Besides the national capital, polling will be held Saturday in 14 seats in Uttar Pradesh, all 10 seats of Haryana, eight seats each in Bihar and West Bengal, six seats in Odisha, four seats in Jharkhand and one seat in Jammu and Kashmir. Simultaneously, polling will be held for 42 assembly constituencies in Odisha.
The results for bypolls to seven assembly seats in six states will be declared on Friday in what is being seen as a major test for the opposition's Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance against the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance ahead of the polls in five states later this year and Lok Sabha elections in 2024.
Tribals will observe a day's fast on January 30 at Ulihatu in Khunti district, the birthplace of tribal icon Birsa Munda, in solidarity with their movement to 'save' the Parasnath hills, a member of a joint forum of Adiva bodies said.
A voter turnout of 10.82 per cent was recorded till 9 am on Saturday in 58 constituencies in six states and two Union territories where polling is underway in the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha elections.
In two separate attacks, suspected Maoists triggered a blast on the railway tracks in Jharkhand's Giridih district, damaging its fish plates, and also blew up a mobile tower in Hazaribag, the police said.
The seven seats -- Bageshwar in Uttarakhand, Ghosi in Uttar Pradesh, Puthuppally in Kerala, Dhupguri in West Bengal, Dumri in Jharkhand, and Boxanagar and Dhanpur in Tripura -- went to poll on September 5.
The EC said polling percentage in the Anantnag-Rajouri seat in Jammu and Kashmir is the highest in 40 years.
An approximate voter turnout of 59.06 per cent was recorded in the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha elections on Saturday in 58 constituencies across six states and two Union territories with the polling percentage in the Jangal Mahal region of West Bengal touching 78.19.
Anil Bediya, one of the 41 labourers who were rescued from a collapsed Uttarakhand tunnel after 16 days, survived the ordeal by eating muri (puffed rice) and licking water dripping from rocks.
Over 60 per cent voter turnout was recorded on Monday in 49 constituencies in six states and two Union territories in the fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections, with Baramulla in Jammu and Kashmir recording its highest-ever voting percentage.
A man vying for the mukhiya's post and two of his supporters have been booked for pro-Pakistan slogans allegedly raised in a procession in Giridih when he was on his way to file nomination papers for the coming Jharkhand rural poll, the police said on Thursday.
High voter turnout was recorded in most of the seven assembly constituencies in six states where by-elections were held on Tuesday.
Thousands of tribals from Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha reached the hills earlier in the day, carrying traditional weapons and beating drums.
The NCM had said earlier that it had received various representations from the Jain community regarding the conversion of Jain pilgrimage site Shri Sammed Shikharji Hill into an eco-tourism hub by the Jharkhand government and the central dispensation.
Even as the Centre stayed the Jharkhand government's move to promote tourism at the Parasnath hills after protests by Jains, tribals jumped into the fray staking a claim to the land and asking for it to be freed.
No arrest has been made so far as the police are still verifying the authenticity of the clip, Chothe explained.
The Union Environment Ministry sent a office memorandum to the state in this regard following directions from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, sources said.
rivals Congress, JMM and TMC and Samajwadi Party.
Jains fear Sammed Shikharji will be defiled by the influx of tourists.
Of the total 81 seats, elections to 50 seats concluded in the first three phases held between November 30 and December 12. The fifth and final phase of polling to 16 seats will be held on December 20 and votes will be counted on December 23.
According to sources in the Dhanbad court, Anand, known to be strict judge, had recently declined bail pleas of some gangsters, and the incident could be a fallout of this decision.
Everyday coal is illegally ferried on around 5000 bicycles out of the mines of Central Coalfield Limited in Giridih, Jharkhand but no seems to mind. Shahnawaz Akhtar reports
Polling in 15 constituencies of the state on Sunday ended with 61.08 per cent electorate exercising their franchise in the penultimate phase of the assembly elections in Jharkhand as the day passed off peacefully.
A Central Reserve Police Force officer was killed on Friday during an anti-Naxal operation in Jharkhand's Giridih district.
Five persons were killed when Maoists blew up a culvert in Giridih district of Jharkhand on the second day of the five-state shutdown called by them.
Given the dismal show of the Congress in the recently concluded assembly polls and the JMM eating into its vote bank, the possibility of Congress MLAs switching sides is not bleak, reports R Krishna Das.
Seventeen people, including the son of former Jharkhand chief minister Babulal Marandi, were killed by armed Naxalites at Chilkhadia village in Giridih district in the wee hours of Saturday. 25-30 Naxalites mingled with the crowd at a cultural programme in the village. Around 1 am, the Naxalites started firing indiscriminately and exploding bombs at the crowded site. While 14 people were killed on the spot, three died from their injuries later.
Here's a look at how the heavyweights of fared in the Jharkhand assembly polls, 2019.
A CRPF commando was killed in an encounter with Naxals in the jungles of Giridih district of Jharkhand on Friday.
The 49-year-old judge was allegedly mowed down by a heavy autorickshaw while he was on morning jog on July 28 morning in Dhanbad.
Justice Ananda Sen said that the shocking incident has prompted the court to say that "Hathras (like places) is not only in the state of Uttar Pradesh, but also is in the state of Jharkhand." The court cannot keep its eyes shut and ignore this type of "lacklustre and shoddy" probe, he said.
Naxalites on Monday carried out multiple improvised explosive device blasts in Jharkhand's Giridih district, injuring 12 security personnel.
A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana said the Jharkhand high court would keep monitoring the probe.
The Delhi high court on Tuesday suspended the three-year jail term of former Union minister Dilip Ray in a coal scam case pertaining to irregularities in the allocation of a Jharkhand block in 1999.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday conducted raids at the premises of 15 Jharkhand members of Legislative Assembly as part of its investigation into the allegations of horse-trading that led to countermanding of the March 30 Rajya Sabha polls.
Maoists on Monday night named three negotiators to talk to the Odisha government on the Italian hostage crisis even as they set a fresh 24-hour deadline for acceptance of 13 demands including withdrawal of cases against the ultras.
Police has also taken a man into custody for interrogation.
They dragged out the driver of the vehicle, Mohammed Allimuddin, a resident of neighbouring Hazaribagh district, and thrashed him, injuring him seriously.
At least one person was feared dead after fire broke out in an air conditioned coach of Howrah-Dehradun Express in Giridih district in the wee hours on Tuesday, senior officials of East Central Railway said.
Maoists have kidnapped 15 labourers and employees of a private construction company near Balthar Ghat in Jamui district of Bihar, police said on Tuesday. Over 50 ultras stormed into the office of a private firm engaged in construction of a bridge over Bharnar River on Monday night. They took away employees and labourers of the firm at gun point to a forest bordering Giridih district in Jharkhand, Superintendent of Police R N Singh said.
