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.
BJP heavyweights Smriti Irani, Arjun Munda, Ajay Mishra Teni and Kailash Chaudhary were among the 13 Union ministers who tasted defeat in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, as stunning losses in three Hindi heartland states forced the BJP to rely on allies to form the government.
Besides the national capital, polling for the sixth round of the marathon seven-phase elections 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.
The Odisha government told the assembly over 40,000 workers migrated from the state last year, with the highest number -- 26,151 -- from Balangir.
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 party fielded Maneka Gandhi from Sultanpur, while Uttar Pradesh minister Jitin Prasada has replaced Varun Gandhi in Pilibhit.
As the raids were completed, the I-T team took two managers of the distillery located at Sutapada to an unknown location for interrogation, they said.
The tax department has deployed about 40 large and small machines to count currency notes and brought in more department and bank staffers to finish the counting process, which began on December 6 following raids against Boudh Distillery Pvt Ltd and others, they said.
It was a simple 100-watt light bulb that provided much-needed heat to a newborn girl who was found stuck inside a cold borewell in Odisha, before she was rescued safely in an over five-hour-long operation on a winter night.
Although the BJP has never been ballistic about the BJD and Narendra Modi has avoided being critical of Naveen Patnaik, the BJP is optimistic that the party can improve its electoral fortunes in Odisha on its own, notes Rup Narayan Das.
Modi spoke to the BJP's longest serving president, who is credited with crafting the party's rise through the 90s when it came to power for the first time as the head of coalition governments under Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and congratulated him.
The 78-year-old Naveen is on the cusp of creating history. He must win the forthcoming Assembly polls to become India's longest-serving chief minister, a record held by Sikkim's Pawan Kumar Chamling.
With the Income Tax department recovering over Rs 225 crore cash during a series of raids on an Odisha-based distillery group on charges of tax evasion, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday assured the people that the money looted from the public will be returned.
In Phase 6, indications are that the BJP, which is defending 40 seats, will lose in double digits and gain in single digits. Not good, if you are the ruling party scrambling to earn a working majority, with just one phase left to go, argues Prem Panicker.
Institute says Sambalpur University, where it has been housed since April, is refusing to honour an MoU to provide two hostels to its students.
Strong performance by its US subsidiary Novelis and better returns in the copper business helped Hindalco Industries post consolidated revenue growth of 2 per cent quarter-on-quarter (Q-o-Q) to Rs 54,100 crore in the July-September quarter of 2023-23 (Q2FY24). Novelis' Flat Rolled Products (FRP) volumes grew 6 per cent Q-o-Q to 933,000 tonnes (down 5.2 per cent Y-o-Y) on better North American and European volumes. The consolidated earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) declined 2 per cent Q-o-Q to Rs 5,610 crore despite lower input costs in India and better Novelis performance.
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Das, a law graduate, was in politics from his college days and was elected as the Students' Union president at Gangadhar Meher College at Sambalpur, one of the oldest colleges in western Odisha.
The infected students are studying in classes 8, 9 and 10, and they were tested for COVID-19 after a majority of them exhibited symptoms of cold and cough, she said, adding that the district administration and health authorities have been informed about it.
Modi was stated to have been held up at the place for nearly 15 minutes because of Mohsin's "actions". The officer allegedly checked PM's chopper in violation of norms.
The railways observed a week of Azadi ki Rail Gadi, from July 18-23, through 27 trains and 75 railway stations, across 24 states that are linked to the Indian freedom struggle.
Agitators squatted on railway tracks at various places, leading to cancellation, short-termination and diversion of several trains.
A lesson we have not learnt from China is the urgent need to knit the vast country together to keep it from falling apart at the seams. While there is considerable dent in poverty, sadly, the North East remains as distant today as it always was, points out Shreekant Sambrani.
The announcement came on a day that marks the third anniversary of the Naveen Patnaik-led government's fifth tenure in the state.
The latest trend issued by the State Election Commission showed the BJD had already won or was leading in 762 Zilla Parishad seats, as compared to BJP's 46 and Congress's 36 seats.
Shyam Metalics and Energy (SMEL) will end the over two-month drought in the initial public offering (IPO) market. The steelmaker will launch its Rs 909-crore offering soon. SMEL has pruned its IPO size from Rs 1,107 crore, with the promoters deciding to offload shares worth Rs 252 crore as against Rs 452 crore planned earlier. The company has priced its IPO between Rs 303 to 306 per share.
The mercury in Delhi, which recorded its hottest day of the year so far at 45.6 degrees Celsius on Sunday, came down to 42.4 degrees Celsius, according to the India meteorological department.
The mishap took place at Khairpali between Sambalpur City and Maneswar railway stations when the vehicle was hit by Rourkela-Bhubaneswar Inter-City Express while it was trying to cross the track at an unmanned level crossing, an East Coast Railway official said.
The incident occurred around 5.15 am, they said, adding a relief train from Sambalpur station has been rushed to the spot.
IMD director general Mrutunjay Mohapatra said that cyclone Asani has already achieved maximum stage of intensification and is gradually getting weakened.
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A number of young women have decided to take upon themselves the responsibility of saving the forest in Sambalpur near Rourkela from timber mafia by attaching themselves emotionally to the trees and protecting them as they would their own brothers.
With the recovery of six more bodies, the toll in the boat mishap in Hirakud reservoir in Sambalpur district, Odisha, on Monday rose to 17.
A retired college principal and his son were detained for suspected links with Maoists and huge quantities of explosives were seized in two operations.
'The children of today see Bollywood heroines dancing to item numbers in clingy georgette saris with bright gold machine embroidery.' 'To them, the Sambalpuri saris look and feel like shapeless, dull sacks.' 'The tragedy of the weaver isn't that he doesn't get enough respect and understanding from people like us,' says Geetanjali Krishna.
The labourers were released on Friday night at a forest adjoining the villages where the labour camps from where they were abducted were located.
About 40 armed MCC cadres stormed the camps early in the morning and took away at least 23 men with them, Sambalpur Superintendent of Police Susant Kumar Nath said.
The incident occurred when about 50 persons from a village in Jharsuguda district were on their way to Sambalpur by the Rourkela-Sambalpur DMU train in connection with a marriage.
Seeking to gauge his party's strength and weakness in Odisha ahead of next general election, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi Monday wanted partymen to make people aware of various development and welfare schemes undertaken by the United Progressive Alliance government.
The chief minister of Odisha had reiterated this position assigning topmost priority to the allocation of Talabira-II in favour of Hindalco.
