Friday, January 16, 2026 | Vol. 69 No. 88 | 28 Pages Reg.No MCS/048/2021-23; RNI No. 1541/1957 M.p.c.s office Mumbai. PIN 400001 THE FREE PRESS JOURNAL INDIA EDITION | www.freepressjournal.in ● Leader in E-paper circulation GAMES NATION Bengaluru cops bust cyber crime racket, stop transfer of `240 crore to Dubai-based kingpin Cinema Bollywood celebrities step out across Mumbai to vote Ryan ten Doeschate says India’s focus is on winning the ODI series, not T20 WC Edit BMC elections are done; now get down to governance VERDICT TODAY | BMC polls see sluggish turnout, voter confusion, missing names, EVM problems and late mobilisation. Counting to start from 10 am Aamchi Mumbai votes amid glitches galore Devashri Bhujbal and Shefali Parab-Pandit MUMBAI About 50% of voters took part in Thursday’s high-stakes BMC elections, which were held after a delay of four years. According to BMC sources, a turnout of 46% was recorded in 21 of the 26 administrative wards. At the time of going to press, final calculations for the remaining 5 wards were still underway. The delay was attributed to a late surge of voters before the 5 pm closing time. Till 3.30 pm, turnout stood at 41.08%, causing anxiety within the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance. Subsequently, activists of Sangh Parivar and Shiv Sena (Shinde) launched a massive voter mobilisation drive. Voting, which started at 7.30 am, saw a large number of people, especially from the middle class, queuing up at almost all polling booths across the city. However, many failed to find their names on the voters’ list, forcing them to return home without casting their votes. The State Election Commission came in for sharp criticism over the widespread confusion. Many voters, including Hari Rao from Ward No. 152 in Chembur, faced a tough time at the General Education School booth. There was no proper lighting facility for staff to read the voters’ lists. Unlike previous polls, most parties failed to distribute voter slips. Changes in booths further compounded the problem. The Commission’s website remained non-functional for a considerable period in the morning, according to C. Balasubramanian and other voters. Voter turnout remained sluggish till the afternoon but gathered pace later. Up to 11.30 am, it was only 17%. By 3.30 pm, it reached 41%. Kalpesh Mhamunkar INKED: Sachin Tendulkar As voting for the BMC and 29 other civic bodies across Maharashtra took place on Thursday, a controversy over indelible ink snowballed into a major political row, drawing sharp reactions from the Thackeray brothers, Commissioner Dinesh Waghmare said the use of marker ink in local body elections has been in place since 2011, following official orders issued that year ‘Iran crackdown easing’ Agencies DUBAI / WASHINGTON US President Donald Trump said he had been told that killings during Iran’s crackdown on protests were easing and that he believed there was no current plan for large-scale executions, adopting a waitand-see approach after earlier threats of intervention. His comments came after Iran’s foreign minister said the country had “no plan” to hang people. Iranian state media on Thursday reported that a 26year-old man arrested during protests in the city of Karaj would not be given the death Trump said he had been told killings in the crackdown were subsiding. Asked who had told him this, he said they were ‘very important sources on the other side’ sentence, Reuters reports. According to Iranian state media, Erfan Soltani was charged with colluding against “internal security and propaganda activities against the regime”, but the death penalty does not apply to such charges. Rights organisation Hengaw, which had earlier reported that Soltani was due to be executed on Wednesday, said a previously communicated execution order had been postponed, citing his relatives. In a social media post on Thursday, Trump responded to a news report that a protester was no longer being sentenced to death, writing: “This is good news. Hopefully, it will continue!” Scan & Watch 4Contd on | nation 4See also | world Talks over Greenland fail Agencies WASHINGTON Denmark and Greenland failed to change the Trump administration’s position on Greenland after high-level talks in Washington, as European countries began deploying troops to the strategically located Arctic island, underscoring a deepening rift between the US and its NATO allies. Denmark’s top diplomat said on Wednesday that discussions with US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio did not alter President Trump’s stance on taking control of Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark where the US has long maintained a military base. “We didn’t manage to change the American position. It’s clear that the president has this wish of conquering over Greenland,” Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said. “And we made it very, very clear that this is not in the interest of the kingdom.” 4Contd on | nation We didn’t manage to change the American position. It’s clear that the President (Trump) has this wish of conquering over Greenland. Lars Løkke Rasmussen Danish Foreign Minister financial capital, the BMC elections carry immense political significance, as control over the 25% TRUMP TARIFF ON AI CHIPS Agencies WASHINGTON The United States has imposed a fresh round of tariffs on a narrow set of high-end artificial intelligence semiconductors, as President Donald Trump sharpens his push to reduce America’s dependence on foreign chip supplies while generating revenue from global AI sales. Under a proclamation signed on Wednesday, a 25% import duty will apply to select advanced chips, including Nvidia’s H200 processor and AMD’s MI325X, following a nine-month probe conducted under Section 232. The probe concluded that the United States’ heavy reliance on overseas semiconductor manufacturing poses economic and national security risks. According to the White House, the measure is deliberately limited in scope. The tariffs will not apply to chips imported for domestic use in US data centres, consumer electronics, civil industrial applications, start-ups or government projects. Instead, the levy targets chips brought into the United States and then shipped onward to foreign markets, notably China. 4Contd on | nation offgrid Heavy metal holy man is crowd-puller Biswajeet Banerjee PRAYAGRAJ If gold had legs, it would probably look a lot like Google Golden Baba At the Magh Mela, where renunciation usually arrives wrapped in ash, silence and the occasional woollen shawl, salvation has this year turned up dripping in gold, clinking in silver and posing obligingly for selfies. Enter Manoj Anand Maharaj, also known as Manoj Sengar, a resident of Kakadeo in Kanpur. Better known to the faith- ful, the locals, the merely curious and the relentlessly Instagram-minded as Google Golden Baba, he steps out each day draped in an eyewatering 4kg of gold. Chains, pendants, rings and bangles cling to him so densely that he appears less like a person and more like a mobile bullion counter. Sengar insists there is nothing calculated about his glittering appearance. He claims he has never bothered to weigh the gold he wears. According to him, it is simply “God’s wish” that he should be adorned this way. The sight is impossible to miss. Wherever he goes, heads turn, phones rise and whispers ripple through the crowd. In a city not short of JVC Lokshahi Rudra Research Axis My India BJP/SS colour or characters, he has managed to stand apart purely by the sheer weight of precious metal on his body. Inevitably, comparisons are drawn with the late music legend Bappi Lahiri, whose flamboyant love for gold chains became as iconic as his disco beats. Lahiri wore gold as a style statement and a symbol of success. Sengar, however, presents his gold as something far more spiritual than stylish. 4Contd on | nation civic body is widely seen as a symbol of political dominance in the state. Against this backdrop, allegations that ink applied on voters’ fingers after polling could be wiped off triggered anxiety across the city and beyond. 4See also | city UBT/MNS/NCP Cong/VBA MAMATA VS ED Others 138 138 62 59 20 23 7 7 121 71 25 10 131-151 58-68 12-16 6-12 Exit polls hand big win to Mahayuti Sena alliance is expected to secure between 131 and 151 seats, while the Shiv Sena Exit poll results released soon (UBT)–MNS–NCP combine is after polling concluded for the projected to win between 58 Brihanmumbai Municipal Cor- and 68 seats. The Congress, poration (BMC) predict a clear which chose to stay away and decisive victory for the Ma- from the Shiv Sena, its partner hayuti alliance, comprising the in the Maha Vikas Aghadi BJP and the Eknath Shinde-led (MVA), is likely to be reShiv Sena. The Shiv Sena stricted to 12–16 seats. (UBT) and the MahaIn terms of vote Others rashtra Navnirman share, the agency 13 Sena (MNS), on the estimates that other hand, are Congthe BJP–Shiv VBA BJPprojected to trail Sena alliance 13 Voting SS far behind the mawill garner 42 %age jority mark. around 42 per If the exit poll cent of the votes. UBT-MNS predictions prove The SS (UBT)– 32 correct when results MNS–NCP alliance is are declared by noon on Friexpected to secure 32 per day, the Uddhav Thackeray-led cent, while the Congress and Shiv Sena is set to lose control the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi of India’s richest municipal (VBA) together may account corporation after 25 years. To for about 13 per cent. The reform the BMC administration, maining 13 per cent is likely to a political party or alliance be shared among smaller needs a minimum of 114 seats. parties and independents. According to the Axis My 4Contd on | city India exit poll, the BJP–Shiv Ravikiran Deshmukh 4See also | city the BJP leadership and the State Election Commission. With Mumbai being India’s Janmat MUMBAI Marker pen row leaves indelible mark MUMBAI BMC FORECAST Pollster SC stays FIRs, issues notice to Bengal CM FPJ News Service NEW DELHI/ KOLKATA The SC on Thursday issued notice to West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, Director General of Police Rajeev Kumar and other senior state police officers on a plea filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), alleging obstruction of its search operations at the office of political consultancy firm IPAC and the residence of its cofounder in Kolkata. A Bench of Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and Justice Vipul M Pancholi said the petitions raised “very serious” issues concerning interference by state agencies in investigations conducted by central agencies. The Court stayed further proceedings in the FIRs registered by the West Bengal Police against ED officials and directed the preservation of CCTV footage and other electronic recordings of the premises searched on January 8 and nearby areas, Live Law and Bar & Bench report. “We are of the prima facie opinion that the present petition has raised a serious issue relating to the investigation by the ED or other central agencies and its interference by State agencies,” the Bench observed. 4Contd on | nation