India

NEW DELHI: The Election Commission of India (EC) has ordered a complete repoll in West Bengal’s Falta assembly constituency, scrapping voting held on April 29 after what it described as a breakdown of the democratic process. All 285 polling stations in the South 24 Parganas seat will now vote again on May 21 under heightened…

CHENNAI: After a nine-day wait and just 48 hours before counting, EC released the absolute voter turnout for the April 23 election in Tamil Nadu, confirming that 4,87,98,833 voters (4.88 crore) participated in the exercise to elect members for the state assembly.This accounts for 85.1% of the 5.73 crore registered voters across the state’s 234…

KOLKATA: Ahead of the May 4 counting of votes for the assembly elections, Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee Saturday trashed exit poll results, saying they were conducted to “manipulate the stock market,” and told party colleagues in a virtual address that Trinamool “is winning and winning by 200-plus seats.”Banerjee urged counting agents not to leave their…

NEW DELHI: Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee on Saturday lashed out at Bharatiya Janata Party and Election Commission after fresh polling was announced in the Falta assembly constituency following reports of “severe electoral offences and subversion of the democratic process” during the second phase of polling on April 29.Reacting to BJP leader Amit Malviya’s social…

People show their mobile phones during the nationwide test of the new ‘Cell Broadcast Alert System’, in Patna on Saturday Phones shrieked. Screens flashed. A commuter lunged for an emergency chain. Theatre audiences froze. Patients gripped chairs. With tensions in West Asia already on edge, many feared the worst as confusion swept cities — before…

Sudesh Kumar, who played the protagonist of the tragic love story, ‘Saranga’ (1961), still remembered for its melancholic title track, who became a familiar face as supporting lead in money-spinning Southern productions like ‘Chhoti Bahen’ (1959), ‘Bharosa’ (1963) and ‘Khandan’ (1965), and who went on to produce absorbing thrillers like Uljhan (1975), passed away at…

NEW DELHI: In a reaction to Congress LOP in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi’s opposition to the Greater Nicobar project , former IAF chief Air Chief Marshal R K S Bhadauria (retd) has said that the project is “important for India’s military footprint” in the area.Several defence veterans who have also voiced their support in favour…

NEW DELHI: Indian Railways on Saturday rolled out from Modern Coach Factory (MCF) at Raebareli the 100th Vande Bharat train, marking a major milestone in the journey that started in 2018 with only two such trains.Prior to induction of this 16-coach chair-car trainset into regular passenger service, the train will undergo oscillation trials to validate…

CHANDIGARH/NEW DELHI: Punjab police are believed to have filed two FIRs against Rajya Sabha MP Sandeep Pathak, who switched from AAP to BJP a week ago along with six others.While sources close to govt confirmed the FIRs, no one was willing to talk about it. No official statement on the nature of the allegations had…

Authorities said the search would go on till all passengers were accounted for JABALPUR/BHOPAL: Ignored wind warnings came under sharp scrutiny after the death toll in the Bargi dam cruise disaster rose to 11 on Saturday, with rescuers retrieving two more bodies — both children — from the reservoir in central MP.The sinking has become…