Majority of Muslims in India are descendants of Hindus, says BJP MP

Mar 11: Thirteen of the 22 rebel MLAs in Madhya Pradesh have given an assurance that "they are not leaving the Congress", senior party leader Digvijaya Singh said on Thursday while expressing confidence that the Kamal Nath-led government in the state will win a floor test.

"We are not keeping quiet. We are not sleeping," Singh told PTI, a day after Congress leader from the state Jyotiraditya Scindia quit the Congress and 22 MLAs submitted their resignations from the assembly in Madhya Pradesh.

Scindia was offered the post of Madhya Pradesh deputy chief minister but wanted his nominee, Singh said. However, Kamal Nath refused to accept a "chela", he said.

Scindia, he said, could have been a Congress nominee to the Rajya Sabha but "only Modi-Shah" can give a Cabinet post to the "over-ambitious" leader.

New Delhi, Feb 11: Votes between Hindus and Muslims were ''completely polarised'', said Congress party's Alka Lamba, as she trailed at Chandni Chowk assembly seat on Tuesday.

"I accept the result, but don't give up. Hindu-Muslim votes were completely polarised. The #Congress Party will now have to prepare for a new fight with new faces and a long struggle for the people of #Delhi. If you fight today, you will also win tomorrow," Ms. Lamba tweeted in Hindi.

As per the Election Commission (EC) website, Ms. Lamba is in third position with just 1,229 votes so far. AAP's Parlad Singh Sawhney is ahead with 23,281 votes followed by Suman Kumar Gupta of BJP.

Ms. Lamba, who had won from Chandni Chowk on an AAP ticket in the 2015 polls, was expelled from AAP last year after she joined Congress, citing differences with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

As per the EC official trends, AAP is maintaining a strong lead on 58 seats, while the BJP is far behind at 12. Congress has failed to open its account so far.

The counting of votes for 70 seats of the Delhi Assembly began at 8 am today amid tight security.

Delhi went to polls in a single-phase on February 8. AAP, BJP, Congress are the main political parties in the fray.

Chennai, Mar 3: The Madras High Court has ruled that if a working woman gives birth to a child in the second delivery after twins in the first, she is not entitled to maternity benefits as it should be treated as third child.

"As per existing rules, a woman can avail such benefits only for her first two deliveries. Even otherwise it is debatable as to whether the delivery is not a second delivery but a third one, in as much as ordinarily when twins are born they are delivered one after another, and their age and their inter-se elderly status is also determined by virtue of the gap of time between their arrivals, which amounts to two deliveries and not one simultaneous act," the court said.

The first bench, comprising Chief Justice A P Sahi and Justice Subramonium Prasad stated this while allowing the appeal from Ministry of Home Affairs.

It set aside the order June 18 2019 order of a single Judge, who extended 180 days of maternity leave and other benefits to a woman member of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) under the rules governing the Tamil Nadu government servants.

The issue pertains to an appeal moved by the ministry, which contended that the leave claim is by a member of CISF to whom the maternity rules of Tamil Nadu would not apply.

She would be covered by the maternity benefits as provided under the Central Civil Services (Leave) Rules, the ministry said.

When the appeal came up for hearing, the bench said it found that a second delivery, which, in the present case, resulted in a third child, cannot be interpreted so as to add to the mathematical precision that is defined in the rules.

The admissibility of benefits would be limited if the claimant has not more than two children, the bench said "This fact therefore changes the entire nature of the relief which is sought for by the woman petitioner, which aspect has been completely overlooked by the single judge", the bench said.