Jammu and Kashmir AAP chief and MLA Mehraj Malik was detained under the Public Safety Act for allegedly disturbing public order in Doda district. The detention has sparked condemnation from opposition parties.
Protests and a partial bandh were observed in the communally sensitive Bhaderwah town of Doda district in Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday following an objectionable social media post allegedly put up by a leader of a Hindu group. The post drew resentment from members of both Hindu and Muslim communities, prompting authorities to suspend mobile internet services as a precautionary measure. An FIR has been registered against the accused, Virender Razdan, and raids are underway to nab him.
Hours after being dismissed from service for 'concealing' his marriage with a Pakistani woman, Central Reserve Police Force trooper Munir Ahmed said he solemnised his marriage nearly a month after getting permission from the force's headquarters last year.
The AAP suffered a humiliating defeat in Haryana with most of its candidates set to lose their security deposit.
In the election held earlier in the year, the AAP lost the sole seat it contested and the Congress won five out of 10 seats.
The withdrawal of the candidature by DPAP leaders on the last day on August 30 is seen as a boost to the NC-Congress alliance.
Incidentally, 164 of the total 356 candidates in the fray from the 43 assembly seats of Jammu region got less votes than none of the above, which gives an option to voters to reject all candidates in a constituency.
'Article 370 is now dug 70 feet deep in the ground. It cannot come out.'
Officials said the polling went off peacefully in all segments including special polling stations along the International Border and Line of Control (LoC) with no untoward incident reported from anywhere.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday clinched a stunning hat-trick win in Haryana overcoming anti-incumbency and dashing Congress' hopes of a comeback while the National Conference-Congress combine pulled off a spectacular victory in maiden elections in Jammu and Kashmir after abrogation of Article 370 in 2019.
Modi began his nearly 45-minute speech by welcoming the people who attended the rally in the Kashmiri language. "This time, the (assembly) election will decide the future of Jammu and Kashmir, which has remained the target of foreign powers since Independence," he told the gathering.
Mehbooba Mufti-led PDP accused National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah of leaving them "no option".
The People's Democratic Party and the National Conference -- the two Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) partners in Jammu and Kashmir -- will be taking on each other on the three Lok Sabha seats in the valley.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday assured justice to the families of three civilians who were found dead last week after being allegedly picked up by the Army following an ambush on two of Army vehicles in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district.
The DDC election is being seen as a triangular contest among the People's Alliance for Gupkar Declaration, the BJP and the Apni Party floated by former finance minister Altaf Bukhari.
Aijaz Hussain won the Khonmoh-II District Development Council seat in Srinagar, while Aijaz Ahmad Khan gave the party more reason to cheer by winning the Tulail seat in Bandipora district.
The shikara capsized when it was closing on the bank of the lake in the last leg of the rally.
Poonch district of Jammu region recorded the highest turnout at 75.42 per cent. Ganderbal district recorded the highest polling in Kashmir valley at 56.28 per cent.
Nineteen candidates saw an extremely close contest in the maiden District Development Council (DDC) polls in Jammu and Kashmir where the margin of victory was less than 100.
Ganderbal district recorded the highest of 56.40 per cent polling in the Valley, while Poonch district of Jammu region polled the highest of 71.62 per cent votes across J-K.
The State Election Commission in Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday imposed restrictions on conduct of exit polls till the last of the eight-phase District Development Council election is completed.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday arrested the People's Democratic Party youth wing president Waheed Parra in connection with a terror case, officials said.
Out of the 280 constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir, 43 are going to polls in the second phase with 25 in Kashmir and 18 in Jammu division.
Till August 5 last year, except for parliamentary elections, these refugees were barred from voting in Jammu and Kashmir's assembly, panchayat and urban local body polls.
When the first flight arrived at Kushinagar airport on Wednesday, it was not Gota or Mahinda who stepped out, but another Rajapaksa. Namal Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka's minister of sports.
Gupkar Alliance, which includes mainstream political parties of Jammu and Kashmir, has accepted the invitation of the all-party meeting called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 24.
Reasi district of Jammu region recorded 75.20 per cent voting, the highest in the union territory, State Election Commissioner (SEC) K K Sharma said, adding that 50.53 per cent voter turnout was recorded in the third phase of the maiden DDC polls in J-K.
The manifesto claims that while the BJP has unified the country by abrogating provisions of Article 370 and Article 35A that provided special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, the People's Alliance for Gupkar Declaration -- an amalgam of several mainstream political parties, including the Ntional Conference and the People's Democratic Party -- was working against the national interest for vote bank politics.
Showcasing the efforts of the Centre for ensuring democracy at grass-roots level, the newly-elected members of the DDC would be meeting besides holding a meeting with a few prominent citizens and administrative secretaries.
'I've been illegally detained yet again. Since two days, J-K admin has refused to allow me to visit @parawahid's family in Pulwama. BJP Ministers and their puppets are allowed to move around in every corner of Kashmir but security is a problem only in my case,' Mufti tweeted in English and Urdu.
The People's Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) swept the maiden District Development Council (DDC) polls by winning 110 seats, while the Bharatiya Janata Party emerged as the single largest party by getting 75 seats after securing the largest vote share in Jammu and Kashmir, officials said on Wednesday.
Referring to the Nagrota incident, the MEA said the huge cache of arms, ammunition and explosive material indicate detailed planning for a 'major attack to destabilise the peace and security' in the Union Territory of J-K, in particular, to derail the ongoing democratic exercise of conduct of local district development council polls.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a review meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah, National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla and top intelligence establishment over the Nagrota encounter in which four terrorists were neutralised, government sources said.
Officials said the authorities took 20 leaders, including Sartaj Madni, Mansoor Hussain and Naeem Akhtar of the PDP, into preventive custody during the day.
The number of terror incidents in Jammu and Kashmir has shown significant decline since the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019, the Lok Sabha was informed on Tuesday.
Women will have a decisive say as chairpersons in seven of Jammu and Kashmir's 20 districts.
A group of envoys including those from several Europe Union countries and a few Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC) member states began a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday to take a first-hand account of the situation in newly-carved union territory, especially after the recently-concluded local body elections.
The eight-phase DDC polls, which began on November 28, is also the first election after Jammu and Kashmir's special status under Article 370 was revoked last year and it was reorganised into a Union Territory.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said the ongoing delimitation exercise in Jammu and Kashmir has to happen quickly so that polls can be held to instal an elected government that gives strength to its development trajectory.
The polling will be held between 7 am and 2 pm in 34 constituencies -- 17 each in Kashmir and Jammu divisions. Besides DDC elections, polling will be held for panchayat bypolls in 50 vacant sarpanch seats and 216 vacant panch seats falling within the DDC constituencies, an official spokesman said.
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