kottayam l monday l march 09, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION RSP all set to sweep Nepal polls as counting reaches final stage As of Sunday evening, the Rashtriya Swatantra Party (RSP) won 122 of 165 seats and was leading in six others, Nepal’s Election Commission said counting for 159 seats completed poll panel withholds result in one seat As per the latest update, the Nepali Congress (NC) is a distant second with 17 seats, while the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) led by K P Sharma Oli has won eight seats, and the Nepal Communist Party has secured three seats. As per an official update on Sunday evening, the counting was completed in at least 159 seats ■ ■ The result in one seat, Dhanusha Constituency-1, may take a while longer as a court order is pending on the eligibility of RSP’s candidate Among the three former Nepal prime ministers who contested the March 5 general election, only Pushpakamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ managed to win. Both K P Oli Sharma and Madhav Nepal lost | P9 24,55,764 won by RSP in proportional voting system CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI Iran picks new history makers at home Supreme Leader as war deepens 1 Defending champs India won their third T20 World Cup becoming the first team to do so 2 Co-hosts became the first team to lift T20 WC at home. In previous 9 editions, no home team won 3 India’s total of 255/5 is the highest posted in a T20 WC final. Better than their 176/7 vs SA in 2024 4 Gautam Gambhir became the first India head coach to win two ICC titles s w ar o o p s w aminathan @ Ahmedabad At long last, glory and a batting spectacle. Release. An outpouring of love from over a lakh of people, most of them dressed in various hues of India blue. In the scene of their greatest defeat, one of their biggest wins. The scars of November 19 (loss to Australia in ODI World Cup final) will remain but March 8 will bring with it the necessary balm to tide over the ghost of that horror. The stadium, gateway to India’s biggest sporting project, can heal. The T20 World Cup will stay with them. For the tens of thousands who were part of the imposing circular Blue Wall from as early as 4.30 PM, this was a memory for a lifetime. Even as Suryakumar Yadav & Co. took turns to hold aloft the shiny 6kg mostly silver trophy deep into the Ahmedabad night, nobody was prepared to go home. Board exams be damned, a new work week could wait. Sleep was set aside for a few hours to watch their favourite sporting team create history . US-Israel strikes hit oil infra in Tehran; Iran targets Kuwait, Bahrain facilities A G E N C I E S @ Tehran, Tel Aviv, Dubai India players celebrate after winning the T20 World Cup in Ahmedabad on Sunday I debadatta mallick No side had ever won this title at home. No team had ever defended this title. Nobody had won it thrice. India took a sledgehammer to history. That’s how you create a new sporting identity. Not by winning it once but doing it again and again. It’s why Australia have an aura about them. It’s why Brazil are football’s aristocrats. It’s the only path towards invincibility You can be good, . but to be truly immortal, you need to make winning your only calling card. And they did everything in their power. Eighteen months of preparation was followed by trips to temples, delaying a training session as it collided with a lunar eclipse during their World Cup campaign. There was even an apocryphal story about changing hotels. And it was apt that Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan and Abhishek Sharma, the three musketeers who had been identified to redefine the art of batting in this format, took them there. They have shown the limits of what’s possible in this format. Needing 255, it was too P11 much for the Kiwis.  Kerala plans Maha firm tie-up for local antivenom MHA asks Bengal chief secretary to explain lapses during Prez visit U nni k rishnan @T’Puram THE Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Sunday sought a detailed report from the West Bengal government over the alleged protocol violation and lapses during President Droupadi Murmu’s visit to the state on Saturday to attend the International Santal Conference in Darjeeling district. Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan directed West Bengal Chief Secretary Nandini Chakraboty to explain the alleged lapses in security protocol, venue arrangements, and travel route during the President’s programme. Sources said the MHA also wanted to know the reason behind the failure the chief minister, chief secretary and DGP , to receive the President upon her arrival, which is a gross violation of protocol. Moving ahead with its plan to tackle cases of snakebites, which claimed 18 lives in 202526 and remain a major public health issue, the state government is exploring a partnership with Bharat Serums and Vaccines Ltd (BSV), a Mumbaibased biopharmaceutical firm, to develop polyvalent antisnake venom (ASV) tailored to species found in Kerala. Under it, BSV would help establish a venom collection centre at the Thrissur Zoological Park in Puthur and provide technical expertise in venom extraction, storage and transportation. The initiative is part of the government’s push to create indigenous ASV, which experts believe will be more effective against snakes found in Kerala. At present, the antivenom supplied from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka is not fully effective here due to geographical and climatic variations. “In our preliminary discussions, BSV expressed interest in using venom collected here to prepare antivenom specifically for Kerala,” said assistant conservator of forest Y Muhammad Anwar. Kerala reports up to 45,000 cases of snakebites a year, with about 30% of them involving venomous snakes. Of these, roughly 335 cases are attributed to hump-nosed pit viper bites, which are difficult to treat as existing antivenom remains ineffective even at high ● More on P4 doses.  lakshya falls at the final hurdle again Lakshya Sen loses to Lin Chun-yi of Chinese Taipei in the final of the All England badminton. This was his second final outing in the premier competition | P11 S U B H E N D U M A I T I & PA R V E Z S U LTA N @ Kolkata / New Delhi President Droupadi Murmu | PTI No violation: Mamata West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday claimed there was no protocol violation at the President’s programme, terming it a “private event” The conference was held at a ground near the Bagdogra airport in Gosainpur, instead of the planned venue in Bidhannagar. Speaking at the event, on Saturday, Murmu had publicly expressed displeasure over the low turnout, attributing it to the change of venue, and noted the absence of the CM and her ministers. In her response, Banerjee accused the President of playing politics at the behest of the BJP ahead of the state polls, triggering a political firestorm. On Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tore into the Trinamool Congress (TMC) saying the “enlightened people” of West Bengal would never forgive the party for “insulting” the President, who is a woman and a tribal. “The dirty politics and arrogance of power of the TMC, which has gravely insulted a tribal President, will soon be shattered... The country will not forgive them, the tribal community will not pardon them, and the women of the nation will not forgive them.” IRAN’s Assembly of Experts tasked with appointing the next Supreme Leader reportedly arrived at a majority decision on Sunday, but stopped short of naming him. The 88-member clerical body has sought some time to remove “some obstacles” before annoucing the name. Khamenei’s son Mojtaba is billed to be the front-runner to succeed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, killed over a week ago in the strikes that triggered the war between Iran and Israel-US. The development came on a day when US-Israeli air strikes destroyed fuel dumps and triggered fires that choked much of Tehran in a thick blanket of smoke. In response, Iran struck Gulf infrastructure, hitting fuel tanks at Kuwait’s international air port and hit a desalination plant in Bahrain with the war reaching its second week. The war, which Israel and US launched on February 28, has so far claimed at least 1,230 lives in Iran, 397 in Lebanon including 83 kids, 11 in Israel, and six US soldiers. The impact of the conflict is no longer limited to West Asia as it has rattled global markets, oil indices and disrupted air travel. If the war continues for long, it could impact energy prices worldwide. In India, cooking gas prices have already gone up. With the joint US-Israeli strikes continuing on Tehran, Iran’s president Masoud Pezeshkian vowed to expand attacks on US targets across the Gulf. “The more pressure they impose on us, the stronger our response will naturally be,” Pezeshkian said. Neighbouring countries have borne much of Tehran’s brunt, with 16 people killed in the Gulf states since the war began, according to an AFP tally . Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait all reported new attacks on Sunday . Israel-US hit Iran’s oil well A thick plume of smoke rose from an oil well hit by a US-Israeli strikes in Tehran Sunday. Israel said it struck “a number of fuel storage facilities in Tehran” used “to operate military infrastructure” Brent crude at 5-year high Crude oil price continued rising after some key countries slashed their output. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) soared to $115 on Sunday. Brent rose to $117, the highest level since 2022. Arab League warns Iran Arab League’s secretary-general Ahmed Aboul Gheit said Sunday that Iranian attacks on Gulf member states were “reckless”, urging Tehran to reverse what he called a “massive strategic mistake”. Budget session Sparks to fly as motion against Speaker in Lok Sabha today P reetha N air @ New Delhi The stage is set for a stormy start to the second leg of the Budget session of Parliament on Monday with the Lok Sabha , set to take up an Opposition motion seeking the removal of Speaker Om Birla. The rare move, which is the first in nearly four decades, highlights the deepening rift between the Opposition and the ruling side. The government is likely to allocate around three hours for the discussion on the motion, with three members each from the Treasury and Opposition benches expected to participate, sources said. From the Congress, either Deputy Leader in the Lok Sabha, Gaurav Gogoi or K C Venugopal, is likely to participate in the debate, sources said. While both the Congress and the BJP have issued whips directing their members to be present in the House, the BJPled NDA holds a clear numerical advantage to defeat the resolution in the 543-member Lok Sabha. However, the Opposition received a boost after the T r i n a m o o l C o n g re s s a n nounced Saturday that it would support the motion. As many as 118 opposition members had submitted notice to move a resolution to remove Birla from office for not allowing the Leader of Opposition and other opposition leaders to speak in the House on the motion of thanks to the President’s address, as well as for suspending eight opposition MPs. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has backed Birla, stating he had taken all Parliamentarians along and was committed to upholding the principles of the Constitution and Parliamentary democracy . Amid the escalating conflict in West Asia, Lok Sabha will also see a briefing by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on the evolving situation there. e x p r e ss r e a d Kerala’s cyber protocol to shield students from AI risks T’Puram: To address the complexities of AI era, the state has come out with a first-ever protocol for schools to ensure a secure digital learning environment and robust cyber defences for students. The ‘Cyber Safety Protocol 2026’ has been developed through an analysis of emerging AI-driven challenges and cyber crimes | P5 Cong rift widens as Satheesan skips crucial poll meeting T’Puram: Rift within Congress has widened in the wake of ‘Puthuyuga Yatra’, which was aimed at uniting the party and UDF ahead of Kerala assembly polls. Differences further surfaced after Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan stayed away from crucial steering committee meet on Sunday convened to discuss the candidate list | P4 bathed in colours Members of Vaniya community and others take part in ‘Manjal kuli’, the group’s Holi celebration, at Amaravathy in Fort Kochi on Sunday. During the celebration, an effigy of Lord Kama is burnt to symbolise the victory of spiritual wisdom over lust | A Sanesh The tigress the wild failed to reclaim—Mangala’s 6-year journey in captivity N e j ma S ulaiman @ Idukki In the wild, a cub tiger that cannot keep pace rarely survives. When Mangala was found abandoned as a twomonth-old inside Periyar Tiger Reserve (PTR) in 2020, her poor vision and paralysed hind leg had already placed her at a disadvantage. What followed was a rare case of prolonged human intervention: years of treatment, rehabilitation and attempts to prepare her for a life the forest could not offer. The cub was first spotted on the premises of Mangala Devi temple—which lent her its name—by forest watcher Viswan. Initially, forest staff hoped her mother would return. It did not happen. Within two days, the cub had grown weak. “It was shifted to the rescue centre in the reserve and given immediate care,” said Anuraj, former assistant forest veterinary officer at PTR. There, Mangala was admin- Mangala, the tigress istered medication and rehabilitation for her injured leg. “With regular treatment, the leg improved over time,” he said. Her eyesight, however, remained a concern. Doctors diagnosed cataract along with corneal opacity Instead of opt. ing for immediate surgery, a panel of experts decided to attempt treatment first. It started showing results. At the same time, officials attempted to prepare the cub for a possible return to the wild by minimising human interaction and encouraging natural hunting behaviour. “The cub was provided bait such as rabbits. It was interesting to watch her instinctively knock down the prey and go for the throat—typical hunting behaviour in tigers,” Anuraj recalled. Despite the improvements, later medical examinations concluded that Mangala’s vision could never be fully restored. Releasing her into the forest could make her vulnerable to attacks. Surgery was found impractical due to the challenges of transporting the animal for treatment, post-operative care issues and the limitations artificial lenses could pose for a predator that relies on sharp vision to hunt. It was then decided to move Mangala to the Thrissur Zoological Park, in Puthur where she will live under managed care. “In a managed environment, a tiger can live around 20-25 years. It will also have the opportunity to interact with other tigers and possibly breed,” said Anuraj.