Prime Minister Narendra Modi won the Varanasi seat for the third consecutive term by defeating Congress candidate Ajay Rai. The victory margin of Modi this time is 1,52,513, which is less than his victory margins of 2019 and 2014.
Even before the poll bugle was sounded, Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee had asserted she alone would be enough to stop the BJP juggernaut in Bengal. Till 2.25 pm, the Trinamul was leading in 29 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state, while the principal Opposition party, the BJP, the clear favourite of pollsters, barely touched double figures, down to 12 from its 2019 tally of 18.
Akhilesh Yadav's stock rose dramatically with his Samajwadi Party cutting the ruling BJP down to size in Uttar Pradesh. The tally is a spoiler for the BJP which had claimed it will sweep the state from where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is an MP.
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File ImageIn the biggest single-day fall in four years, benchmark stock indices Sensex and Nifty plunged by nearly 6 per cent as vote counting trends showed the BJP may not have a clear majority in the Lok Sabha polls. Heavy profit booking in PSUs, public banks, power, utilities, energy, oil and gas, and capital goods shares dragged the markets into the deep negative.
Supreme Court refused to entertain the bail pleas of AAP leader Manish Sisodia in the cases lodged by the CBI and the ED in connection with the alleged Delhi liquor policy scam. Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Sisodia, sought bail for him, saying trial in these cases have not yet started despite the politician being in custody for nearly 15 months.
Actor Kangana Ranaut on Tuesday won the Mandi constituency of Himachal Pradesh, defeating her closest rival Vikramaditya Singh of the Congress by 74,755 votes, according to the Election Commission website. Ranaut, a first-time contender for the BJP, received 537022 votes in her first Lok Sabha election as a political leader, the website stated.
A Sukhoi fighter plane of the Indian Air Force crashed in Nashik district of Maharashtra on Tuesday, police said, adding the pilot and co-pilot ejected safely. After it crashed, the aircraft caught fire which was doused.
A 23-year-old Indian student who went missing in the US state of California last week has been located and "is safe", police said. Police had sought the public's help to find Nitheesha, reportedly from Hyderabad, urging people with information on her whereabouts to contact authorities.
Israel believes that more than a third of the remaining Gaza hostages are dead, a government tally showed, as the United States sought to advance their recovery under a proposal to wind down the war with Hamas. The government tally said 120 remain in captivity, 43 of whom have been declared dead in absentia by Israeli officials based on various sources of information, including intelligence tip-offs, CCTV or bystander videos and forensic analysis.
India head coach Rahul Dravid will leave his post at the end of the ongoing Twenty20 World Cup after almost three years in charge and has no plans to re-apply for the position, the 51-year-old said. The former India captain took over the national team following the 2021 Twenty20 World Cup, replacing Ravi Shastri.