Over 2.5 million voters will decide the fate of 239 candidates in the fray for 26 Jammu and Kashmir assembly seats in the second phase of the election to be held in the Union territory on Wednesday.
'If Pakistan has fired one bullet at us then we have to respond by firing 10 bullets at them. It is our right to do so.'
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Nagrota MLA Devender Singh Rana, brother of Union minister Jitendra Singh, died on Thursday at a private hospital in Haryana's Faridabad. He was 59.
The results of assembly elections in the Kashmir Valley have culminated in a significant rejection of separatist candidates, including those from Engineer Rashid-led Awami Ittehad Party and Jamaat-e-Islami, who failed to make a meaningful impact in the polls.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday claimed that the Congress had been unwilling to accept Tejashwi Yadav as the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) chief ministerial candidate and relented only after the Rashtriya Janata Dal pointed a 'katta', an unlicensed country-made gun, at its head.
'The people who were protesting and getting violent were all in the age group of 14-25.'
The CMs with lowest assets are West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee with assets worth over Rs 15.38 lakh, Omar Abdullah, CM of Jammu and Kashmir, with assets worth over Rs 55.24 lakh, and Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan, who has assets worth Rs 1.18 crore.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Sunday said that the 'unelected nominees of New Delhi locked up the elected representatives' of the people of Jammu and Kashmir after prominent leaders from ruling and opposition parties were not allowed to leave their houses to prevent them from visiting the graveyard of 1931 martyrs in Srinagar.
However, the Bharatiya Janata Party which had emerged victorious on 29 seats have 28 Hindus and one Sikh member as none of its Muslim candidates, including two former ministers, managed to win.
The bodies of a teenager and his two relatives were found near a waterfall in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district three days after they went missing. The Jammu and Kashmir Congress has demanded a high-level investigation into the incident. The police have ruled out any terror angle, but the exact cause of death is unknown and will be determined by a postmortem.
New Delhi looks to be testing Omar's endurance with unconcealed glee, never feeling shy to bite whenever a moment comes its way. After all, ruling the country's only Muslim-majority UT/state has been the BJP's burning desire, points out Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the distinguished commentator on Kashmir affairs.
The third and final phase of the three phase Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections will be held on Tuesday, October 1, 2024.
Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir will be held in three phases from September 18 while Haryana will go to polls in a single phase on October 1, the Election Commission announced on Friday.
Karra, who became the J&K Congress chief last Friday replacing Vikar Rasool Wani, said a call is already there for all secular parties who are opposed to the "hegemonic attitude" of the BJP to unite.
The BJP legislative party staged a protest demanding the revocation of a government order mandating Urdu as a compulsory language for the Naib Tehsildar recruitment examination in Jammu and Kashmir, calling the order discriminatory and detrimental to the interests of Jammu's youth.
The second phase of the three phase Jammu and Kashmir elections will be held on Wednesday, September 25, 2024.
Climate activist Sonam Wangchuk was arrested Friday by a police party in Leh, two days after violent protests by supporters of the movement for statehood and extension of Sixth Schedule of Constitution left four persons dead and 90 others injured, officials said.
Former Union Minister Pusapati Ashok Gajapathi Raju appointed as the Governor of Goa, Kavinder Gupta named as the new Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh, and Ashim Kumar Ghosh will be the new Governor of Haryana.
The Congress was fighting the elections in a pre-poll alliance with National Conference and had fielded 32 candidates, mostly in Jammu region, compared to 51 by the regional party.
The BRICS nations have expressed concern over the proliferation of trade-restrictive actions in the form of 'indiscriminate rising' of tariffs, particularly measures used as a means of 'coercion', cautioning that such practices risk marginalising the Global South countries.
Every trick in the trade is being tried unabashedly.
In simple arithmetical terms every possible 'arrangement' is being made to deny a majority to its rivals. A split verdict would hand a vital advantage to the BJP which is adept at extracting the best out of such a situation, notes Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the distinguished commentator on Kashmir affairs.
Political parties and leaders wait with bated breath for the Haryana and Jammu-Kashmir assembly poll results on Tuesday.
A voter turnout of 69.69 percent was recorded in the third and final phase of voting Tuesday in the assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, the Election Commission said.
'The Congress will have to go deep into it and find the reasons for its defeat'
The Delhi High Court has ordered Jammu and Kashmir MP Abdul Rashid Sheikh, alias Engineer Rashid, to deposit Rs 4 lakh with the prison authorities as travel expenses for attending Parliament. The court allowed Rashid to attend the ongoing Parliament session "in-custody" till April 4, but the NIA had raised concerns about him being a flight risk. Rashid has been lodged in Delhi's Tihar Jail since 2019 after the NIA arrested him in a 2017 terror-funding case.
They said the meeting was necessitated after "some differences" cropped up in seat-sharing arrangement during the talks between the local leadership of the parties.
The Congress is fighting the elections in a pre-poll alliance with National Conference and has fielded 32 candidates, mostly in Jammu region, compared to 51 by the regional party. Additionally, the CPI(M) and the Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP) have each been allocated one seat while both the Congress and NC had a 'friendly contest' on five seats.
As an IAS officer in Kerala, Gyanesh Kumar -- who the Congress described as Amit Shah's 'right hand man' -- had a good working equation with the state's Congress and Left leaders.
A father searches for his missing daughter after a devastating cloudburst in Kishtwar, Jammu and Kashmir, which killed dozens and left many others untraced.
Voting for this crucial phase, covering 40 assembly segments across seven districts -- Jammu, Udhampur, Samba and Kathua in the Jammu region and Baramulla, Bandipora and Kupwara in north Kashmir -- is scheduled for October 1.
Former deputy chief minister Muzaffar Hussain Baig was among the 24 candidates in Baramulla constituency whose deposits were forfeited.
An uneasy calm prevails in Ladakh as authorities enforce a curfew following clashes between security forces and protesters demanding statehood and constitutional protections. The violence resulted in fatalities and injuries, prompting detentions and political reactions.
'Pakistan has found itself in a favourable position after Operation Sindoor by appreciating the mediation as claimed by Trump and recommending him for the Nobel Peace Prize.'
Jammu and Kashmir Lt Governor Manoj Sinha assured the newly elected legislative assembly on Monday that the Omar Abdullah government will make all efforts for the restoration of full statehood and constitutional guarantees available to the state.
Notwithstanding protests by the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, he said the first session of the newly elected Jammu and Kashmir Assembly is "short in duration but historic in terms of agenda".
The effective strength of both the Houses together is 786 and the winning candidate will require 394 votes, considering that all eligible voters exercise their franchise.
The Supreme Court of India strongly condemned the terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Kashmir, that killed at least 26 people, mostly tourists. The court observed a moment of silence in tribute to the victims and expressed condolences to their families. The attack was described as an affront to the values of humanity and the sanctity of life. The Supreme Court Bar Association and other legal bodies also condemned the attack and expressed solidarity with the victims and their families.
A special court, in its acquittal order in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, has highlighted a running battle between the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) and the National Investigation Agency (NIA), pointing out stark contradictions in their probe.
Both candidates have shifted from their traditional constituencies - Sadhotra from Marh and Sharma from Akhnoor - after these two segments were reserved for Scheduled Castes.
The Congress followed next with Rs 620 crore or 18.5 percent of the total expenses among the 32 national and regional parties whose records were analysed, the ADR said.
