Here is a look at coronavirus-induced restrictions imposed by states and union territories.
The Madras high court on Monday came down hard on the Election Commission and called it the "the most irresponsible institution" for the alleged spread of the second wave of Covid-19 in the country.
35 districts have been reporting high active COVID-19 caseload and fatality rate. These 35 districts comprise all 11 districts in Delhi, Kolkata, Howrah, North 24 Parganas and 24 South Parganas in West Bengal; Pune, Nagpur, Thane, Mumbai, Mumbai Suburban, Kolhapur, Sangli, Nashik, Ahmednagar, Raigad, Jalgaon, Solapur, Satara, Palghar, Aurangabad, Dhule and Nanded in Maharashtra; Surat in Gujarat; Pondicherry in Puducherry and East Singhbhum in Jharkhand.
Almost all states and Union Territories have extended the curbs which they first started imposing in mid-April as the second COVID wave hit the country.
His name was cleared by a three-member selection panel headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and comprising Chief Justice of India Jagdish Singh Khehar and Congress leader in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge as members.
Today, with the Lok Sabha polls only months away, any inter-state dispute over the Cauvery water dispute has the potential to take more political turns than otherwise, predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.
The BJP on the other hand is in power in 16 states in the country.
The Election Commission is confident of holding the five assembly polls due early next year, including in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, on time as the poll panel has gained a lot of experience from the electoral exercise in Bihar, West Bengal and four other assemblies amid the coronavirus pandemic, Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra has asserted.
Between 2014 and March 3, 2018, 45 people were killed in 40 cases of mob lynching across nine states, and at least 217 persons had been arrested, data compiled by the home ministry show.
By comparing I.N.D.IA. with banned terror outfits, Modi has exhibited the kind of nervousness never ever associated with him even at the height of the Gujarat riots, and certainly since his prime ministerial days, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
With the Biju Janata Dal backing the National Democratic Alliance's presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu, the vote share of the ruling dispensation has now crossed 50 percent, virtually paving the way for her election as the first tribal President and the youngest too.
Tamil Nadu plans parallel programme with unique user IDs
Amid continued speculation about Rahul Gandhi's elevation as Congress president, Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday said Sonia Gandhi was the "unifying factor" without whom the party would have "disintegrated".
The first bench refused to restrain the media, both electronic and print, from publishing the oral observations of the judges relating the role of EC in holding elections to four states and the Union Territory of Puducherry in the country during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Counting of votes in all elections will be held on May 2.
The sharp spike in recent weeks continued unabated in the southern states.
This may leave those not opting for any of the two options offered by the Centre before the GST Council meet scheduled for October 5 in the lurch. It is clear from the present situation that these states will have to wait till June 2022 to get their compensation, subject to the council extending the cess collection period beyond June 30, 2022.
Maharashtra has reported the highest daily rise of 40,414 COVID-19 cases, followed by 3,082 in Karnataka, 2,870 in Punjab, 2,276 in Madhya Pradesh, 2,270 in Gujarat, 2,216 in Kerala, 2,194 in Tamil Nadu and 2,153 in Chhattisgarh, the ministry said.
This was the fourth consecutive day that COVID-19 cases in the country have increased by more than 26,000.
A major reason for the decline in the consumption of kerosene was an increase in the number of LPG consumers in rural India after the government launched the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana. in 2016.
Virtually friendless in Tamil Nadu, Congress on Monday said it would be going it alone in the state in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
As the new year arrives, the Bharatiya Janata Party's finds itself on the cusp of the most consequential cycle of state polls since the 2019 Lok Sabha elections as the results will tell if the road ahead in its bid for a third straight term at the Centre is getting any bumpier or a strong opposition challenge remains elusive.
It has also been decided to suspend the interstate bus services till March 31, the officials said. The decisions have been taken at a high-level meeting attended by chief secretaries of all states and the cabinet secretary and the principal secretary to the prime minister.
The country has recorded over 20,000 cases of the infection for the fourth consecutive day. India went past Russia on Sunday to become the third worst-hit nation by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Out of the 447 adverse events following immunisation, only 3 required hospitalisation.
The BJP top leader's Tamil pitch assumes significance Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had some days back alleged that the saffron party had no respect for Tamil language and culture.
The DMK leadership may now have to deal with a demand for more seats from its Congress ally in the Lok Sabha polls, predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief J Jayalalithaa, who is eyeing a larger role for herself in the national politics after Lok Sabha polls, was on Monday presented a cake resembling Parliament by her party colleagues on her 66th birthday.
Murmu's vote share is now likely to go past 61 per cent, while it was earlier estimated to be around 50 per cent at the time of her nomination.
The Supreme Court also asked the supervisory committee to decide on Tamil Nadu's plea in ten days from Monday.
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Words and actions like those of R N Ravi and a vocal section of the state BJP have only added to Tamil fears and suspicions, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
This is the sixth consecutive day that coronavirus infections have increased by more than 15,000. The country has seen a surge of 3,57,783 infections from June 1 till date.
In the second phase on April 18, 97 seats,spread across 13 states and one Union Territory, will go to the polls.
The joint secretary also said a high-level task force to work on frontiers of science related to vaccines and drug testing was formed on Sunday.
The results will be announced on May 2.
The work on seat sharing with other allies will begin from Thursday, he told reporters.
With COVID cases declining, Delhi will see further relaxation in lockdown, including reopening of markets and malls and resumption of metro services, from June 7 while Maharashtra will implement a five-level plan to ease curbs based on weekly positivity rate and occupancy of oxygen beds in districts.
Maharashtra tops the tally with 232 fatalities, followed by Gujarat at 77, Madhya Pradesh at 76, Delhi at 47, Rajasthan at 25, Telangana at 23 and Andhra Pradesh at 22.
Elections will also be held in 35 assembly constituencies in Odisha.
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