Timeline Refresh
"The ministry had sought the EC's opinion about the process of appointing the new chairperson. The EC has replied saying that the appointment could wait till the process of elections was over," a senior official told PTI.
The chairperson of Prasar Bharati is chosen by a committee which is headed by the Vice President. Sources said that the ministry had also asked the EC as to whether it should initiate the process to appoint senior functionaries in the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal regarding which also it had received the same reply from the poll panel.
A sitting Rajya Sabha member from Andhra Pradesh, Reddy, served as Chief Minister from December, 1990 to October, 1992. He served as state minister and legislator in his long political career spanning several decades.
It was during his tenure as chief minister ban on Naxals was first imposed and he survived an attack on his life by the extremists in 2007.
One person had been arrested in connection with the killing of the student while another, allegedly involved in the crime, was absconding. Senior police officers rushed to the scene and brought the situation under control.
Adequate police personnel were deployed in the area as a precautionary measure.
The judgement was reserved on the bail plea of the Noida-based couple by a Division Bench comprising Justice Rakesh Tiwari and Justice Anil Kumar Agarwal.
The couple had been awarded life sentence by a CBI court on November 26, 2013, after which they moved the High Court in January this year challenging their conviction.
Later, they moved another application with the request that they be released on bail until their appeal was pending. Aarushi and Hemraj were found murdered inside the Talwars' residence in May, 2008.
The CBI filed a chargesheet in the case last September against Shah, the former home minister of state, and 18 others, including several police officers.
According to the CBI, gangster Sohrabuddin Sheikh and his wife Kauser Bi were abducted by Gujarat's Anti-Terrorism Squad from Hyderabad and killed in a fake encounter near Gandhinagar in November 2005.
He also filed a criminal defamation complaint against the newspaper and its editor Amul Acharya in a Metropolitan Magistrate's court in suburban Andheri. Kamat alleges that the paper published a series of defamatory and malicious articles against him ahead of the ongoing Lok Sabha polls. Kamat is Congress's candidate from Mumbai North-West Lok Sabha constituency.
The newspaper said that he would lose, and people were being hired for his rallies, the petition alleges. The magistrate today issued summons to the accused and posted the matter for hearing on June 7. Petition in the HC would come up for hearing in due course.
The party also said while other leaders like Rahul Gandhi, who is a step above Modi on security threats, were given permission to campaign, its prime ministerial candidate was denied permission to do so even in the constituency where he was contesting. "Had Election Commission taken immediate action at its level, it could have saved the situation from coming to this level," BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said.
The statement came a day after the party protested against the decision of the poll authorities not to allow Modi to hold a rally in Varanasi's Beniya Bagh area. On the security threat issue, Trivedi said "if Rahul Gandhi, who is a step above Modi on the security threat, and Akhilesh Yadav can get permission to hold their functions, then why is Modi not allowed to campaign in his own constituency? It is a serious issue."
Alleging that the advertisement issued by the Gujarati language newspaper called 'Sandesh', highlighted only efforts made by Gujaratis and "ignored" the contribution made by Marathi people towards Mumbai's development, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena corporator Sandeep Deshpande demanded removal of the advertisement here today.
"The Gujarati language newspaper advertisement speaks only about the contribution made by Gujaratis towards Mumbai's development but ignores similar efforts made by the Marathi people. Is it true that Gujaratis alone contributed towards Mumbai's growth? Aren't Marathi speakers involved in the development of the city? Why has the contribution made by the Marathi people not been mentioned (in the advertisement)," Deshpande asked.
As part of his duties as special observer, the 1987-batch IAS officer would keep a close watch on election related preparedness and electoral process. Varanasi which is seeing high pitched battle among BJP Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, Aam Aadmi Party Chief Arvind Kejriwal and Congress' Ajay Rai, will go to polls on May 12.
He said the IPS officer would be given posting soon. A 1995-batch officer, hailing from Karnataka, Dinesh M N was under judicial custody since 2007 in connection with the alleged fake encounter of Sheikh in Gujarat in 2005. He was posted as Superintendent of Police of Alwar district when he was arrested in the case.
"I have seen the speech myself...he only said Azamgarh. We found nothing much. Our people have also seen the video. There is nothing particularly wrong in what he said," Election Commissioner H S Brahma said here. "We have given him (Shah) permission to speak and campaign again only after he had had expressed regret over his last statements and he promised to us that he will not do it again," he said during an interaction with Indian Women Press Corps. Responding to questions, the Commissioner said there were adequate provisions in the Representation of the People Act to check the menace of 'hate speeches'.
The law clearly says that party candidates and leaders cannot make speeches in the name of caste, creed or community. "Honestly, as a citizen, I would say we don't expect from anyone to speak such a kind of thing...that will hurt the feeling of someone," he said.
"Globally, India continues to be the country with the highest number of people (597 million people) practising open defecation," says the report --the Progress on Drinking Water and Sanitation-2014 update-- released in Geneva today. The report jointly prepared by the WHO and the UNICEF says that eighty-two per cent of the one billion people practising open defecation in the world live in just 10 countries.
This is a classic reply...
Police officials claimed Saibaba was named by JNU student Hem Mishra, who was arrested earlier in September for being a courier between Saibaba and the Maoists based in Abujmad, Chhattisgarh.
According to RG Kadam, DIG, Gadchiroli, Hem Mishra was carrying some explicit documents and named Saibaba. "We have enough evidence against him," he said.
Saibaba accepts that he knows Hem Mishra and his alleged accomplice Prashan Rahi arrested on the same charges as Mishra. But he denies having ever sent any letter to the CPI-Maoist. He said, "I don't think communicating with the Maoist is a crime. But I myself have never done it."
The Gadchiroli police claim that Saibaba runs an organisation called Revolutionary Democratic Front, which is a front for the CPI-Maoist. He is known in Maoist circles as Prashant alias Chetan and he uses these names to interact and hatch conspiracies with over ground Maoists through online chat forums.
This is his piece for Tehelka in 2010. Revolutionaries don't kill policemen: Read
Also read Hamid Mir's column for Rediff.com: I will not be stopped from speaking the truth.
Gandhi who was campaigning here was faced with slogans of "Har Har Modi, Ghar Ghar Modi" during his rally while he was promising free housing, free medical care and pension for women to his audience.
After the incident, the security personnel whisked these people away. Gandhi during his speech asked a person standing in the rally, the rate of the land for him, to raise a point about "land being gIven" to corporate group Adani in Gujarat.
"In Gujarat, you get land at Rs one per square meter but you will not get land at that rate. If you want land at this rate in Gujarat, you will be slapped and thrown out of the state," Gandhi alleged.
He claimed if BJP leader Narendra Modi becomes the prime minister, only his "industrialist friends" would benefit. "Modi has given 43,000 acres of land to his industrialist friend Adani. Electricity worth Rs 26,000 crore has also been given for free of cost," he alleged.
The Aam Aadmi Party had alleged that actor-politician Gul Panag and other party activists were attacked in Varanasi, where they are campaigning for party chief Arvind Kejriwal, today.
Earlier, EC HS Brahma said no exit polls can be telecast till May 16, the date of counting.
Aam Aadmi Party's Amethi candidate Kumar Vishwas had protested after his family members were asked to leave the constituency ahead of polling on May 7, accusing the administration of being biased and favouring his Congress rival Rahul Gandhi.
Denying any partisan approach, Varanasi's Additional District Magistrate (City) M P Singh said the administration will see that those engaged in campaigning activities, if they are not voters in the constituency irrespective of their party or candidate affiliation, leave the city.
"We will not allow anybody involved in campaign and not having a voter to stay in the city after campaigning ends tomorrow. Be it Kejriwal's family or BJP leaders like Amit Shah, everybody will have to comply with our orders," Singh said. The high-octane campaign for the May 12 election will come to an end tomorrow at 5 pm.
He, however, said, "If he had got serious about tackling corruption, the government would have fallen. There was a lot at stake with allies like the DMK and Sharad Pawar." Singh believed that people saw him as an honest person and that the accusations were against other people.
"What could I do about it?" Singh was quoted as having told Baru.
Panag, who contested as the AAP candidate from Chandigarh, was allegedly attacked at the city's historic Banaras Hindu University, which has been the nerve centre for campaigning in Varanasi.
Another AAP supporter, radio host Raghu Ram, tweeted, "Oh well. I just got attacked by 2 guys with lathis inside BHU! They were outsiders. The BHU boys chased them away."
Kejriwal is contesting the national election from Varanasi against Narendra Modi, the BJP's prime ministerial candidate, and the Congress' Ajay Rai.
Pic: The picture was tweeted by AAP yesterday, saying 'Team Gul Panag arrives in Varanasi'. Panag, is the AAP's Chandigarh candidate and reached the city yesterday.
AAP state Campaign Committee Secretary Prabhat Kumar alleged that while they were campaigning in the area, local BJP workers attacked them and one of them pointed a country-made pistol at the forehead of one AAP volunteer and threatened to shoot him.
"Other AAP volunteers managed to snatch the firearm from him while his accomplices ran away. We have lodged an FIR with the Harsiddhi police station and submitted the seized pistol," Kumar said and complained that police had not taken any action against the culprits.
Dismissing the allegations of inaction, Harsiddhi SHO Jay Prakash Prasad said an FIR had been lodged in connection with an incident.
"During the welding work, the (welding) gun took time to ignite and when it did, thick flames erupted from the gun, injuring three people including two civilians," the sources said.
"It was a minor accident in which three people sustained burns. They have been taken to the naval dispensary for first said," the sources added. INS Ganga was deployed for patrolling the Gulf of Eden in 2012 to protect the marine jurisdiction from the Somali pirates.
BJP's UP in-charge and Narendra Modi's close confidante Amit Shah is addressing a press conference in Varan asi. He says that Narendra Modi has covered more than 3 lakh kilometres across 25 states during his election campaign, addressing over 5,000 big and small functions including over 400 big rallies.
Shah says that his campaigning has now transformed into a big movement, and exudes confidence that NDA will single-handedly bag more than 300 seats in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.
He also says that the Election Commission must deploy paramilitary forces everywhere in UP, also demanding that Varanasi district magistrate must be removed.
"Who started the politics of untouchability in the country?" he asked the people at an election meeting in Motihari, Bihar, favour of BJP candidate Radhamohan Singh.
"The same people who do votebank politics had started the politics of untouchability," he said referring to Congress.
"During the entire election process, we have never wavered from development-based politics", the BJP prime ministerial candidate said charging the Congress president with resorting to 'unch aur neech' (high and low) politics.
"Madam you are a party President. You keep using terms like 'unch' and 'neech', it does not look good," he said, adding the Congress was trying to "salvage the lost political ground".
The INS Ganga (F22) is a Godavari-class guided-missile frigate of the Indian Navy. Built in Mumbai by Mazagon Dock Limited, she was commissioned on 30 December 1985.
INS Ganga along with INS Godavari and INS Shakti were deployed to Mogadishu in December 1994 to support the withdrawal of the Indian Army's 66 Brigade, including the 2nd Battalion, Jammu & Kashmir Light Infantry.
Kejriwal also said that he was confident about his victory with a "huge majority" and accused BJP of trying every tactic including communal and caste politics, as well as "violence and bribing of media".
The Aam Aadmi Party leader, who is pitted against Modi from Varanasi parliamentary constituency, said "people in Varanasi say how will a person who comes in a helicopter for only two hours to campaign, serve us".
"AAP is winning with a huge majority in Varanasi... Narendra Modi will suffer defeat as people of Varanasi know about the reality," said Kejriwal, whose city roadshow would begin later today from Banaras Hindu University gate -- the same place from where Modi last evening began his drive-through.
The campaigning has suddenly heated up here despite scorching heat with temperatures soaring past 45 degrees. Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi will also hold a roadshow tomorrow to seek vote for the party candidate Ajay Rai.
Also read: Why is BJP using street power against the EC?
The bench issued notices to the Centre and the Gujarat government seeking their replies for hearing on Friday. The petition has also sought protection of their fundamental right to privacy and right to live with dignity.
The apex court also requested the media not to make public the name of the woman.
A controversy broke out last year when two news portals released CDs of purported telephonic conversations between Narendra Modi aide Amit Shah, who was then state home minister, and two top state police officials relating to snooping on a woman architect in 2009.
The conversations, purportedly between August and September 2009, do not specifically mention Modi by name but refers to a 'saheb', which the portals claimed was the Gujarat chief minister at whose instance the snooping was done, a charge denied by Shah.
While the Gujarat government constituted an inquiry commission in November last year, the Union Cabinet also decided to follow suit. However, a major controversy broke out when last week, senior ministers announced that the name of the judge to head the commission would be announced.
This is what Omar tweets: "Now to the house matter that has created a twitter storm in a tea cup. I'm not overstaying in a Govt bungalow in Delhi. It would have been correct for the Mail Today to verify the facts before printing a story - 7 Akbar rd is allotted to Ghulam Nabi Azad. In his capacity as Union Minister & the JK CM has a bungalow on South Avenue Lane. We have swopped occupancy for our convenience. His has been since 2009 & so neither of us is over staying or violating any guidelines regarding our accommodation."
Read the Mail Today story
"In deference to the sentiments of the community, Vedanta confirms it is not seeking to source bauxite from Niyamgiri bauxite deposit for its alumina refinery operations and will not do so until we have the consent of the local communities," Vedanta said today.
The announcement comes nearly four months after the Ministry of Environment and Forest turned down Vedanta's mining proposal, paying heed to the local villagers' verdict.
The Shahid Smriti Stambha was a dream project of Subhendu Adhikari, the sitting MP from Tamluk who threw his weight behind the villagers during their struggle to protect their land, in the memory of 14 people who died when police opened fire on protesters on March 14, 2007. Read
"If you spell Mamataji's name, you will find Ma-ma-ta. The first M is Mamata and the next M is Modi. A partnership is brewing," the Congress vice president said at a rally in Kolkata.
The Congress says that one more lie of Narendra Modi has been exposed -- that he is an OBC by birth. "It is evident that with fabricated lies he is trying to fool one and all. Modi belongs to the rich and prosperous Modh Ghanchis who were included in the OBC list only after Modi took over as Gujarat CM."
Saradha, based in Kolkata, was headed by Sudipta Sen who is now in jail.
The scandal has been repeatedly referenced by Narendra Modi to target Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Several leaders of her Trinamool party have been accused of benefiting financially from the scam.
The Trinamool had opposed a CBI investigation, arguing that its own police were inquiring into it. The Supreme Court's verdict comes just before the last round of polling in Bengal on Monday, when the nine-phase national election ends.
Thirteen people were todaykilled and three others seriously injured when a train rammedinto a jeep at a unmanned railway crossing in Kothipur area in Maharajganj in UP.
The incident took place at 1 am when the jeep carrying 16persons was returning from a marriage function, police said.
While 13 people died on the spot, three others wererushed to a hospital where their condition stated to be theserious. Further details are awaited
Voters in Kupwara in Jammu and Kashmir were allegedly thrashed, stripped and labelled as traitors for not heeding to the boycott call by stone-pelters. They were allegedly assaulted for going ahead and casting their votes for the Lok Sabha elections.
A middle-aged man from Kupwara was allegedly caned and later forced to strip by a group of youth for voting. Many voters faced the ire of stone-pelters at Sopore and Baramulla on Wednesday. The protesters called them 'traitors' for not heeding the boycott call.
"This is not good. My appeal goes to both the administration and Hurriyat to come clean on this. Both voting and boycott are the right of people. The administration should safeguard the people and Hurriyat should clear its stand whether they are its supporters who beat up people," said PDP leader Javeed Ahmad Dar.
In the Baramulla town where groups of youth clashed with government forces on polling day, voting percentage was dismal. But in Kupwara it had been over 60 per cent.
NDTV: A class 12 student of a leading private school here was Thursday found dead in the school premises, police said.The deceased was identified as the daughter of a Delhi-based businessman and resident of DLF phase-4 area here.
"Her body was found hanging in the washroom on the second floor of the school around 1.45 p.m.," a school spokesperson told IANS.The girl took admission in the school last year in class 11 (commerce stream) and was said to be good at studies."Thursday was the unit test of English subject and she was appreciated by her subject teacher for performing well in the exam," a school teacher who did not wish to be named told IANS.