04112020-TTB-01.qxd 03-11-2020 23:56 Page 1 13 chandigarh | gurugram | jalandhar | bathinda | vol.140 no.306 | 12 pages | ~5.00 | regd.no.chd/0006/2018-2020 established in 1881 UK ADMITS CBI EVIDENCE IN NIRAV CASE WORLD /thetribunechd /thetribunechd www.tribuneindia.com wednesday, november 4,2020 USvotes after divisive, bitter campaign; record turnout 100 mn electors cast vote in early polling | Mail-in ballots may delay results Washington, November 3 Americans were voting in large numbers on Tuesday in one of the most divisive bitter presidential elections in decades in which incumbent Republican Donald Trump is challenged by Democrat Joe Biden. Amidst a resurgent Covid19 pandemic, nearly 100 million people have already cast their ballots in early voting, putting the country on course for its highest turnout in a century. Poll experts said that the turnout is going to be the key in the election results. The mail-in ballots could take days or weeks to be counted in some states, meaning a winner might not be declared in the hours after polls close on Tuesday. There is an estimated four million Indian-American population of which about 2.5 million are potential voters in the November 2020 presidential elections. Over 1.3 million Indian-Americans are voters in key battleground states, including Texas, Michigan, Florida and Pennsylvania. Large lines were seen and hundreds of people had queued up before polling stations, particularly in the key battleground states like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Trump in the wee hours of Tuesday urged Americans to vote for him. “Vote like your freedom, your livelihood, and our future depends on Palwal minor gang-raped Palwal, November 3 Three youths have been booked for allegedly abducting and gang-raping a minor of a village in Palwal district of Haryana yesterday. Accused Vikram, a resident of a nearby village, is reportedly known to the victim. He came to the girl’s house yesterday while she was alone and asked her to accompany him on some pretext. He took the 17-year-old girl to an orchard where his two accomplices were already present. The trio then gangraped the girl and fled. — TNS IN BRIEF India-China military talks on November 6 NEW DELHI: India and China will hold yet another Lt General-level meeting on November 6 to resolve the LAC standoff. It will be held on the Indian side at the Chushul-Moldo meeting point. This will be eighth round of talks at this level since June 6. This will be first meeting with Lt Gen PGK Menon as the lead. He took over from Lt Gen Harinder Singh as the Lehbased 14 Corps Commander. TNS Palghar lynching: Four accused get bail THANE: WILLING TO OPERATE MORE FLIGHTS: PURI BACK PAGE NO HIKE IN SERVICE CHARGES BY PSU BANKS, SAYS FINMIN BUSINESS A special court here on Tuesday granted bail to four persons, including a man and his two sons, in the Palghar lynching case. District Judge PP Jadhav ordered that the four accused be released on a bail of Rs 15,000 each. On April 16, 2020, a mob lynched two sadhus and their driver at Gadchinchale in Palghar district, 140 km north of Mumbai. PTI ELECTION DAY AND BEYOND 270 US POLL’S MAGIC NUMBER 538 Each state is allotted a different number of electoral votes, based on how many representatives it has in the House, plus its two senators 239 MILLION ELIGIBLE TO VOTE THIS YEAR FLORIDA, PENNSYLVANIA CRUCIAL FOR TRUMP A voter inserts her ballot into a drop box in Salt Lake City. AP/PTI 2.5 MILLION INDIANAMERICAN VOTERS WHAT JOE BIDEN NEEDS FOR WIN Has several paths to 270, but his best route hinges on winning Florida and Pennsylvania If he wins both states and holds onto North Carolina, Arizona, Georgia and Ohio, he will win With 29 electoral votes, Florida is arguably the most crucial state for Trump it… Because they do!” tweeted Trump, who is seeking to avoid becoming the first incumbent President to lose a re-election since George HW Bush in 1992. Biden also tweeted urging people to vote: “It’s election Vienna, November 3 Five persons, including an assailant, were killed and 17 others injured in a shooting incident in the heart of Vienna Monday evening. The gunned down attacker was identified as a 20-yearold Austrian-North Macedonian dual national Kujtim With Austria, says Modi; embassy in Delhi shut total number of electors who will vote for the President and the Vice President At 55, California has the most electoral votes 5 die in Vienna terror attack SWING STATES HOLD KEY Texas (electoral votes 38), Florida (29), Pennsylvania (20), Ohio (18), Georgia (16), Michigan (16), North Carolina (15), Arizona (11) and Wisconsin (10) NEW PREZ BY MID-JAN Democrat Joe Biden’s campaign is laser-focused on Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania He’s making a big play for Arizona, a state that hasn’t backed a Democratic presidential candidate since 1996 Dec 8: States have until this date to resolve any disputes over the vote count Dec 14: Electoral College members cast ballots for Prez, VP Jan 6, 2021: Congress meets to count the electoral votes and declare the winners Biden also is redoubling his focus on Florida, the biggest prize among the perennial battlegrounds Jan 20: Inauguration Day — The winner and his running mate are sworn in day. Go vote, America!” National polls continue to show Biden leading Trump, by a comfortable 8 percentage points. US elections, however, are not determined by the national popular vote, but rather in the 538-member Electoral College, with each candidate needing a majority of 270 to win the presidency. The Covid pandemic was a major topic during the election. The US recorded more cases and more deaths than any other country. — PTI Fejzulai. He was sentenced to 22 months in prison in April 2019 because he had tried to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State. He was granted early release in December under the juvenile law. Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said, “It is now confirmed that yesterday’s attack was an Islamist terror attack. It was an attack out of hatred.” — AP 68 pc voters turn up for Baroda bypoll 69.43% polling recorded during the 2019 Assembly poll 280 polling booths were set up for the bypoll, 151 were categorised as “vulnerable” 14 candidates, including Olympian wrestler and BJP nominee Yogeshwar Dutt, in the fray for the seat, which has around 1.81 lakh registered voters COUNTING OF VOTES ON NOVEMBER 10 The seat fell vacant in April following death of Congress MLA Krishan Hooda 53.51% TURNOUT MP BYPOLLS TO DECIDE FATE OF SHIVRAJ IN BIHAR PHASE 2 The bypolls to 28 Assembly seats in MP will decide fate of the Shivraj govt. The bypolls were necessitated after 22 Cong MLAs moved to BJP, resulting in fall of the Kamal Nath govt. In all, bypolls were held for 94 seats in country. IN 2015, THE TURNOUT WAS 55.35% 94 seats went to polls sealing the fate of RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav & 1,450 others Paris, November 3 French Defence Minister Florence Parly has claimed that their forces fighting Islamic extremists in West Africa “put away” over 50 jihadists in a recent operation in Mali. Parly tweeted Monday night that the French forces in the region, called Barkhane, also confiscated weapons and equipment from the fighters in the operation last Friday, which, she said, “Once again shows that terrorist groups cannot Shiv Kumar Sharma Tribune News Service Shimla, November 3 With September recording 77 per cent deficient rainfall and October remaining almost dry, a spectre of drought looms large over Himachal Pradesh. The prolonged dry spell has affected the sowing of early varieties of rabi crops, mainly wheat, and the situation could worsen if rains continued to elude the hill state for some more days. “The sowing of crops won’t be possible till there is sufficient moisture in the soil. The production is bound to fall by 5 to 10 per cent. The situation is worrisome,” said NK Badhan, state Agriculture Department Director. An official said the dry spell could also take a toll on cauliflower and cabbage crops, which were at transplantation stage. These crops are grown over 10,000 hectares — 5,200 cauliflower and 4,800 cabbage — mainly in Kullu, Mandi and upper Shimla region. Rabi sowing hit as Sept sees 77% rain deficit, Oct goes almost dry Besides wheat and vegetables, barley, pulses, mustard and linsed are among the other crops grown in Himachal during the rabi season. The decline in temperature too could damage the crops, said agriculture experts. The winter, meanwhile, has already set in tribal areas of Lahaul and Spiti and Kinnaur districts, causing a sharp decline in the minimum temperature. Yamunanagar, November 3 A mining firm, PS Buildtech Jathlana, has been booked for allegedly trying to divert the flow of the Yamuna by constructing an illegal bundh to undertake mining activities in MT Karhera village of Yamunanagar district. It is the second case of violation of the National Green Tribunal guidelines in the village in the past 15 days. On October 23, another min- MODI MOCKS CONG’S SHRINKING PRESENCE IN HOUSES BACK PAGE French forces kill 50 Third Covid stimulus jihadists in Mali package on the cards BRITAIN RAISES TERROR THREAT LEVEL TO SEVERE London: Britain has raised its terror threat level to “severe”, its second-highest level, following recent attacks in Austria and France. The threat level of severe is defined as an “attack considered highly likely”. AP act with impunity.” Parly is currently visiting Mali’s capital Bamako, where she met the head of the transitional government. — AP Spectre of drought Firm tries to divert Yamuna, booked looms large over HP 2nd violation of mining norms in 15 days Tribune News Service WOMEN LINE UP TO VOTE AT BARODA ON TUESDAY. PTI ing firm — M/s Kawaljeet Singh Batra — was booked for attempting to divert the flow of the Yamuna. Jaswinder Singh Hooda, Sub-Divisional Officer, Radaur, said he along with junior engineers had visited the quarry in MT Karhera on September 21. It was found that PS Buildtech had tried to divert the natural flow of the Yamuna by making a bundh using sand, flouting the NGT guidelines. On the complaint of Hooda, a case was registered against PS Buildtech (Block-12) under Section 431 (damaging river, road or bridge) of the IPC and Section 45 of the Canal and Drainage Act, Haryana, at Jathlana police station yesterday. Dharampal Singh, SHO, Jathlana, said the Irrigation Department had provided them photographs of the obstruction by the firm. Tribune News Service New Delhi, November 3 The Centre has hinted at another stimulus package to be announced shortly by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The Finance Ministry is currently looking into the various suggestions and requests received for another stimulus package, said Economic Affairs Secretary Tarun Bajaj during a media briefing on Tuesday. “We are discussing that. It is difficult for me to commit a date but we have received a lot of requests and comments from various sectors and we are looking into it. Very soon it will be unveiled by the FM,” he said. The government has so far announced two stimulus packages — Rs 1.70 lakh crore PM Garib Kalyan Yojana, which was meant for the economically vulnerable, and Rs 20.97 lakh crore Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan to address supply-side measures and initiate structural economic reforms. Bajaj played down the rate of inflation nearing the upper limit prescribed by COVID-19CASES INDIA COUNT 82,67,623 TOTAL RECOVERED DEATHS RECOVERED 76,03,121 FRESH FATALITIES 490 TOTAL DEATHS 1,23,097 WORLD 4,75,20,403 3,41,59,795 12,14,102 TESTING AT AIRPORT New Delhi: The Delhi International Airport Limited on Tuesday said it had set up Covid-19 testing facility and all domestic and international passengers taking their flights from the IGI airport can now get themselves tested right before their departure. the government, saying it was due to dislocations caused by local lockdowns. Meanwhile, India’s Covid19 graph is consistently declining except in the NCR, Kerala, Manipur and West Bengal. Active cases fell to 5,41,405 today with daily new infections settling at 38,310 — a record drop after 105 days. The last corresponding low was seen on July 22 when 37,724 cases were seen over 24 hours. Denied meeting with Prez, Capt to protest in Delhi Tribune News Service Chandigarh, November 3 Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh today decided to start a relay dharna of Congress MLAs at Rajghat in Delhi from Wednesday. The decision followed President Ram Nath Kovind’s refusal to meet a delegation led by him over the central farm laws. ‘CENTRE IGNORING PUNJAB’ Centre’s stepmotherly ❝ ThePunjabispushingitintoatreatment towards deep crisis… If not checked, the situation could snowball into a catastrophe. Capt Amarinder Singh, CM UNION MINISTER PIYUSH GOYAL TO MEET CONG MPsTOMORROW The dharna aims at highlighting the state’s power crisis and the situation aris- ing out of lack of essential supplies due to Centre’s refusal to allow the move- ment of goods trains. Due to the imposition of Section 144 of the Cr PC in Delhi, MLAs in a group of four would hold a relay protest with the Chief Minister leading the first group. Capt Amarinder also appealed to MLAs of other state parties to join them. PPCC chief Sunil Jakhar said they were adopting constitutional means to express their grievance. The Chief Minister’s Office had on October 21 sought an appointment for the delegation with the President on November 4 to urge him to give his consent to the state farm Bills. The Rashtrapati Bhavan declined the request pointing out the Bills were pending with the Punjab Governor for his consideration. Unlisted firm procures kinnow R’sthan vows MSP on 22 crops, Punjab 2 from Abohar, cites Central Act Bills of little use if Centre denies funds: Experts Sanjeev Singh Bariana Tribune News Service Ruchika M Khanna Tribune News Service Chandigarh, November 3 Even as the Punjab Government rejected the Central farm laws, the state mandi board allowed a private firm to buy kinnow from Abohar without paying mandi fee or registering itself with the Agriculture Produce Mar- Punjab panel ‘allows’ purchase without charging mandi fee keting Committee. HP-based Hindustan Farmdirect Ingredients Pvt Ltd reportedly bought 2,000 metric tonnes (MT) of kinnow in 2019 and had a target to buy 4,000 MT this year. The company reportedly did not pay 2 per cent mandi fee levied on horticulture crops. Continued on back page Chandigarh, November 3 Unlike Punjab, which has decided to pay minimum support price (MSP) only on wheat and paddy, the farm Bills passed by the Congress government in Rajasthan have assured the payment of MSP on all 22 crops listed by the Centre. Besides, Rajasthan has also promised to pay fair and remunerative price for sugarcane and a fixed price for toria and de-husked coconut. Not convinced by the move of both governments, agriculture experts and farm leaders say the promise holds relevance only if the Centre approves cash credit limit (CCL) for procurement. Jagmohan Singh Patiala, general secretary of the Bharti Kisan Union (Dakaunda), said: “The passing of Bills is the beginning of a very long battle given the Centre’s stance on the matter.” Both states, in their amendment Bills, have allowed the imposition of mandi fees on traders outside the mandi area. This was prohibited under the central Act. Dr Darshan Pal, president, Krantikari Kisan Union, said: “The BJP is trying to usurp the farm trade by giving a free hand to private players.” Partap Singh Bajwa, Rajya Sabha MP said: “The Punjab , Government should collaborate with voices opposed to the Centre’s laws. It also needs to prepare an alternative blueprint to revamp the farm sector.”