INDIA

April 23 With Inputs from Tawseef Nazir/ Suhail Dar/ Waris Shah/ Sheikh Nadeem/ Beigh Fayaz Polling began on for the third phase of Lok Sabha Elections on Tuesday for the largest phase of Lok Sabha election in 116 seats, including all constituencies in Gujarat and Kerala, with BJP president Amit Shah, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and several Union Ministers among prominent candidates in the fray. Besides all seats in Gujarat (26) and Kerala (20), voting will be held in four seats in Anantnag, Assam, five seats in Bihar, seven in Chhattisgarh, 14 each in Karnataka and Maharashtra, six in Odisha, 10 in Uttar Pradesh, five in West Bengal, two in Goa, and one each in Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu and Tripura. In the South Kashmir's Islamabad (Anantnag) district voting will b...

April 19 A multi-layer security plan has been formulated to ensure smooth conduct of the upcoming general elections in Anantng Lok Sabha seat, especially in “hypersensitive” areas, officials said. Sources told Kashmir News Service (KNS) that in view of challenging law and order situation in South Kashmir, Election commission, Police and other security agencies have formulated a multi-layer security plan to ensure smooth conduct of elections. “The plan includes area domination, night patrolling and strong cover by the road opening parties of the central reserve police force (CRPF),” a senior police officer wished not to be named told KNS. Polling in the Anantnag Lok Sabha seat will take place in three phases on April 23, April 29 and May 6. The Anantnag constituency which cov...

April 19 Kashmir is an integral part of India and it would continue to remain so as long as the BJP exists, party president Amit Shah said here Wednesday. Shah’s remarks came at a poll rally, in response to National Conference leader Omar Abdullah’s recent suggestion of having a separate prime minister for Kashmir. “No one can take away Kashmir from us. As long as the BJP exists, Kashmir will continue to be an integral part of India,” Shah told the rally in western Maharashtra. “We will never allow two prime ministers in India,” Shah said. The Congress wants to separate Kashmir from India, he added. Abdullah’s comment that Jammu and Kashmir bargained for a separate Prime Minister and President and hopefully they would have it, has also drawn a strong response from Prime Mini...

April 17 In a clear threat to voters, the BJP MLA from Fatehpura, Ramesh Katara in his election speech has asked the voters to not vote against the Bhartiya Janta Party. Fatepur BJP MLA Ramesh Katara has alleged that during a rally for the Dahod Lok Sabha seat, there was a controversy. He has threatened voters in the name of PM Modi. He told the voters that how many votes have been cast in favor of the BJP on a polling booth, PM Modi will know. "Who voted for BJP, who for Congress, it can be seen. Aadhaar Card and all cards have your photo now, if there are less votes from your booth then he (Modi) will come to know who did not cast vote for him & then you will not get work," he told people here. "Because they have to put CCTV cameras at all polling stations." Simultaneousl...

April 18 The second phase of the Lok Sabha polls is being held in 95 seats today across 11 states and Puducherry. Thirty-eight of the 39 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu have gone to polls besides 18 assembly constituencies. Besides Tamil Nadu, elections are being held in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Jammu Kashmir, and Manipur. Nearly 15.8 crore voters are eligible to vote in the Phase 2 of the Lok Sabha election. The Lok Sabha polls are being held in seven-phases for 543 seats and counting will be on May 23. In Jammu Kashmir, Voters kept away from polling stations in Srinagar city but voted in large numbers in Kathua, Reasi and Udhampur as balloting was on in the Srinagar and Udhampur Lok Sabha seats in Jammu and Kashmir on Thurs...

April 17 Google has blocked access to the hugely popular video app TikTok in India to comply with a Madras High Court’s directive to prohibit its downloads, a person with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Tuesday. The move comes hours after the Madras HC refused a request by China`s Bytedance Technology to suspend a ban on its TikTok app, putting its future in one of its key markets in doubt. The court had on April 3 asked the Centre to ban TikTok, saying it encouraged pornography and made child users vulnerable to sexual predators. Its ruling came after an individual launched a public interest litigation calling for a ban. The Centre had sent a letter to Apple and Google to abide by the state court`s order, according to an IT ministry official. The app was still a...

April 17 The Website of Jammu Central University has been hacked after a group of Students from South of India where attacked by the Right wing activists in the University. Several students had claimed that they were attacked and called “beef-eaters” and “anti-nationals”.canadian pharmacy gaetzpharmacy.com no prescription The University Vice Chancellor as per Indian Express has denied any attack on students from Kerala. Also the varsity administration has lodged a police complaint to trace those who hacked the website. The Vice chancellor in a derogatory comment told Indian Express, “These students (from Kerala) belong to the AISF and SFI. All they want is free food, free liquor and free drugs…nobody questions them.” The Students had alleged that they were being attacked co...

April 16 Despite the conflict in the Kashmir valley , the people of the valley have prospered and are economically well off than people of most of the states in the country, despite the conflict. The consumer expenditure in the valley witnessed increase in tandem with, and in some cases surpassed the national average patterns. According to Observer Research Foundation over the last three decades, the overall household expenditure of an average Kashmiri household was over and above the average household in the country. There is also a stark difference in the expenditure patterns of rural and urban spending. This study conducted by ORF contradicts the popular myth that conflict has led to impoverishment of an ordinary Kashmiri. This research  debunks the popular notion that th...

April 15 The BJP is committed to protecting the interests of indigenous people against the influx of illegal immigrants, a major concern in Manipur which witnessed violent protests against the now-aborted Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, the party’s candidate from the Inner Manipur seat – R K Ranjan Singh – has said. Singh said the protests in the state in February this year against the bill were based on “ill-informed campaigns” and reiterated that his party will curb illegal immigration into India through a fresh version of the bill, along with the implementation of National Register of Citizens (NRC) across the country. “It is clearly stated in our manifesto that we will bring the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill and it already has appropriate measures to safeguard the interests of in...

April 15 A group of Students was allegedly thrashed by students in Central University of Jammu after being labelled as 'Anti Naionals'. The violence erupted in the mid of an art fest on Friday, two of the students sustained serious injuries. As per Asianet, the students attacked were Malyali identified as Vishnu and Bharath from Kerala and they were thrashed after being called Beef-Eaters and JNU sympathizers,the students were also called 'Anti Nationals.' The students alleged that vice chancellor and hostel warden had blocked the students from lodging complaints. "If you complain, you will not be allowed to write the exam. the vice chancellor told us," the students said while alleging that the ABVP-RSS workers were behind the attack. Sangh Parivar has also directed the student...