sukumar ranganathan

The HT newsroom put out a bunch of specials to mark India@75. For starters, there’s 1947: The road to Indian independence, a podcast anchored by Prashant Jha, featuring experts such as William Dalrymple, Rajmohan Gandhi, Srinath Raghavan, and Durba Ghosh. open.spotify.com/show/2PLudYtwR…

@tikulli Mornings 630-830 but people saw them through the day Saturday

@HT_Ed What would be a good time to view these hornbills? I keep missing the sighting.

Drama continues at Lodhi Garden with an Oriental Pied Hornbill trying to feed Grey Hornbill chicks

‘Love, deceit, murder’: Mystery hornbill drama grips Delhi’s Lodhi Garden hindustantimes.com/s/1UbQt0a

When Suvendu Adhikari takes oath at its 1st BJP CM today, WB will see the beginning of one of the most important chapters of its history. It is foolish to deny history when it changes, but hubris to think of events, no matter how big, as the end of history. cc @NishantTISS

I’m definitely reeling in the years …

This week’s newsletter — how luck keeps us all alive; poll data; and some birding stuff, of course. open.substack.com/pub/hted/p/act…

Lost in SIR debate: Muslim attrition from TMC Muslims on the electoral roll, rather than those who were possibly disenfranchised because of SIR, might have played a bigger role in the TMC’s poor showing this time. cc @naalmot @NishantTISS

@meltwith @BMTC_BENGALURU State transport Corp buses are usually not insured — despite the SC raising concerns about this. Have no idea about BMTC

A few weeks ago this @BMTC_BENGALURU bus rear ended me causing about 25k damage. Transpires the driver was new & on training. Altho they promised to claim via their insurance, BMTC officials then backed off & will not even take my calls. Looking for advice as seems like no choice

I know some people have used victory margins vs deletions and arrived at the opposite conclusion — but that’s just bad logic. Again, a reading of the piece above will explain why

Did SIR exercise win West Bengal for the BJP? The short answer: no. The long one: read on (warning: there are scatter plots and correlation coefficients) hindustantimes.com/s/1TSmhxg

Over 15 % of the vote is counted in West Bengal but the trend is clear enough to call. With a median vote share difference of 7.5 percentage points, the BJP leads in 169 to the TMC’s 92. This lead (with trends in 32 seats to come) could see the BJP ending with over 200 seats.

With over 20% of votes counted, safe to call Tamil Nadu now. TVK leads in 107 with a vote share of 34.1%. DMK+ is third with 52 leads and a vote share of 31.1%. AIADMK has held its own with 74 leads and a share of 31.1%. Clear anti- establishment vote

Should have called Assam earlier. Median vote share difference of 23 percentage points between BJP and Congress. BJP leading in 97 to Congress’ 26 with 18.4% votes counted. But done deal.

If this holds — TVK will need someone’s support to form government

Over 10% of votes counted in Tamil Nadu. Too early to call for sure but vote shares suggest that TVK (33.8) has eaten into DMK (30.8) with AIADMK pretty much holding (29). TVK leads in 95, but AIADMK and allies not far behind on 76. DMK and allies way behind at 47.

Over 20% of votes counted in Kerala. Can be called . UDF leads in 96 with vote share of 45.8%, LDF in 42 with 38.3%. There’s a 8 percentage point difference in the median vote share of the two, so the UDF’s seats could go up.

20% of vote counted in Puducherry, co can be called. NDA ahead in 10 with over 40% of votes. TVK has 15% vote share but isn’t leading in any seat. The UT goes to NDA

@raohitender Wow. I think that’s why it’s mild here

@HT_Ed We are at the other extreme today, sir.

When it’s a strangely mild May morning …

Always hits the spot !