Seeking to ensure a level-playing field in the Lok Sabha elections, the Election Commission on Monday ordered the removal of the home secretaries of Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, and it also directed the shunting out of West Bengal DGP Rajeev Kumar. The decision to shift the West Bengal DGP was taken as the officer was removed earlier too from active election management-related duty during the 2016 assembly election in the state and in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the sources pointed out.
Supreme Court directed the State Bank of India to make a complete disclosure of all details related to electoral bonds, including the unique bond numbers that would disclose the link between the buyer and the recipient political party, by March 21. It directed the SBI chairman to file an affidavit before it by 5 pm on March 21 indicating that the bank has disclosed all the details.
At least seven people, including two women, were killed and several others injured after an under-construction five-storey building collapsed in the Garden Reach area of Calcutta, police said. Calcutta Mayor Firhad Hakim said the rescue operations were carried out on war footing at the site where the building was being constructed illegally.
Alleging that the INDIA bloc's manifesto talks about finishing 'Shakti', Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the fight is between those who want to destroy 'Shakti' and those who worship them. He said the nation dedicated 'Chandrayaan's' success to 'Shiv Shakti' and the opposition parties are talking of destroying 'Shakti'.
Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan has tendered her resignation, the Raj Bhavan in Hyderabad said on Monday. Soundararajan, who is also the Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry, has submitted her resignation to President Droupadi Murmu. The resignation comes in the wake of reports of her plans to contest the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha polls from Tamil Nadu.
A total of five persons have been arrested by police in connection with an attack on international students at the Gujarat University hostel for offering Namaz even as the varsity decided to relocate foreign students to a new wing and engage ex-servicemen to bolster security. The incident, which involved a group assaulting students for offering prayers near the hostel block on March 16, prompted the university to relocate foreign students to a new wing and engage ex-servicemen to bolster security.
Supreme Court dismissed the regular bail plea of AAP leader Satyendar Jain in a money laundering case. The top court rejected an oral request by Jain's counsel to allow him to surrender in a week's time.
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File ImagePakistan carried out airstrikes inside Afghanistan that killed eight civilians, including three children, Afghan Taliban said, amidst a war of words between the two neighbours for a spate of recent militant attacks in restive Pakistani cities. Zabihullah Mujahid, the spokesperson of the Afghan rulers, alleged in a statement that Pakistani aircraft had carried out the airstrikes, the Dawn newspaper reported from Kabul.
The non profit organization People for Ethical Treatment of Animals India along with actor Priyamani donated a life-size mechanical elephant to the Thrikkayil Mahadeva Temple in Kochi following the temple's decision to never own or hire live elephants. An inaugural ceremony was held onMarch 17 at the temple followed by a chenda melam performance by Master Vedharth Raman and his band and a panchavadyam by Venu Marrar and his band, the release said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he supported an idea to release late opposition leader Alexei Navalny in a prisoner exchange just days before the man who was his biggest foe died. The remarks were unusual in that he repeatedly referenced Navalny by his name for the first time in years — and that they came at a late-night news conference as results poured in from a presidential election that is certain to extend his rule.