Thursday, November 6, 2025 NATIONAL NACHOS DAY | Vol. 69 No. 27 | 29 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 ‘British Raj-like conditions’ prevailing under PM Modi’s rule, says Priyanka MAMDANI LEADS BLUE STREAK ACROSS THE US Political ground shifting to Democrats as Zohran Mamdani scripts history to be NY’s first Indian-origin Muslim mayor Winners Ghazala Hashmi Virginia’s Lt Governor Agencies NEW YORK Zohran Mamdani, the 34year-old Indian-origin democratic socialist, scripted history by winning the fiercely contested New York City mayoral polls, becoming the first South Asian, Muslim and youngest in a century to helm the world’s financial capital. His victory marked by emotional tributes, political defiance, and even a Bollywood twist - has been hailed as a turning point for progressive politics in America. Mamdani, son of Indian filmmaker Mira Nair and Ugandan scholar Mahmood Mamdani, defeated former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who ran as an independent, and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa. The Queens state assemblyman se- Standing before you, I think of the words of Jawaharlal Nehru -- a moment comes, but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends and when the soul of a nation long suppressed finds utterance. Tonight, we have stepped out from the old into the new. cured over 50% of the votes, emerging victorious in a race that drew global attention. In a stirring victory address at Brooklyn Paramount Theater, Mamdani invoked India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s iconic “Tryst with Destiny” speech from 1947, describing his win as the dawn of a “new age” for New York. 4Contd on | nation 4See also | World Aftab Pureval Cincinnati mayor Mikie Sherrill New Jersey governor Gavin Newsom California governor ‘Zohran, you beauty’ After the results were announced, Mira Nair shared a post originally made by filmmaker Zoya Akhtar, adding her own words: “Zohran, you beauty.” The celebration was accompanied by the song Empire State of Mind, a fitting tribute to the family’s deep connection with New York City. Trump, Modi speak often: White House Agencies WASHINGTON US President Donald Trump speaks often with PM Narendra Modi, and trade teams from both countries continue to hold discussions, the White House said on Tuesday. “The President and his trade team continue to be in very serious discussions with India,” White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said. “I know the President has great respect for PM Modi, and they speak pretty frequently.” Trump said last week in South Korea that he wanted to reach a trade deal with India signaling a thaw in frosty ties after the US hiked tariffs on Indian goods over purchases of Russian oil. After Washington’s sanctions last week on Moscow’s top two crude exporters, Indian refiners have cut imports of Russian oil. Cinema Delhi Crime cast discusses challenges & upcoming season Team India will be favourites going into the crucial fourth T20I against Australia Edit From concession to confusion: The ITAT’s Maharishi ruling IT’S A STEAL | Congress leader claims in the 2024 Haryana Assembly polls, 25 lakh votes were wrongfully added, 3.5 lakh were deleted to benefit BJP Rahul drops H bomb Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar EC deflects Cong strike NEW DELHI Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday made another powerpoint presentation to claim vote theft in the Haryana Assembly election in 2024 in which he said nearly 25 lakh votes were added fraudulently while over 3.5 lakh, primarily of his party’s supporters, were deleted wrongly to keep it from forming a government in the state. Alleging large-scale voter fraud in elections across India – be it in the Lok Sabha polls, Karnataka, Maharashtra or the Bihar polls – he said: “It’s my duty as a patriotic Indian and as the Leader of Opposition to let you know the real world that you're living in. You have to understand that there was no election in Haryana -it was a lie. We are informing the people that the PM and the Home Minister are not legitimately in government.” He made an appeal to the youth to act, saying, “India's Gen Z and the youth have the power to restore democracy with “satya” (truth) and ahimsa (non-violence) -- by fighting for a democratic India and by resisting this wholesale theft and murder of the Constitution and democracy.” Gandhi claimed that as most exit polls had predicted a Congress win in Haryana polls and since the direction of postal ballots did not match the rest of the voting his party investigated the issue and found that “the Haryana election voter list was filled with duplicate voters” who numbered nearly 25 lakh or one-eighth of the 2 crore electorate.” 4Contd on | nation 4See also | nation Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar NEW DELHI Rahul Gandhi explains how the Haryana Assembly election was fixed. Highlights 25 lakh votes in 5 categories. Duplicate voters 5,21,000. Invalid addresses 93,000. Bulk voters 19 lakhs. CCTV records destroyed. 3.5 lakh cut from voter list. 223 votes were found in one booth with the same photo a new name every time 501 voters were found registered in a single house -- a house that exists only on paper Thousands of people were found whose votes are registered in both Haryana and Uttar Pradesh – these included many BJP leaders and workers BIHAR PHASE-I POLL TODAY ‘India, China Dheeraj Kumar PATNA Amid tight security arrangements, over 3.75 crore voters are set to exercise their franchise in the first phase of the Bihar assembly elections on Thursday to decide the fate of 1,314 candidates, including 1,192 men and 122 women. A total of 121 assembly constituencies will go to the polls in this phase, of which 102 are general seats and 19 are reserved for the Scheduled Castes. These constituencies are spread across 18 districts: Madhepura, Saharsa, Darbhanga, Muzaffarpur, Gopalganj, Siwan, Saran, Vaishali, Samastipur, Begusarai, Khagaria, Munger, Lakhisarai, Sheikhpura, Nalanda, Patna, Bhojpur, and Buxar. A mock poll will be conducted at 5 am on Thursday in the presence of booth-level agents, with voting beginning at 7 am. The polling will continue till 6 pm, except at a few A total number of 121 Assembly constituencies will go to the polls in this phase: 19 general seats, 102 reserved sensitive booths where it will end at 5 pm. According to the Election Commission’s schedule, polling in Simri Bakhtiyarpur and Mahishi will be held from 7 am to 5 pm at all polling stations. In the Suryagarha constituency, voting will take place from 7 am to 5 pm at 56 polling stations, while the remaining polling stations will remain open until 6 pm. The first phase includes 7.37 lakh first-time voters, most of them aged 18–19 years. Additionally, around 1.96 lakh young voters aged 18–40 years are expected to play a decisive role in shaping the outcome. Political observers expect a close contest between the two main alliances, the NDA comprising BJP, JD(U), HAM, RLM, and LJP (Ram Vilas), and the INDIA bloc made up of RJD, Congress, VIP, IIP, and Left parties. However, poll strategist-turned-politician Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj Party is expected to make an impact in a few constituencies, intensifying the contest between the two major alliances. Among the political heavyweights in the fray are the INDIA bloc’s chief ministerial candidate Tejashwi Yadav from Raghopur, his estranged brother Tej Pratap Yadav of Janshakti Janata Dal from Mahua, and deputy chief ministers Samrat Choudhary from Tarapur and Vijay Sinha from Lakhisarai. A total of 16 ministers from the Nitish Kumar government are contesting in this phase, 11 from the BJP and five from the JD(U). 4See also | nation FPJ Political Bureau Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis welcomes Starlink’s vice-president Lauren Dreyer, in Mumbai. – PTI Maharashtra has become the first state in India to sign a Letter of Intent (LoI) with US-based Starlink Satellite Communications, marking a major step in bringing advanced satellite-based internet services to the state. The agreement was signed on Wednesday in the presence of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Information Technology Minister Ashish Shelar. Agencies NEW DELHI UN reports say India and China recorded the highest absolute increases of greenhouse gases, while the European Union was the only major economy to see a decline. Global temperatures are now predicted to rise between 2.3 and 2.5 degrees Celsius this century, even if countries fully implement their national climate pledges, according to the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Emissions Gap Report 2025. 4Contd on | nation National AI framework unveiled T After the recent opening of Tesla’s first outlet in Mumbai, this collaboration is being seen as another major achievement for both the state government and the Elon Musk-owned companies. Under this partnership, Starlink’s satellite internet services will be deployed across government institutions, rural communities, and critical public infrastructure in Maharashtra. he Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology on Wednesday unveiled the India “AI Governance Guidelines”, a comprehensive framework to ensure safe, inclusive, and responsible AI adoption across all sectors. IT Secretary S Krishnan said the government wants to leverage AI to make sure that it delivers the maximum benefit to the people. He said that while focus on encouraging innovation in AI will continue, the government will take necessary steps to protect people from the apparent and obvious harms from the technology. 4Contd on | nation 4See also | Money Maharashtra first link of Starlink MUMBAI greenhouse gas culprits’ –PTI 22 aliases for Brazilian model link to vote chori Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar NEW DELHI Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in his allegation of largescale vote theft raised interesting questions around how 22 votes prepared in the name of a Brazilian model were cast at 10 different booths during the 2024 Haryana Assembly elections. Gandhi raised the issue by showing the model’s photo and asking the journalists present if they could identify the state she belonged to. “"Who is this lady? What is her name? Where does she come from? But she votes 22 times in Haryana, at 10 different booths, and has multiple names: Seema, Sweety, Saraswati, Rashmi, Vilma... He then revealed that she was a Brazilian model on whose stock photo 22 votes were created – under different names. Gandhi also quipped that this model may now end up getting trolled after this revelation. 4Contd on | nation The Election Commission has denied the allegation levelled by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi regarding alleged voter theft during the 2024 Haryana Assembly elections saying no appeals were filed against the electoral rolls and only 22 election petitions are currently pending in the Punjab and Haryana High Court in connection with the polls. The poll panel also questioned why Congress polling agents, who should ideally raise objections if a voter tries to cast vote multiple times or if there is a doubt about a voter’s identity, had not raised any objections during polls. It also stated that no claims or objections were raised by the Congress Booth Level Agents (BLAs) during the electoral roll revision process in Haryana which was aimed at preventing multiple entries and neither were any appeals filed in the matter. Questions have also been raised about how Rahul could claim that fraudulent voters, if at all they voted, had voted for BJP and not Congress. Since during his press conference Gandhi had also produced some voters from Bihar, which goes to polls on November 6 and 11, claiming that their votes had been wrongfully deleted, the EC asked why the party had not filed a single appeal during the SIR exercise in Bihar from August 1 to October 15. 4Contd on | nation