Bypolls will be held on Wednesday in 31 assembly seats spread across 10 states and Kerala's Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency, from where Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is making her electoral debut. Though these bye-elections are not going to have any bearing on the governments, they are seen as a big test for the Congress and the INDIA bloc which failed to put up a united show in the recent Haryana assembly polls. Most of these seats fell vacant after the sitting MLAs contested the Lok Sabha elections and won while in some constituencies, the bypolls are being held due to death of the representatives. The Wayanad seat was vacated by Rahul Gandhi, who also won from the Rae Bareli parliamentary constituency which he kept. Voting will be held in seven seats in Rajasthan, six in West Bengal, five in Assam, four seats in Bihar, three in Karnataka, two seats in Madhya Pradesh, and one seat each in Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Kerala and Meghalaya. Votes will be counted on November 23.
The IAS officer was later taken into custody under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and is expected to be produced before a magistrate seeking his remand, the sources said.
Shahid Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium in Raipur may get the nod to host an One Day International match when Australia tour India for a seven-match ODI series later this year.
The dome over a stage being erected for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's public rally at Naya Raipur on Saturday collapsed in severe storm, forcing cancellation of his engagements there.
Almost half of the Australian team currently playing in the T20 International series in India will return home after the third match in Guwahati.
Several police personnel were injured in the stone pelting, an official said, adding Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai was briefed on the situation by the chief secretary and the DGP.
While the BJP said it has only portrayed some incidents, which happened during the previous Congress regime through the cartoons which are not meant to hurt anyone, the grand old party accused it of releasing such illustrations out of frustration.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) have intensified their investigations against Gaurav Mehta, a suspect in a Bitcoin Ponzi scam, following allegations that politicians may have been involved in using cryptocurrency to influence Maharashtra assembly polls. The ED searched Mehta's residence in Raipur and seized computers and digital devices. The CBI summoned him to appear before investigators. The ED is probing Mehta's potential links to politicians, politically exposed persons, and bureaucrats as part of its money laundering probe. The allegations came after BJP released purported voice notes suggesting that Congress and NCP leaders were attempting to use cryptocurrency for election campaigning. Both parties denied the claims, calling the voice notes fake.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the district magistrates and superintendents of police of Maharashtra's Yavatmal and Chhattisgarh's Raipur to ensure no hate speeches are made at rallies being held by Hindu Janajagruti Samiti and Telangana BJP legislator T Raja Singh over the next one week in their respective jurisdictions.
After continuously bleeding subscribers for nearly two years, state-owned telecom services provider BSNL added 2.9 million users in July when its private-sector rivals raised tariffs by nearly 20 per cent. With BSNL keeping tariffs unchanged, many subscribers using entry-level plans shifted from Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea (Vi), said analysts.
The police on Saturday claimed to have gunned down eight Maoists during an encounter in forests near Kutul-Farasbeda and Kodtameta villages in the district.
Modi also virtually flagged off a new train between Antagarh in Kanker district and Raipur and kickstarted the distribution of cards of the Centre's Ayushman Bharat scheme to beneficiaries in the state.
More than 50 per cent of SIP accounts come from semi-urban and rural areas.
The Maoist blast took place around 3 pm near Timmapuram village between Silger and Tekalgudem camps of security forces, over 400 km from the state capital Raipur.
With the second list, the total number of candidates declared by the Congress went up to 83 out of the total of 90.
A round-up of the Ranji Trophy matches played on Saturday.
Rajasthan's Mahipal Lomror put the IPL franchises on alert ahead of the mega auction with a sensational triple hundred comprising a staggering 13 sixes and 25 fours in their Ranji Trophy Group B match against Uttarakhand here on Thursday.
Hemant V Shivsaran/Rediff.com does a deep dive and lists the winners with the highest and lowest margins in the recent Lok Sabha elections.
The voting for Madhya Pradesh's all 230 assembly seats was held on Friday, November 17, while Chhattisgarh voted in the second phase of the election.
It had on December 10 registered a case against the former Chhattisgarh chief minister, his son Amit and P R Khunte, an MP, under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and Prevention of Corruption Act.
An invasion of wolves is keeping the forest authorities on their toes in Bahraich, where the animal is suspected to have killed at least six people and wounded several, all within a very short span.
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 exact case in connection with which the searches were being conducted was not yet known.
Roundup of matches across various venues in the Ranji Trophy 2024-25
Responding to a query, Mathur said there is no "formula" for electing the chief minister.
The saffron party had realised after the first phase of the elections that it was "on the backfoot," Pilot said.
Spinner Shams Mulani (5/71) and Himanshu Singh (4/77) wreaked havoc by sharing nine wickets between them as defending champions Mumbai crushed Odisha.
Roundup of matches across the country in the ongoing BCCI Ranji Trophy
Ten men including the son of a local BJP leader were arrested on Friday for allegedly raping two sisters in Chhattisgarh's Raipur district, the police said.
Twelve people, including three of a family, were killed and six injured in heavy overnight rains that triggered flooding and house collapse as several rivers swelled in Uttarakhand, officials said on Thursday.
Nine MLAs will be sworn in as ministers at the Raj Bhavan at 11:45am, Sai told reporters on Thursday.
Police personnel checked vehicles and conducted flag marches at various places in Punjab on Wednesday while central forces maintained a tight vigil in Tripura.
A widely circulated video captured Mukesh showcasing his dancing flair during the pre-wedding ceremony, where he danced to a popular Bhojpuri song.
The selectors have decided to rest David Warner for the five-match T20 series in India following Australia's ODI World Cup triumph.
Punjab, starting the penultimate day on 73/3 and needing 144 more runs, crumbled under pressure from Sindhu's relentless spin and Jayant Yadav's precise off-spin (3/35 in 10.4 overs), collapsing well before lunch and handing Haryana their second outright win in four matches.
According to the police, these villages have never seen unfurling or hoisting of the national flag since 1947, but that will change when its residents will join the rest of the country in celebrating Republic Day, which commemorates the day when the Constitution came into effect in 1950.
Eight Naxalites and a jawan of the Special Task Force (STF) were killed in an encounter in Chhattisgarh's Narayanpur district on Saturday, police said.
The Patna and Raipur chapters of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) have lodged complaints in 2021 alleging Ramdev's remarks were likely to cause prejudice to Covid control mechanism and may dissuade people from availing proper treatment.
The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has pinned its hopes on the old guard to ensure victory in next month's assembly elections in Chhattisgarh as it gave tickets to 11 sitting MLAs and renominated 13 leaders who lost in the 2018 polls.
