SUNDAY CROSSWORD 3082 CRYPTIC CLUES QUICK CLUES ACROSS 1 Bill on the line expresses agreement (6) 4 Papers thrown at union meeting (8) 9 Take away or put back on the agenda? (6) 10 Staff on holiday - hence delay (5,3) 12 What’s missing in a fight is obscure (5,3) 13 Operatic heroine that is at heart betrayed (6) 15 Try at an international match (4) 16 Brats badly behaved should be removed (10) 19 Held in check; fell behind the others (10) 20 Sailing vessel with a professional second mate (4) 23 Willingly left member with account to pay finally (6) 25 Swirling mist hides the way forward (8) 27 It describes a man who lacks spirit (8) 28 Absorbent soup or stew (6) 29 The end of the road for one who saw the light (8) 30 Get a seat when prepared to stand (6) DOWN 1 Man devoured by lion could be a circus performer (7) 2 Drawing equipment arrives without a permit (9) 3 Don’t follow suit (6) 5 One shouldn’t lie under it (4) 6 Vast fire put out in superior sort of hotel (4-4) 7 Monster fish (5) 8 Find lie perfect for a place close to the action (7) 11 Many were carried away by it and lost their heads (7) 14 Crowds moving about in the morning in the streets (7) 17 Got up and dressed (6,3) 18 Kind to me in expressing surprise (8) 19 Right to be overjoyed when told (7) 21 Performer tires at appearing in variety (7) 22 Moody and could become more so (6) 24 Shine as a beginner in a new game (5) 26 Forbidden but a doctor provides it (4) SOLUTIONS TO CROSSWORD 3081 CRYPTIC QUICK ACROSS 1 Lawsuit (6) 4 International tennis trophy (5,3) 9 Manage with limited means (4,2) 10 Sentimental weakness (4,4) 12 And similar things (8) 13 A card game (6) 15 Except (4) 16 Take your time! (4,4,2) 19 Sorely contested (4-6) 20 Wild animal’s den (4) 23 Behave abjectly (6) 25 As a rule (8) 27 Responsive to suggestion (8) 28 Bay tree (6) 29 Closing date (8) 30 Lacking warmth of feeling (6) DOWN 1 Without purpose (7) 2 Seek shelter from attack (4,5) 3 Unusualness (6) 5 Eagerly expectant (4) 6 Areas away from coast (8) 7 Roman god of love (5) 8 Forbearing (7) 11 Concoct (5,2) 14 Tropical cyclone (7) 17 Rifles and revolvers (5,4) 18 Nevertheless (5,3) 19 Hollow-eyed (7) 21 A payment to an author (7) 22 Weaken (6) 24 Musical drama (5) 26 An intended method (4) New Delhi: The opening moves of the UP elections were fraught for BJP. The party faced a restless Jat constituency and Mayawati was a real threat in this neck of the woods. But paradoxi- cally, the hype whipped up by the SP-Congress alliance ended up helping BJP safely negotiate the treacherous terrain. The newly minted SP- Congress pact prevented west UP’s large Muslim po- pulation from rallying be- hind BSP, a development that would have spelt troub- le for BJP. This, with discon- tent in the Jat ranks, could have hurt the saffron cam- paign. Though estimates vary, BJP chief Amit Shah’s in- tervention with Jat leaders prevented largescale deser- tions while several other communities barring Mus- lims backed the party. So, BJP emerged with a lead that only grew stronger as the election progressed across the state with the fi- nal victory setting the scene for the party’s bid to defend its Gujarat crown for a record sixth term. After the first two phases, Modi began to step up his tem- po and pressed harder on the theme of “discrimination” in SP’s governance by sugges- ting power supplies during Ramzan were more regular than for Hindu festivals. He then swung out at SP again, with his comparison of go- vernment assistance to burial grounds as opposed to crema- tion arenas. Thereafter, Shah used the “KASAB” formula- tion to attack SP. Finally, when questions were raised about Modi’s pre- sence in his constituency Var- anasi for three consecutive da- ys holding roadshows, BJP re- sponded by terming it a “vic- tory procession” as seniors grew increasingly confident that the party was home and dry. Modi powered ahead, gunning for a sweep in the final 40 seats. How Modi set the victory agenda TEAM TOI Bharti.Jain@timesgroup.com New Delhi: After BSP’s dis- mal electoral performance in Uttar Pradesh, its supremo Mayawati chose to pin the bla- me on “tampered” EVMs, al- leging that they had recorded votes in favour of BJP irre- spective of the button pres- sed. The charge was echoed by Uttarakhand CM Harish Rawat, who lost from both the seats he contested, while Ak- hilesh Yadav insisted that Ma- yawati’s doubts regarding tamperability of EVMs be addressed. Congress supported May- awati’s demand for a probe into EVMs used in the UP polls and asked the EC to se- riously look into her charges. “ Mayawatiji has raised se- rious and pertinent ques- tions about the integrity of the entire democratic pro- cess as also the EVMs used in UP,” Congress spokesman Randeep Surjewala said. Though BSP requested EC to withhold declaration of re- sults and order fresh polls in UP with paper ballots, the EC was quick to reject her prayer as “legally untenable”. EVMs were doctored, say losers 6 SUNDAY TIMES OF INDIA, KOLKATA MARCH 12, 2017 DANCE of DEMOCRACY | DECODING THE VERDICT UP, Uttarakhand victories may help NDA get President of its choice Vishwa Mohan@timesgroup.com New Delhi: A landslide win in UP and Uttarakhand has ta- ken the ruling alliance closer to getting the President of its choice when incumbent Pra- nab Mukherjee’s tenure ends in July. Though the NDA’s vote sha- re in the electoral college will still be short of majority, the gap can easily be narrowed if it can strike a deal with one or two non-UPA parties like Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and AI- ADMK. The President is elec- ted by the members of an elec- toral college consisting of elected members of both the Houses of Parliament and the elected members of the legis- lative assemblies of states and the Union Territories of Delhi and Puducherry. The NDA was short of 75,076 (value of votes) from the majority mark in the electoral college (having value of votes of 10,98,882 in total) before the results of the five states — Ut- tar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur and Goa, we- re declared. The emphatic wins for BJP in UP and Utta- rakhand have, however, now helped the NDA to cut this 117 MLAs in Odisha assembly. Similarly, AIADMK can pitch in with 23,584 votes if it deci- des to go with the NDA candi- date. The party has 134 MLAs in the Tamil Nadu assembly. The assembly results of UP and Uttarakhand will also ulti- mately help the NDA improve its numbers in the Rajya Sab- ha — a must for getting key le- gislations passed in the Upper House. But it will happen only in April next year when both these states together report 11 vacancies due to retirement of existing members. The change in Rajya Sabha num- bers will, however, not have an impact on the presidential election, which is due in July. By-polls to three Lok Sabha se- ats are due in April. But, result of three seats will not signifi- cantly affect the presidential poll scenario. Though the NDA, with a tally of 75, will continue to be a fair distance from the majori- ty mark of 123 in the Rajya Sab- ha, Saturday’s victories will somewhat shorten the gap by next year. The result of other three states will also not alter the Upper House’s arithmetic in 2017. The NDA is, however, ex- pected to boost its numbers next year when the Rajya Sab- ha will report a total of 68 va- cancies. Fifty-eight out of the 68 vacancies will be reported in April, 2018. Ten vacancies will be reported from UP while one from Uttarakhand. polls. If BJD supports the NDA candidate, it will contribute 17,433 votes by virtue of having ties like BJD and AIADMK and independent MPs and MLAs for the presidential shortfall to just 20,000. This gap can easily be brid- ged if the NDA can rope in par- But Numbers In RS Will Go Up Only In 2018 ALLIANCE STILL SHORT OF NOS IN PREZ POLL RACE 1 HOW IS THE PREZ ELECTED 2 HOW POLLS CHANGE CALCULATIONS ➤Next President will be elected in July ➤Electoral college consists of elected MPs of both Houses and all elected MLAs Total value of votes of electoral college 10,98,882 LS 543 RS 233 + + 4,120 MLAs 4,896 Total Value of each MP’s vote = 708 (Total value of all MLA votes divided by 776 rounded off to the nearest whole number) Value of each MLA’s vote Varies from state to state Example: Punjab 1,35,51,060 117 = (Total MLAs) State population in 1971 (Punjab) 1,15,821 Divide this by 1,000 to get value of each Punjab MLA’s vote — 115.82, which is rounded off to 116 consisting of 776x708=5,49,408 for MPs + 5,49,474 for MLAs Majority mark: 5,49,442 Vote share of five states which went to polls UP Punjab UK Manipur Goa 83,824 13,572 4,480 1,080 800 Total 1,03,756 776 MPs NDA count before election NDA count after election 4,74,366 5,29,398 Shortfall: 20,044 MLAs Value of each MLA’s vote 208 116 64 20 18 ➤ The shortfall can be made up if NDA can strike a deal with non-UPA parties like BJD & AIADMK; Independent MPs & MLAs can also support NDA ➤ If BJD supports the NDA candidate, it will contribute 17,433 vote value by virtue of having 117 MLAs in Odisha assembly (Value of vote of an MLA in Odisha: 149) ➤ If AIADMK supports the NDA nominee, it'll contribute 23,584 vote value; party has 134 MLAs in TN assembly (Value of TN MLA vote: 176) A F T E R S T A T E P O L L S B E F O R E S T A T E P O L L S F ormer finance minister P Chidambaram said on Saturday that the state assembly election results have established Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the most dominant person with a countrywide appeal. Chidambaram also told a TV channel that the BJP will have a majority in Rajya Sabha once elections are held for the Upper House of Parliament. TNN PM most dominant leader now, says PC Ishita.Bhatia@timesgroup.com Meerut: With BJP sweeping all six seats in Muzaffarnagar and two out of the three in neighbouring Shamli, the 2013 riot victims said the saffron party’s landslide win through- out the state felt like a “bad dream”. Many of them blamed it on “conscious efforts” by po- litical parties to divide the mi- nority votes. “People who set up one community against the other are now in power. They made their intentions quite clear by fielding all the riot-ac- cused candidates and reaped rich dividends of it,” said Mo- hammad Shamshad, who had to leave his village Kutba dur- ing the riots. In riot-scarred Muzaffarna- gar and Shamli, four of the nine winners in the neighbouring districts have been booked on charges of rioting and criminal intimidation. Suresh Kumar Rana of BJP from Thana Bha- wan, Nahid Hasan of SP from Kairana, BJP’s Umesh Malik from Budhana and Vikram Singh from Khatauli — all have rioting and criminal intimida- tion cases filed against them. In the 2012 assembly polls, BSP had claimed three seats in Muzaffarnagar while BJP, SP and RLD had won one each. In Shamli, Congress, BJP and SP had won a seat each. TOI had earlier reported that at least 35% of the total voters who got displaced after the riots here in 2013 were not registered with the Election Commission. Saffron win a bad dream: Riot victims