Efforts have also intensified to extinguish the raging forest fires in the state, especially in the worst-affected areas of Nainital, Haldwani and Ramnagar forest divisions, forest officials here said on Sunday.
Eleven persons were injured in a clash between the Trinamool Congress and Congress party workers at Sabong in West Midnapore district as the first phase of panchayat polls began on Thursday in West Bengal. In another incident, senior Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Surya Kanto Mishra was involved in an altercation with local Trinamool Congress supporters outside a polling booth at Khadurdah gram panchayat area in West Midnapore district.
The Delhi Police late on Thursday night arrested Ranglal Singhal, who, according to his confession, stabbed his son Gaurav in his house while the preparations for his wedding were in full swing.
Police earlier claimed the three "Naxalites" were killed on a forested hill between Bhomra-Hurtarai villages under Koyalibeda police station limits on Sunday morning in an encounter with security personnel during an anti-Naxal operation.
Banerjee said the Border Security Force must work impartially as the BJP "may not be in power tomorrow".
'If people don't see you, they might be hesitant, but once they see you, they are confident that this is the person they will vote for,' says political debutant Shambhavi Choudhury, 25, alumnus of the Lady Sriram College and the Delhi School of Economics.
The Cabinet on Thursday approved the proposal for enhancing reservation for women in Panchayats from the present 33 per cent to 50 per cent with the provision being applicable to all seats filled through direct election, office of chairpersons and of offices reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
Karanatka's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party toll early leads in the crucial zilla and taluka panchayat elections on Tuesday by emerging victorious in 12 out of the 30 districts in the fray. However, party insiders say that the results were below their expectations.
A first information report (FIR) has been lodged and efforts are on to trace the culprit while taking note of a message on social media using abusive language against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and threatening to kill him, police said on Thursday.
The court made the observation while dismissing a petition connected with defection in one of the local self government bodies in Idukki district.
Deriving from Narendra Modi's continuing charisma, the proposed scheme, if and when implemented, can cut both ways. That is to say, if Modi can win, he can lose. Or, someone else in his place, later on, could lose as much as he could win in his time, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Coming down heavily on khap panchayats, the Justice J S Verma Committee on Wednesday said means adopted by them have assumed "unreasonable proportions" and asked the government to ensure such bodies do not interfere with choices made by people regarding marriage.
The apex court has upheld a Haryana legislation disqualifying a gram panchayat member from becoming a sarpanch if he or she had more than two living children.
One person was on Thursday killed in a clash between Trinamool Congress and Communist Party of India-Marxist supporters in North Dinajpur district during the fifth and final phase of West Bengal panchayat elections, taking the toll in poll-related violence to 21 since the exercise began.
Braving opposition from a section of villagers, Sottathatti panchayat president K Raju was presiding over a meeting after hoisting the national flag at a school.
Kharge will take care of IT & BT along with existing portfolio, while Large & Medium Industries Minister M B Patil has been given the additional charge of Infrastructure Development.
Clashes resurfaced after four months on Sunday and Monday morning. Guns were allegedly used in the clashes between CPI-M workers and Trinamool Congress-backed Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh Committee members, leaving five injured.
The recoveries made from the gunned-down terrorist included two assault rifles along with two magazines and 234 rounds of bullets, five pistols with 10 magazines and 60 rounds, 15 hand grenades and 12 fuses for IEDs.
Of the 20,831 voters in this assembly constituency, an overwhelming majority of around 18,000 are not tribals.
The sources said Bose briefed Shah about the prevailing situation and his assessment of the polls marred by violence that claimed 15 lives.
The Bharatiya Janata Party government in Gujarat on Tuesday announced 27 per cent reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in local bodies like panchayats, municipalities and civic corporations on the basis of a commission's report, paving the way for polls in these self-governing institutes.
If the concerns over risking political capital are overcome, the long-term gains for the Indian economy will be immense, asserts A K Bhattacharya.
A panel of Union ministers held a fourth round of talks with farmer leaders in Chandigarh on Sunday over their demands, including a legal guarantee of MSP, as thousands of protesting farmers camped at the Punjab-Haryana border.
The report said while earlier reservations for women were a matter of ridicule, now stories of women being puppets in the hands of male relatives and similar anecdotal accounts have become rare.
A Kudumbashree worker, who had gone missing last week, was found allegedly murdered and buried in a ditch in the compound of a former colleague's house in Tuvvur in this district, police said on Tuesday.
Farmer outfits had held a "khap mahapanchayat" in Uttar Pradesh and a series of protests in Punjab and Haryana on Thursday, showing solidarity with the wrestlers who have accused Singh of sexually harassing female grapplers, including a minor.
'Everyone knows there is no point in contesting elections from Gujarat as a Congress candidate because they know they will be wiped out.'
Villages in Maharashtra are gearing up for e-panchayats as rural people adopt new methodologies for rural development.
The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved a proposal to increase reservation for women to 50 per cent in panchayats.
There will be eight more phases of Panchayat polls in Jammu and Kashmir.
The newly married couple left the village in a bid to protect their lives, while the groom's parents were allegedly prevented from fetching drinking water from a public water tank and bathing in the pond by villagers, the family members claimed.
Man rapes woman. Woman files complaint. The village Muslim jury throws the victim out. Rapist gets away scot-free.
Amid sporadic violence, nearly 70 per cent of 1.1 crore rural voters Sunday exercised their franchise for Panchayat Samiti and Zila Parishad elections in Punjab.
A village pradhan and a former village functionary in the border district of Lahaul and Spiti have been arrested on the charges of sedition after they allegedly threatened to seek China's help for development of the region.
Counting of votes for four legislative council seats representing panchayat quota in the state is scheduled to be taken up on Thursday and the results are expected by noon.
As the final five phases of polls draw closer, rift among Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) partners, Congress-Left combine and the Trinamool Congress, which are fighting separately has intensified, triggering a fierce contest across half of the remaining 36 constituencies in West Bengal driven by local issues such as Sandeshkhali and the SSC scam.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said his government has made a "solemn promise" for restoration of Jammu and Kashmir's statehood and will stand by it, adding the Centre was working very hard to create the right conditions.
Hours before the 48-hour bandh called by the Maoists in Jharkhand, the ultras on Saturday blew up a panchayat hall and a school building in Palamau district.
In the wake of the fresh militant attacks on Panchayat members in Jammu and Kashmir, around 20 panches and sarpanches of the Baramulla district on Sunday tendered their resignations here citing "threats to their lives".
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