Latest LIVE: CRPF jawan, abducted in Chhattisgarh Naxal ambush, released

The Andhra Pradesh State Election Commission has resumed conduct of stalled poll procedure to the MPTC, ZPTC in the state today. Stay tuned for Latest LIVE news

10:04 PM

Congress celebrates its wins in HP's two municipal corporations

A day after getting a clear majority in two of the four municipal corporation elections, the Himachal Pradesh Congress on Thursday celebrated its victory with its workers dancing on drum beats.
 

In the results announced on Wednesday for the four municipal corporation polls in the state, the Congress had attained a clear majority in Palampur and Solan while the ruling BJP had emerged as the single largest party in Mandi and Dharamshala.
 

State Congress president Kuldeep Singh Rathore said the Congress would have won all the four municipal corporation polls, “had the ruling BJP not used money power and misused government machinery in the last 36 hours”.
 

On the other hand, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said the BJP secured a majority in Dharamshala by getting the support of three of the four independent councillors.
 

The BJP won eight out of a total of 17 wards in Dharamshala and was short of one seat for a clear majority. The Congress got five and the independents four seats in Dharamshala municipal polls.
 

Thakur said the BJP has now secured a majority in Dharamshala and Mandi municipal corporation polls.
 

The chief minister said the current BJP government created three new municipal corporations of Solan, Mandi and Palampur for planned development in these areas.
 

10:02 PM

Faced with 'natural deadline', SC favours mechanism for appointment of ad-hoc judges in HCs

Faced with a “natural deadline”, the Supreme Court on Thursday geared up for setting up a mechanism for appointment of ad-hoc judges in the high courts to reduce backlog of cases plaguing the judiciary.
 

The top court by referring to the "natural deadline" perhaps meant the retirement of Chief Justice SA Bobde on April 23.
 

The top court asked group of senior lawyers representing different high courts to hold a virtual conference among themselves to deliberate and prepare within a week a road-map on four major points which could trigger the initiation of appointment process like-what could be percentage of pendency, how many ad-hoc judges could be appointed, how much could be the tenure of ad-hoc judges and what should the procedure.
 

A special bench of Chief Justice SA Bobde and Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Surya Kant said, “We don't have much time. We are facing a natural deadline. We cannot hear each and every point as it will take enough time. It will be better if you all should hold a virtual conference among yourselves and deliberate the issues and submit a report by next Wednesday”.
 

It listed the matter for further hearing for April 15.
 

9:02 PM

Latest News: Dassault Aviation rejects fresh allegations of corruption in Rafale deal

French aerospace major Dassault Aviation on Thursday rejected fresh allegations of corruption in the Rafale fighter jet deal with India, saying no violations were reported in the frame of the contract, days after French online journal 'Mediapart' alleged that the jet manufacturer had paid nearly one million Euros to an Indian middleman.

 

According to the French media, the report was based on an investigation by the country's anti-corruption agency Agence Francaise Anticorruption (AFA).

 

Rejecting the allegations, a Dassault Aviation spokesperson said,"numerous controls are carried out by official organisations, including the French Anti-Corruption Agency. No violations were reported, notably in the frame of the contract with India for the acquisition of 36 Rafales." (PTI)

8:05 PM

Latest News: Wall Street opening higher, led by health care, utilities

Shares are opening slightly higher on Wall Street, following gains in Europe and Asia overnight.

 

The S&P 500 rose 0.2 percent at the start of trading, after inching to a new record high a day earlier thanks to gains by some Big Tech stocks.

 

Utilities and health care stocks led the index early Thursday, but the index's rise was held back by big drops in energy and banking stocks. (AP)

7:48 PM

Re-poll at polling station number 88-Paramanandapur Prathamik Vidhyalay on April 10

7:16 PM

Latest News: MP govt aiming to generate 100,000 jobs per month, says CM

The BJP government in Madhya Pradesh was aiming to generate one lakh jobs per month, mostly in small and micro industries, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said on Thursday.

 

He said his goal was to see a vast network of small industries flourishing in the state and maintained the government was ready to become bank guarantorsfor prospective entrepreneurs.

 

Our target is to generate one lakh employment each month. To achieve this, our small and micro industries will help us, Chouhan said. (PTI)

6:22 PM

Rakeshwar Singh, kidnapped by Naxals during Bijapur attack on April 3, has been released

5:59 PM

Latest News: High decibel campaign ends for fourth phase of polling in West Bengal

Campaigning for the high-decibel fourth phase of polling, for 44 assembly seats scheduled in five districts of West Bengal on April 10, ended at 5pm on Thursday.

 

A total 1,15,81,022 voters including 58,82,514 men, 56,98,218 women and 290 members of the third gender, will decide the fate of 373 candidates in Friday's polling in constituencies spread over Howrah (Part II), South 24 Parganas (Part III), Hooghly (Part II) in south Bengal and in north Bengal's Alipurduar and Coochbehar.

 

The polling will be held between 7AM to 6.30PM in 15,940 polling stations.At stake are nine assembly constituencies in Howrah, eleven in South 24 Parganas, five in Alipurduar, nine in Coochbehar and ten in Hooghly. (PTI)

5:49 PM

Latest News: Kalyan Jewellers shares jump nearly 5%

Shares of Kalyan Jewellers on Thursday gained nearly 5 per cent after the company said it has witnessed a robust increase in consumer demand and seen revenue growth of nearly 60 per cent in its India operations in the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2021.

 

The stock jumped 4.58 per cent to close at Rs 73.10 on the BSE. During the day, it gained 7 per cent to Rs 74.85.

 

On the NSE, it rose by 4 per cent to close at Rs 72.75.

 

In traded volume terms, 717,000 shares were traded at the BSE and over 4.8 million shares at the NSE during the day. (PTI)

5:41 PM

Latest News: India, Sri Lanka agree to jointly work against terror groups, fugitives

India and Sri Lanka on Thursday agreed to work jointly against terrorist groups and fugitives wherever they are present and active, and emphasised on sharing real time intelligence.

 

In the first delegation level virtual police chiefs' dialogue, India and Sri Lanka also decided to strengthen the existing cooperation mechanisms, as also designate "nodal points" for timely and effective handling of existing as well as emerging security challenges.

 

The Indian delegation was led by Director of Intelligence Bureau Arvind Kumar and the Sri Lankan team was led byC D Wickramaratne, Inspector General of Police. (PTI)