Around 30 per cent votes were cast in the first three hours of polling in Nagaland, where election is on for its 60-member House on Saturday amidst unprecedented security.
Taking a cue from the Mantralaya fire in Mumbai, the administration has taken several steps to secure the 92-year old Parliament House building from such an untoward incident.
The order came on the petition filed by Kuldeep Kumar, an Aam Aadmi Party councillor, who challenged the administration's order to postpone the polls.
The northeastern state is set to witness a triangular fight this time, with the BJP-IPFT coalition seeking to retain supremacy, the Left-Congress combine looking to wrest power, and regional outfit Tipra Motha making its debut at the hustings after its stunning performance in the autonomous council polls.
India has not only been decked in tricolour hues in the lead up to the 76th Independence Day celebrations, but also put under a heavy security blanket, right from Delhi, the epicentre of the mega celebrations, to Jammu and Kashmir.
The Madhya Pradesh Congress on Tuesday claimed that the 24-hour state-wide bandh, called by the party to protest the killing of IPS officer, Narendra Kumar Singh and the deteriorating law and order situation in the state was a big success.
Indian pacer Ashish Nehra on Saturday rubbished media reports of players being involved in a bar brawl in the West Indies after crashing out of the Twenty20 World Cup, insisting that no such incident ever took place.
Curfew was on Thursday imposed in border town of Rajouri district in view of communal tension there following stone-pelting on a religious procession and subsequent tear gas shelling.
Curfew remained imposed for the second day today in Srinagar district in Jammu and Kashmir with no untoward incident being reported so far from anywhere in the Valley.Curfew was imposed on Monday in Kashmir after a protest march towards Pakistan occupied Kashmir capital Muzaffarabad -- organised by fruit growers and separatists against the 'economic blockade'-- turned violent.Prominent Hurriyat leader Sheikh Abdul Aziz and three others were killed and hundreds injured.
These are early reports and situation can change later in the day.
Marked by a poor turnout, polling is in progress on Thursday in 10 municipal corporations across Maharashtra, including the cash-rich Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, with no untoward incident reported so far.
Around 1.76 crore voters are expected to cast their franchise on Monday to choose representative from among 1,078 candidates, including two chief ministerial aspirants Parkash Singh Badal and Amarinder Singh, in fray for 117 assembly seats in Punjab where polling began on Monday morning.
Snipers have been deployed at high-rise buildings while over 160 CCTVs are keeping a tight vigil on people's movement between Rajpath and Red Fort, the route of the parade which showcases India's military might and cultural diversity. Mobile hit teams, anti-aircraft guns and NSG sharpshooters NSG are also on the job at various places while paramilitary and Delhi police commandos are keeping a close watch along the route of the eight-kilometre-long Republic Day parade
Heavy security arrangements have been put in place for the widely celebrated Ganesh festival with 19,000 policemen deployed across the city to prevent any untoward incident during the event, police said on Tuesday.
The 91-year-old was buried at a mosque near his residence according to his wishes, his close aides said.
Mumbai Joint Commissioner of Police Vishwas Nangre Patil said his team visited Shivaji Park and BKC to take stock of security arrangements at the venues.
The TMC has won in 34,560 gram panchayat seats, besides leading in 705 seats, according to the SEC as of 11.30 am on Wednesday.
Over 19 per cent polling was recorded in the first three hours in the by-poll to Kolkata Dakshin Lok Sabha constituency, which was vacated by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee following her election to the state assembly.
Violent protests against Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen's purported article spread on Tuesday night to Mangalore, where the offices of the newspaper which published it was attacked by a group of miscreants. However, the situation in Shimoga and Hassan towns, which had witnessed violent protests on Monday, remained under control with no fresh untoward incident. In Mangalore, miscreants forced their way into the building housing the office of the New Indian Express.
Polling for the first phase of the civic polls in Tamil Nadu started across the state on Monday morning on a peaceful note. No untoward incident was reported as polling began at 10 corporations including Chennai besides many other local bodies at 7 am.
Two months after a 22-year-old Dalit woman went missing from Unnao, her decomposed body was recovered from a vacant plot near an ashram constructed by a former minister in Samajwadi Party government Fateh Bahadur Singh, police said on Friday.
The Madras high court on Wednesday set aside the proceedings of the Tamil Nadu revenue department locking and sealing the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam headquarters in Chennai following the July 11 violence, and directed that the keys of the office be handed over to party chief K Palaniswami.
Observing that it is the state government and police's duty to protect and thwart untoward incidents like terror acts, the Bombay high court on Thursday sought a compliance report from Maharashtra government on what measures it has taken post 26/11 terror attacks.
A bandh call given by the YSR Congress party in protest against the arrest of their leader YS Jaganmohan Reddy on Monday evoked a mixed response in Andhra Pradesh even as police clamped prohibitory orders in Hyderabad to prevent any untoward incident.
A three-day hours bandh called by a tribal militant group called Garo National Liberation Army from Monday threw normal life out of gear in the three districts of Garo hills areas in Meghalaya on the first day though there was no report of any untoward incident.
Around 6,000 security personnel will be deployed and a total of 24 help desks will be set up in the New Delhi district for those who attend Republic Day celebrations, the police said.
With the anti-talk faction of United Liberation Front of Assam led by Paresh Baruah calling for a 12-hour shutdown in Assam to protest against the scheduled visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, security has been stepped up in the state to avoid any untoward incident.
The nation heaved a sigh of relief on Thursday with tempered responses to the Allahabad high court verdict on the Ayodhya title suits and no untoward incident being reported.
However, special vigil was maintained and paramilitary forces were deployed in the highly sensitive areas of Dausa, Karauli, Bundi, Jaipur-rural, Tonk, Sawaimadhopur and Kota districts.
Police said there was stone-pelting and some vehicles were also torched during the clashes between two communities Saturday evening.
Prohibitory orders clamped following lifting of curfew remained in force in Srinagar and other major towns of the Kashmir Valley on Monday even as normal life was affected in the wake of a strike called by separatists to protest against recent preventive detentions.
The turnout in the last assembly elections in these districts in 2006 was 82.91 per cent
The East Midnapore District Superintendent of Police A K Dutta told PTI that there had been no incident of violence.
Over 70 per cent polling was on Monday recorded in the by-polls at Kukshi and Sonkatch assembly constituencies in Madhya Pradesh where elections passed off peacefully.
According to the complainant Mohammed Shafiuddin, who is a mosque committee member, the incident took place when a procession to immerse a 'Durga' idol was passing near the place in the early hours of Thursday.
The situation in Shimoga and Hassan in Karnataka was peaceful on Tuesday, a day after two people in violent protests over publication of an article by controversial Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen in a leading Kannada daily.
The woman, identified as Indrajiet Kaur, was driving her Huyndai Getz on the busy Tulsi Pipe road in Central Mumbai when she suddenly lost control and rammed into bystanders.
With the ODI World Cup said to be held in India, ICC sources revealed that Pakistan prefers to play in only the two Indian cities they've felt safe in before.
Additional Director General of Jammu and Kashmir Police Munir Khan said restrictions in Jammu have been completely lifted.
