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.
Violence had rocked West Bengal's rural polls on Saturday, leaving 15 people dead while ballot boxes were vandalised, ballot papers torched, and bombs thrown at rivals in several places.
If at all the series can be criticised, it would be for its all-Brahmin characters and keeping out the caste problems, the misogyny and the backwardness and ugliness of rural India, points out Deepa Gahlot.
The motive behind the murder is yet to be revealed, even though the accused said he killed the woman because she caused a rift in the household.
A 30-year-old man was hacked to death by Naxalites in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district on the suspicion of being a police informer. The incident comes close on the heels of the murder of two men, one of them a former Naxalite, in neighbouring Bijapur district two days ago. The two were killed by Naxalites, as per the police. Earlier on January 26, Naxalites killed a 41-year-old man in Bhairamgarh area of Bijapur, accusing him of being an informer. On January 16, Naxalites killed a 48-year-old man in Mirtur area of Bijapur for the same reason.
Survivors of the landslides in Chooralmala-Mundakai in Wayanad district alleged on Thursday that they were given worm-infested food kits by the Meppadi Gram Panchayat, leading to a violent protest by the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) on Thursday.
Three persons were shot dead and several others were injured as violence and arson marked the conclusion of nomination filing for the three-tier West Bengal panchayat polls slated next month.
The court also left it to the discretion of the State Election Commission to take a call on extension of time for filing of nominations, refusing to consider a prayer in this regard.
'For the politics of patronage in West Bengal, it has always been important to have territorial control.'
A case has been registered against the organisers of a Hindu Rashtra Panchayat held in north-east Delhi, which was rocked by the 2020 riots, for not taking permission to hold the meeting, the police said on Monday.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah directed officials on Saturday to immediately retract all notices sent to farmers regarding Waqf land.
The state declared only 4834 sensitive booths on which only CAPFs are deployed but actually, there were more sensitive polling booths, DIG Guleria said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party government in Gujarat on Friday passed a bill in the assembly that earmarks 27 per cent seats in local bodies like panchayats, municipalities and civic corporations for Other Backward Classes.
'Jobs for transgender people should be advertised widely and they should be motivated to join. There should be reservations for them.'
The Bihar government has formed a state-level task force to monitor actions taken by authorities to prevent and eradicate child marriages in the state. Bihar has the second-highest rate of child marriage in India, with 40.8% of women getting married before turning 18. The government is implementing a multipronged strategy to combat child marriage, including stricter enforcement of the law, empowering girls through education, and raising awareness.
Defying apprehensions of the horrific April 22 terror Pahalgam attack casting a shadow on the Amarnath Yatra this year, hundreds of pilgrims from various parts of the country lined up at the registration centre in Jammu on the first day.
Singh said that about 150 people including women and forest, revenue and other officials were present at the time of the incident, and if the officials were assaulted, "why are there no eyewitnesses".
The elections are being seen as a semi-final to the 2022 assembly election.
A video of Dehury crawling on a village road has gone viral on social media.
The BJP has won just eight out of the 40 zila panchayat seats in Ayodhya, a disappointment for the ruling party in the district on which the Centre and the state government have lavished much attention.
The mosque's maulana and the mazar's caretakers said they were not aware of any administrative order in this regard and claimed this was for the first time that such a step had been taken during the yatra.
A Trinamool Congress (TMC) worker was shot dead and two others, including a local committee president, were critically injured in a gun attack in Malda district, West Bengal, on Tuesday. The incident occurred in the Kaliaganj area when TMC workers were attending a program. Police suspect factionalism within the party could be behind the attack, while senior TMC leaders blame external forces. The killing comes less than a fortnight after the murder of another TMC councillor in the same district, adding to the tension in the area ahead of the upcoming panchayat elections.
Several areas in Muslim-majority Murshidabad, including Suti, Dhulian, Jangipur and Shamsherganj, have witnessed violent protests against the Waqf (Amendment) Act that spiralled into communal violence, sparking the exodus.
'Operation Sindoor is still ongoing. The Prime Minister himself said that blood and water cannot flow together, that talks and terrorism cannot go together. So how can we have a cricket match with a country that indulges in terrorism?'
The girl had not attended school from January 3, following which an inquiry was done by the school in person visiting her home.
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.
"List it for hearing on Thursday," said the bench, which also comprised Justice B R Gavai and Justice Surya Kant.
The Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party have united in their demands, calling for the immediate resignation and arrest of P P Divya, a Communist Party of India-Marxist leader and district panchayat president, who leveled graft accusations against ADM Naveen Babu at his send-off function organised by colleagues at the Kannur district collectorate.
Banerjee, considered number two in the party, declined to comply with the notice, citing his engagement with an ongoing mass outreach campaign and upcoming panchayat polls.
The court noted that no appreciable steps have been taken ever since an order was passed by it on June 13 to deploy central forces in sensitive areas for the poll process.
Singh has sought the intervention of Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in separate letters that BJP worker Rajiv Ranjan Chaudhary has hired men to kill him.
The prime minister said that Palli has shown the way to the country for achieving carbon neutral state.
The BJP has managed to retain its lead in all the six municipal corporations -- Ahmedabad, Surat, Rajkot, Vadodara, Jamangar and Bhavnagar -- which went to polls last month.
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.
Counting of votes began on Sunday for lakhs of panchayat seats in Uttar Pradesh, a process expected to take two days across 829 centres. There were scuffles involving the supporters of candidates in three districts and social distancing to fight the spread of coronavirus went for a toss at several places, reports said.
...the DMK chief minister's campaign -- which includes criticism of the BJP's 'pro-Hindutva, anti-Tamil, anti-federal' policies and building on his own government's social welfare programmes targeting especially women and youth -- appeals to Tamil Nadu's voters in next year's assembly election, explains N Sathiya Moorthy.
India is set to bring eight cheetahs from Botswana in two phases, with four arriving by May 2025. This follows the successful reintroduction of cheetahs to Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh, with the population now at 26, including 14 cubs born in India. The initiative aims to boost cheetah conservation efforts and create inter-state collaboration for their protection. The project has already seen significant investment, with over Rs 112 crore spent on cheetah rehabilitation.
The Kasaragod Municipal Stadium Road will now be known as Sunil Gavaskar Municipal Stadium Road.
Don't get amused if officials of a local village panchayat in Palakkad, Kerala, are seen politely persuading visitors to call them by their name or designation instead of usual salutations like 'sir' or 'madam'.
Coming down heavily on the Chhattisgarh government for removing an elected woman sarpanch of a remote village for 'unjustified reasons', the Supreme Court on Monday observed the state wanted the village head to go with a 'begging bowl before a babu (bureaucrat)'.