Polling was by and large peaceful in the bypolls for three Lok Sabha and seven assembly seats spread across five states and Delhi on Thursday barring an incident of stabbing of a policeman in Tripura, where polling was the highest at 76.62 per cent.
Karnataka BJP MLA Arvind Bellad has said the body of Naveen Shekarappa Gyanagouda, who was killed in shelling in Ukraine on March 1, would occupy space that could be utilised to evacuate 10 to 12 stranded people from the war-torn country.
The development is a major boost for West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, who has been trying to expand her party's footprint beyond her native state.
'The Congress is not listening to its young leaders. That is why the situation of the party is worsening in all states'
In Karnataka, home minister Araga Jnanendra directed police to track down the 'anti-national' persons who posted objectionable comments about the late chief of defence staff, and 'punish them befitting their distorted minds.'
Union minister of state (MoS) for home affairs Ajay Mishra Teni's son Ashish Mishra, who has been accused in Lakhimpur Kheri incident, has been sent to three-day police remand with conditions on Monday.
In a strongly worded letter, the governor has informed Vijayan that the former was ready to sign immediately if the latter brings an ordinance to amend the Acts empowering the chief minister to become the chancellor of universities.
"Around 20 candidates have been shifted to Jaipur from Assam today," said Congress chief whip in the Rajasthan assembly, Mahesh Joshi.
While the BJP distanced itself from the article, the TMC also rubbished allegations of "understanding with the saffron camp" but the Congress said that the "cat is now out of the bag".
Union ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal, Randeep Surjewala and Jairam Ramesh of the Congress and Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut were among the 16 candidates elected to the Rajya Sabha from four states where polling was held on Friday after tussle over cross voting and alleged breach of election rules delayed the counting by around eight hours in Maharashtra and Haryana.
The party bagged 11 of the 25 seats, from 20 Local Authorities' constituencies in the state, for which the biennial election was held on December 10, and counting was taken up today, poll officials said.
The Congress accused Facebook of interfering in India's democratic process and social harmony and being soft on members of the ruling BJP on applying its hate-speech rules.
On Thursday, the BJP emerged as the single largest party by winning 20 seats in the 40-member assembly, just one short of the majority mark, and later said it has secured support from regional outfit MGP, which bagged two seats.
Dhami, who is a two-time MLA from Khatima in Udham Singh Nagar district, replaces Tirath Singh Rawat who resigned on Friday night.
The motion of no confidence against the BJP-JJP government, brought by the main opposition Congress, was on Wednesday taken up in the Haryana Assembly, with Speaker Gian Chand Gupta reserving two-hour discussion on it.
Union minister Anurag Thakur said that "one should take complete information and sometimes many issues come up that are far from truth..."
The Haryana assembly on Tuesday passed a resolution seeking the completion of the SYL canal and the transfer of Hindi-speaking areas from Punjab, while denouncing the neighbouring state for staking its claim over Chandigarh.
The Centre on Wednesday announced a raft of post-retirement employment possibilities for 'Agniveer' like priority in recruitment to the central armed police forces (CAPF) and Assam rifles but that failed to assuage the concerns of the opposition Congress which warned the 'transformative' 'Agnipath' scheme will reduce the operational effectiveness of the armed forces.
The opposition Congress said this has vindicated its claim about the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government "hiding" the COVID-19 death figures.
A little over a year after it retained power in Kerala with a massive victory, the CPI-M-led Left Democratic Front suffered a huge setback on Friday in a bypoll held to Thrikkakara assembly constituency, with Congress candidate Uma Thomas winning with a historic margin of 25,016 votes, giving a boost to the morale of the party-led United Democratic Front in the southern state.
Sanjay Bhandari, an accused arms dealer wanted in India on money laundering and tax evasion charges, is pursuing a separate legal battle of his own in France over an alleged unpaid cut from a large Indian defence contract dating back over 10 years, according to a UK media report.
India will be within its rights to initiate reciprocal measures if the UK does not address concerns over the new travel rules relating to COVID-19 vaccine certification, foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said on Tuesday describing the policy as "discriminatory".
Both the BJP and the Congress said they will seek support of the MGP in case they fall short of the majority mark of 21.
Polling for 16 Rajya Sabha seats in four states will be held on Friday amid allegations of attempts at horse-trading by rival parties which have corralled their MLAs in hotels and scenic resorts, prompting the Election Commission to appoint special observers and order videography of the entire exercise.
The Madhya Pradesh legislative assembly on Thursday passed a bill that provides for recovery of losses from the people and organisations responsible for damaging public and private properties during protests.
The government, however, made it clear entry into classrooms with hijab will not be allowed.
Opposition Congress on Wednesday claimed a total of 14 children died at the Madhya Pradesh government-run Kamla Nehru children's hospital in Bhopal in the last 48 hours, contrary to the state government's claim that only four infants lost their lives in the November 8 blaze, and demanded a probe by a sitting judge of the high court.
The ambulance driver Noufal, 29, was taken into custody on Sunday based on a complaint by the victim's mother to the hospital authorities and the police.
Two local leaders were arrested for allegedly inciting violence during the eviction drive at Sipajhar in Assam's Darrang district on September 23 in which two persons, including a 12-year-old boy, were killed in police firing and over 20 injured, an official said.
The Congress has accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of trying to break the opposition party to win the Rajya Sabha polls.
The Congress demanded a National Investigation Agency probe into the matter while BJP state chief K Surendran courted arrest for forcefully entering the complex soon after the fire broke out. Fire department sources told PTI that their personnel at nearby Chenkalchoola were informed about the incident at 4.45 pm and by the time they reached the spot, the room was filled with smoke.
Karnataka Water Resources Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi on Wednesday sent his resignation letter to Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa following allegations of sexual harassment against him.
West Bengal, which is governed by the Trinamool Congress, became the second state after Congress-ruled Punjab, where such a resolution has been tabled and passed.
The Karnataka legislative assembly on Tuesday passed bills enhancing the salaries and allowances of the chief minister, ministers and legislators.
The prime minister told the MPs that the northeast is very close to his heart and his love for the region is very natural. Quoting Modi, Rijiju saidthe PM asserted that he doesn't look at the region from the prism of politics.
While both politicians tweeted about a slew of issues, they focused less on developmental issues related to the rural poor -- with Modi devoting a mere three per cent and Gandhi five per cent of his tweets to development, Abhijit Mazumdar, an assistant professor at Park University in Missouri said.
Fearing poaching, the party had shifted its legislators to various resorts in Gujarat in the one last week, dividing them in zone-wise groups. While some MLAs gathered in Rajkot in Saurashtra, few others were in Abu Road in Rajasthan.
The AAP, which is the only party to declare its chief ministerial candidate before the polls, is trying hard to make the contest triangular.
Distancing himself from the comments, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the LDF's stand is not to personally attack Gandhi.
Mizoram shares a 510 km long porous border with Myanmar's Chin state and most of the Myanmarese nationals who have taken refuge in the state belong to the Chin, also known as the Zo, community. They share the same ancestry and culture as the Mizos of Mizoram.
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