time, they say we ran out of food." Another athlete said, "We only get half-a-glass of milk, sometimes even less than that. We don't even get single apple; they slice it and give a few slices to us. CONTD. ON P6