The Lok Sabha seats of Ajmer and Alwar, and the assembly seat of Mandalgarh will go to bypoll tomorrow when over 38 lakh voters would decide the fate of 41 candidates.

In a first, electronic voting machines with photos of candidates on them would be used for polling, which would take place from 8am to 6pm.

"For the first time, photos of candidates are being placed on EVMs to avoid confusion among voters about different candidates with same names," Chief Election Officer Ashwini Bhagat said.

He said 38,02,168 voters are registered in all the three constituencies and preparations for the bypolls were complete.

Eleven candidates in Alwar, 23 in Ajmer and eight candidates in Mandalgarh are in the fray. Counting is slated to take place on February 1.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded Labour Minister Jaswant Singh Yadav and former Union minister Sanwar Lal Jat's son Ramswaroop Lamba for the Alwar and the Ajmer Lok Sabha seats, respectively, while Shakti Singh Hada is contesting the bypoll as BJP's candidate from the Mandalgarh assembly constituency in Bhilwara district.

The Congress named Vivek Dhakad as it's candidate for the Mandalgarh Assembly constituency, former MLA Raghu Sharma for the Ajmer Lok Sabha seat and Karan Singh Yadav for the Alwar Lok Sabha constituency.

Ajmer and Alwar Lok Sabha seats, and the Mandalgarh assembly seat fell vacant due to the deaths of Ajmer MP Sanwar Lal Jat, Alwar MP Chand Nath and Mandalgarh MLA Kirti Kumari (all of the BJP) last year.  -- PTI

All-party meeting called by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan underway in Parliament Library building. Photograph: ANI

The tableau from Maharashtra depicting the coronation of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj at the Republic Day Parade at the Rajpath in New Delhi won the first prize, followed by Assam's tableau on traditional masks of the Satras.

The tableau of Chhattisgarh, which depicted Ramgarh's ancient amphitheatre in addition to artistes performing dance based on Kalidasa's 'Meghadootam', was awarded the third prize.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the awards to the winning teams at an event in New Delhi today.

Among the three military services, the contingent from the Army's Punjab Regiment was awarded the best marching contingent trophy, while the Indo-Tibetan Border Police team won the best marching contingent prize among the para-military and other auxiliary forces.

In the category of tableaux representing Union ministries and departments, the best tableau award went to the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.

The tableau depicted 'Khelo India', the national programme for development of sports.

Fourteen states and Union Territories had presented their tableaux at the Republic Day Parade at the Rajpath on Friday, depicting the country's rich art and cultural heritage.

Nine central ministries and departments as well as central paramilitary forces had also presented their tableaux.

Among performances by schoolchildren, South Central Zone Cultural Centre's 'Baredi Dance' (from Madhya Pradesh) was awarded the first prize.  -- PTI

Photograph: Vijay Verma/PTI Photo

Ahead of the Budget session of Parliament beginning tomorrow, representatives of the government and the opposition met in New Delhi today to discuss the issues and proposed legislations which would come up.

While the government wants to push the bill on instant triple talaq pending in the Rajya Sabha along with the one which seeks to grant constitutional status to the OBC Commission, the opposition plans to counter the government on issues such as rising incidents of rapes, alleged 'attack' on constitutional institutions and the plight of traders.

"We want to raise these issues as they are important. The government should adopt a cooperative attitude and allow the opposition to raise these issues," Congress leader Pramod Tiwari said ahead of the meeting.

While Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley are representing the government at the meeting, the opposition is being represented by Mallikarjun Kharge (Congress) Mulayam Singh Yadav (Samajwadi Party), D Raja (Communist Party of India), Kanimozhi (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam), Derek O'Brien and Sudip Bandhopadhyay (Trinamool Congress) and Tariq Anwar (Nationalist Congress Party).

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and some other opposition leaders are likely to join the meeting shortly.  -- PTI

IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Anath Kumar during a pre-Budget all-party meeting in New Delhi on Sunday. Photograph: ANI

In another public outburst in a week, sulking Bharatiya Janata Party leader Eknath Khadse today said his patience has limits though he clarified that he had no inclination to quit the saffron party.

The former revenue minister, who resigned in the year 2016 on allegations of corruption and impropriety in a land deal, had recently said he should not be compelled to quit the BJP.

"I have been meeting my party leaders, asking them to place facts about all allegations against me in the public domain at the earliest. If there is proof, put me in jail but the truth should come out," Khadse told PTI in Mumbai.

The senior BJP leader also said he had not met the state leadership to make him minister again.

"For the last 20 months (since he quit as minister), I remained quiet. There is a limit to my patience. I don't wish to quit the party with which I have a 40-year-old relation. But if I am insulted and sidelined on the basis of frivolous charges then what I am supposed to do. What should I do if attempts are made to push me out of the party. Is discipline only for me?" Khadse asked.

Addressing a function in his home district Jalgaon, Khadse had said he should not be compelled to quit the BJP.

To a question regarding he sharing the dais with Congress leaders at the programme, Khadse played down the incident and said these were birthday functions of leaders from his district.

"If (Chief Minister) Devendra Fadnavis can attend the birthday function of (Nationalist Congress Party chief) Sharad Pawar, can't I go to birthday functions of leaders from my district?" he asked.

Khadse alleged that many development-related issues in Jalgaon district are being neglected and delayed.

Khadse's reentry in the state Cabinet has been delayed with Fadnavis telling the legislative assembly last year that the probe report of a judicial committee against Khadse had become infructuous after the Bombay high court instructing the ACB to register an FIR in the matter.  -- PTI

The death toll from a devastating suicide bomb blast in Kabul has risen to 103 with hundreds more wounded, officials said today.

"Unfortunately a number of wounded people have died in hospital. The number of martyrs is now 103," interior minister Wais Barmak told reporters, adding that another 235 were wounded.  -- Agencies

The Uttar Pradesh police on Sunday said that the situation is under control in Kasganj after violence broke out on the Republic Day, wherein one person died and two others were injured.

Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police, O P Singh said that drone surveillance is being conducted to maintain law and order.

"Situation in Kasganj is under control. No incidents have taken place in the last few hours. Through drones we are conducting surveillance. Our priority is to maintain law and order. We had put restrictions on the internet for few hours to restrain rumours from being spread but we took this step to maintain law and order which is our utmost priority," Singh told ANI.

He added that a number of people have been arrested and patrolling has been intensified.Meanwhile, raids were conducted at the residence of an accused in connection with the case.

All internet services have been suspended from 5 pm on January 27 to 10 pm on January 28.

One person died and two others were injured after a clash broke out between two communities during 'Tiranga Yatra' in Uttar Pradesh's Kasganj city on Friday.

Both the groups reportedly pelted stones at each other and also fired bullets at each other.

Chandan Gupta died in the clash after suffering a bullet injury.

Till now, 49 people have been arrested in connection with the conflict and Section 144 is still imposed in the state.

While nine accused have been arrested on charges of murder and rioting, 39 have been arrested for disruption of law and order situation, which include those who torched buses and shops.

A Special Investigative Team (SIT) has been formed to arrest the others accused in the violence.Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has condoled the loss of life and told the police to sternly deal with the culprits.  -- ANI

Photograph: ANI

A 35-year-old woman, critically injured in Pakistani firing along the International Border (IB), succumbed to injuries today, raising to 14, the number of deaths due to cross-border shelling since January 18, police said.

Bimla Devi of Kana Chak in Jammu was critically injured in Pakistani shelling on January 22 and was undergoing treatment at the Government Medical College hospital in Jammu.

"She died this morning and after postmortem the body was handed over to her relatives for last rites," a police officer said.

He said barring ceasefire violations in Krishna Ghati and Mankote sectors along the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch district last evening, there was no report of more ceasefire violations by Pakistan.

Earlier, six security personnel and seven civilians were killed and over 70 others injured in intense shelling by Pakistan along the IB in Jammu, Kathua and Samba districts and the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch and Rajouri districts from January 18 to 22, leading to the displacement of thousands of border residents.

While there was no ceasefire violations by Pakistan reported along the IB since January 22, two mortar shells fired by Pakistan exploded in the premises of the government high school in Nowshera sector of Rajouri on January 24 and small arms firing in the same sector on January 26.

Over 300 schools along LoC and IB were closed last week as a precautionary measure in view of the firing.  -- PTI

A police jeep skid off the road and fell into a pond this morning killing seven persons including two policemen, officials said in Aligarh.

According to Senior Superintendent of Police Rajesh Pandey, Sub Inspector Pradeep Sharma and Constable Devinder Yadav were returning after a raid when owing to dense fog, their driver could not see a deep pond adjoining the road and the vehicle plunged in the water drowning all seven passengers.

"Among the deceased was a middle-aged woman and her child," Pandey said adding that the identity and age of the victims was yet to be ascertained.  -- PTI

A first information report has been registered against Doctor Siddhant Shah, ward boy Vitthal Chavan and one woman ward attendant Sunita Surve under Section 304 A (causing death by negligence) in connection with Mumbai's Nair Hospital MRI machine death case.

Rajesh Maru, 32-year-old, lost his life on Saturday evening after he was sucked into a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine in the hospital.

CCTV footage of the incident has been handed over to the police by hospital authorities.

Maru's brother-in-law Harish Solanki, told ANI that his mother was admitted in the hospital and the deceased went to visit her.

"He went there to visit my ailing mother but we did not know he would meet such a fate. We all are in shock. A ward boy told him to carry an oxygen cylinder with him to MRI room which is prohibited. It all happened because of the carelessness of hospital's doctors and administration. No security guard was either present to tell him that he should not carry oxygen cylinder with him to MRI room," he added.

Solanki further said the MRI machine was functioning when Maru was called in.

"As he entered the room the MRI machine sucked him in due to the magnetic force as he had oxygen cylinder with him. He died within 2 minutes. No hospital authority has approached us accepting their mistake," he stated.

The body has been sent for the post mortem in JJ Hospital.

The police said they are further investigating the matter.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh for Maru's family.

Family members of Maru along with local people and Bharaiya Janata Party MLA M P Lodha held protest inside dean's cabin at the hospital.  -- ANI

Image used only for representation.

The Bombay high court has refused to order a probe into the death of former state Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare and disposed of a petition alleging that his killing during the 26/11 terror attack was a conspiracy hatched by Right Wing extremists.

A division bench of Justices S C Dharmadhikari and Bharti Dangri said nothing survives in the public interest litigation filed by one Radhakant Yadav, a former MLA from Bihar, seeking setting up of a special investigation team to probe this angle.

'The PIL is pending since 2010...nothing survives in it...we cannot direct investigation. The petition is disposed of,' the court said in a recent order.

Yadav had approached the high court in August 2010 claiming that Karkare was not killed by Pakistani terrorists Ajmal Kasab and Abu Ismail.

The petition claimed that Karkare was, in fact, killed by Right Wing extremists after the former ATS chief arrested several members of the Right Wing group Abhinav Bharat in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case.

The PIL relied on a book written by Maharashtra's former Inspector General of Police S M Mushrif, titled Who Killed Karkare.

Karkare, along with senior police officials Ashok Kamte and Vijay Salaskar, were killed outside Cama Hospital in south Mumbai after Kasab and his partner Ismail opened fire at their police van during the terror attack in Mumbai on November 26, 2008.  -- PTI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said the selection process for picking Padma award winners has been transformed under his government, asserting that more significance has now been given to the nominee's work than name.

In his monthly and this year's first 'Mann ki Baat' address, Modi highlighted works of some winners whose names were announced on the eve of Republic Day, and said common people, who are not living in big cities and not seen in newspapers and TV, have received it.

In the last three years, he said, the selection process has been made online, which has led to transparency and anybody can now nominate people for the honours.

He called upon society to hear the stories of these winners so that they could enrich and inspire others.

Modi also spoke at length about the issue of women empowerment and said women are now moving ahead in all fields.

The performance of an all-woman Border Security Force team during the Republic Day parade surprised guests, he said.

He also praised the 'human chain' formed in Bihar against social evils against dowry and child marriage and said flexibility and continuous efforts for self-correction are a hallmark of society.

With Mahatma Gandhi's death anniversary falling on January 30, he said no tribute to him can be bigger than following the path shown by him.  -- PTI

In an attempt to set on fire a cinema hall showing the controversial film Padmaavat, two unidentified persons threw a petrol bomb inside it, police said today.

The incident took place last evening at the Chandra Talkies.

The theatre is one of the three cinema halls here showing the movie, Circle Officer Harish Bhadhoria said.

The perpetrators are yet to be identified. They came on a motorcycle and tried to set the hall on fire by throwing a petrol bomb, he said.

No major damage was reported by the theatre's owners, police said.

Security was tightened at the three cinema halls -- Chandra, Maya and Karniwal -- screening the film after the incident, the officer said. -- PTI

The insolvency law might be amended depending on recommendations of the panel reviewing issues related to the legislation, including those pertaining to home buyers, a senior government official said.

While everything is time-bound under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), Corporate Affairs Secretary Injeti Srinivas said the issue is how the interests of stake holders are to be balanced.

A 14-member panel, also chaired by Srinivas, is working to identify and suggest ways to address issues faced in the implementation of the IBC -- which came into force in December 2016.

"There is a feeling that this law is skewed a little too much in favour of financial creditors. It is not adequately addressing the requirements or expectations of other stakeholders. It is a serious area we have to look at. The committee is looking at all the issues," Srinivas told PTI.

According to him, competition, regulatory clearances, tax liabilities and other aspects would also be looked at.

"It was felt that there was enough reason to have a comprehensive stock taking even though it is a one-year-old law... Based on recommendations of the Insolvency Law Committee, in the future there may be changes in the IBC," Srinivas said.

A large number of cases have been filed under the IBC, which provides for a market-determined and time-bound insolvency resolution process.

"There are also apprehensions on whether this system (insolvency law) can be abused. Can somebody trigger this system for some sort of wrongful intent?" the secretary said.

Among others, issues such as whether the insolvency process should be governed by liquidation value or enterprise value would also be looked into.  -- PTI

Indian team for T20I series vs South Africa: Virat Kohli (Captain) Rohit Sharma (vice captain), Shikhar Dhawan, K L Rahul, Suresh Raina, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wicket keeper), Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Manish Pandey, Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jaspreet Bumrah, Jaydev Unadkat, and Shardul Thakur.

Twelve Tamil Nadu fishermen were today arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy for allegedly fishing in their waters near Talaimannar, a fishermen association office-bearer said.

The arrest comes shortly after the island nation proposed a draconian legislation banning fishing in its territorial waters by foreign trawlers.

The Lankan Navy personnel also seized two boats used by them and snapped the nets of around 50 boats, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry Fishermen's Association general secretary N J Bose said in Rameswaram.

The arrested fishermen were from Rameswaram and have been taken to nearby Mannar, he added.

The fishermen have been charged with fishing not only in Lankan territory but using banned fishing nets which destroyed the sea wealth of their nation, according to information reaching the police in Rameswaram.

Police officials said Lankan Navy men were keeping a strict vigil in the Katchatheevu area for the past one week and chased away hundreds of fishermen who were fishing near the islet.

Nearly 2,000 Tamil Nadu fishermen had been chased away on January 23 by the Lankan Navy which hurled stones and snapped fishing nets of 50 boats for allegedly fishing close to their territorial waters off Katchatheevu islet. -- PTI

An Indian Navy sailing team out to make history as the first-ever voyage by an all-women crew to circumnavigate the globe is now docked at Port Stanley, the capital of Falkland Islands -- a British Overseas Territory.

The six crew of the Indian Naval Sailing Vessel (INSV) Tarini started their maiden voyage on September 10 from Goa and is expected to complete it in about eight months.

INSV Tarini entered the port earlier this week after covering approximately 15,000 nautical miles since setting off from Goa, crossing the Equator, Cape Leeuwin and Cape Horn.

The vessel is captained by Lieutenant Commander Vartika Joshi, with her crew comprising Lieutenant Commanders Pratibha Jamwal and P Swathi, and Lieutenants S Vijaya Devi, B Aishwarya and Payal Gupta.

"It is always a surprise when nature catches you unaware just when you are lost into its mesmerising beauty, such as our awe when we witnessed the Auroras -- the southern lights' only a lucky few get to witness this at sea," said Lt Aishwarya, who has been maintaining an online blog of the group's experiences.

The indigenously-built INSV Tarini is a 56-foot sailing vessel, which was inducted in the Indian Navy last year and the voyage is described as a showcase of the 'Make in India' initiative on an International forum.

The vessel and the crew experienced rough weather and stormy winds during their passage across the Pacific Ocean, which spanned 41 days.

This coupled with the extremely cold climatic conditions of the region, involved winds in excess of 60 knots and waves of up to 7 meters.

The expedition, titled 'Navika Sagar Parikrama', was flagged off by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman as part of the national initiative to empower women to attain their full potential.

It also aims to showcase 'Nari Shakti' on the world platform and help revolutionise societal attitudes and mindset towards women in India, by raising visibility of their participation in challenging environs.

The vessel is scheduled to return to Goa in April, and will set off for Cape Town in South Africa on February 4.

The first port halt was at Fremantle, Australia, in October 2017, the second at Lyttelton, New Zealand, in November and now Port Stanley, Falkland Islands.

The crew has been collating and updating meteorological, ocean and wave data on a regular basis for accurate weather forecast by the India Meteorological Department (IMD), as also monitoring marine pollution on the high seas.

They have been interacting extensively with the locals, especially children, during their port halts to promote ocean sailing and the spirit of adventure.  -- PTI