eye THE SUNDAY EXPRESS MAGAZINE The Light on India JAIPUR,LATECITY JUNE2,2024 At Cannes, it was India’s moment in the sun. What does this win mean for the country? 14+4PAGES,`6.00 DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA 61.63 64.50 TURNOUT (%) ■ 2019 ■ 2024 OVERALL 67.40 Phase7 Note: Until 11.45 pm. Overall figures for 2024 not released yet Source: EC All votes are in: Turnout 61.63% & counting in Phase 7; highest in West Bengal DAMINI NATH NEW DELHI, JUNE 1 AMID HEATWAVE conditions across large parts of North India, polling for the Lok Sabha elections came to a close Saturday, withanestimated61.63percent voter turnout in the seventh and final phase. Counting of votes for the elections to the Lok Sabha, Assembly in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha will start at 8 am on June 4. Counting of votes for AssemblyelectionsinArunachal Pradesh and Sikkim will start at 6 am Sunday. According to an Election Commissionstatement,theoverall turnout in the 57 Lok Sabha constituenciesacrosssevenstates and one Union Territory where polling was held Saturday was 61.63 per cent at 11.45 pm. The final turnout could increase after scrutiny of the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM PMTHANKSVOTERS, SECURITYFORCES, praises EC for smooth conduct of polls COUNTINGBEGINS8 AM,JUNE4;RESULTS for Arunachal, Sikkim Assembly today OPPTO APPROACH POLL PANEL before counting; meet again June 5 Exit polls forecast resounding return of BJP-led NDA for third term, significant gains in South PM slams Opp: People have rejected INDIA bloc’s regressive politics DECISION 2024 EXIT POLL CONSENSUS: 350+ FOR NDA AGENCIES NDA ABPNews-CVoter IndiaToday-AxisMyIndia News24-Today’sChanakya TimesNow-ETG IndiaTV-CNX IndiaNews-D-Dynamics RepublicTV-P-Marq JanKiBaat DainikBhaskar NDTVpollofpolls 2019 Results INDIA OTHERS 353-383 361-401 400 358 371-401 371 359 362-392 281-350 365 152-182 131-166 107 152 109-139 125 154 141-161 145-201 146 4-12 8-20 36 33 28-38 47 30 10-20 33-49 32 NDA: 336 INDIA: 120 LALMANI VERMA & ARUN JANARDHANAN NEW DELHI, CHENNAI, JUNE 1 Others: 86 Note: 2019 seat tallies based on current composition of NDA and INDIA. Shiv Sena and NCP excluded as they were undivided at the time PM Narendra Modi at the Vivekananda Rock Memorial in Kanyakumari on Saturday. PTI EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, JUNE 1 ALL MAJOR EXIT polls projected a resounding victory for the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections that concluded on Saturday.Accordingtotheirprojections,theBJPitself isexpected tobetterits2019tallyof 303seats and together with allies may even come close to realising its BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY DECISION 2024 ● ‘400 paar’? Only Cong touched that mark after Indira was killed ● Targeting Congress manifesto, Insta videos: What BJP did differently ● Violence mars polls in West Bengal PAGES 4, 6 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 No relief on interim bail Opp puts up brave face: petition, Kejriwal has to People’s exit poll favours go back to Tihar today us, wait until June 4 NEW DELHI, JUNE 1 DENIED ANY immediate relief Saturday after a Delhi court reserved its order for June 5 on his plea for interim bail, Delhi Chief Minister and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal will have to surrender Sunday and return to Tihar Jail. Arrested bythe Enforcement Directorate on March 21 in the Delhiexcisepolicycase,Kejriwal was granted interim bailon May 10 by the Supreme Court until June 1 for election campaigning. He had been directed to surrender on June 2. On May 28, the Supreme CourtRegistrydeclinedtolisthis plea seeking extension of interimbail,saying “noreasonable cause or grounds” had been E EXPLAINED NIRBHAY THAKUR ● TheED’s counter ED OPPOSED Kejriwal’s plea saying he was seeking extension of interim bail given by SC; that only a person in custody could seek bail; it was for a higher court, not trial court, to release a person without complying with PMLA section 45. made to entertain his application. It pointed out that the Supreme Court, while reserving itsorderonhispetitionchallenging his arrest by the ED, had said CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 INDIA bloc leaders meet at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence in New Delhi on Saturday. Tashi Tobgyal ASAD REHMAN NEW DELHI, JUNE 1 SHORTLY BEFORE exit polls predicted the return of the BJP-led NDA, top leaders of the opposition INDIA bloc met here Saturday and put up a brave front claiming that they would cross the halfway mark. One of the leaders at the meeting said that the consensus in the room was that the BJP wouldbethesinglelargestparty but fall well short of the halfway mark. After the meeting that went on for more than two hours at his residence, Congress CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 As cricket begins American Dream, some hopes and doubts on changing traditions PAGE 1 ANCHOR SANDIP G NEW DELHI, JUNE 1 LIKE MILLIONS of immigrants in the US, Chuck Ramkissoon, the central figure of John O’Neill’s best-selling novel Netherland, wanted to live the American Dream. He did odd jobs to survive while, all along, not taking his eyes off his dream — of be- FOUR-PAGE PULLOUT coming a millionaire by making cricket great again. “Cricket was the first modern team sport in America,” he tells his friend and thenovel’sprotagonist,Hansvan den Broek. With similar ambitions of harnessing the world’s most powerful sports market, somethingcrickethasfailedtodosofar, the men’s T20 World Cup arrives in the United States on June 2. Sunday, the home team is set to play Canada in the opening game, but it is the other neighbourlyclash,IndiavsPakistanon John O’Neill, author of novel Netherland, in which the central figure wants to make cricket great in the US June 9 in New York, that is expectedtoturn the global gazeon cricket in America. After 16 group games in the US, the action moves to the West Indies, with the final in Barbados on June 29. O’Neill has played cricket in the country of his birth, Ireland, age-group cricket in Holland wherehe spent his childhood, in England where he did his higher studies, and in New York, where he is living. And he knows the importance of this World T20. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Jaipur AS THE polling for the seventh phaseof LokSabhaconcludedon Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed confidence that the people had voted in record numbers to reelect the NDA government. Calling the INDIA bloc “casteist, communal and corrupt”, Modi said the opposition had failed to strike a chord with the voters, and the people had rejected their regressive politics. His remarks came after he emerged from his 45-hour-long meditation at the Vivekananda Rock Memorial. He said the people have seen the track record of the NDA government, and the manner in which his government’s work hasbroughta qualitative change in the lives of the poor, the marginalised and the downtrodden. Thepeople, hesaid,havealso seen how reforms in India have propelled the country to being the fifth largest global economy. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2