MP bypoll results: Congress retains both Mungaoli and Kolaras assembly seats

Agencies
March 1, 2018

Mumbai, Mar 1: Results of three assembly bypolls on Wednesday brought cheer to the opposition Congress party in Madhya Pradesh and the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in Odisha.

The Congress retained the Mungaoli and Kolaras assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh. In Odisha, the BJD retained the Bijepur assembly seat.

All three Odisha and MP bypolls were necessitated by the death of sitting legislators from the Congress and BJD.

The Congress in Madhya Pradesh and the ruling BJD in Odisha described the results as an indication of things to come in Madhya Pradesh elections later this year and the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

In Madhya Pradesh, the Congress said the defeat of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidates proved that chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s popularity was on the wane and the Congress was on the comeback trail.

In Mungaoli assembly seat in Madhya Pradesh, Congress candidate Brajendra Singh Yadav defeated his BJP rival Bai Saab Yadav by 2,124 votes. The BJP candidate, however, managed to reduce the Congress lead of 20,765 votes in the 2013 elections.

In the Kolaras seat, Congress candidate Mahendra Singh Yadav won by over 8,086 votes after 22 rounds of counting. Here too, in the 2013 assembly polls, Congress nominee Ram Singh Yadav had won by a comfortable margin of nearly 25,000 votes.

The victory comes as a shot in the arm for Congress leader and MP Jyotiraditya Scindia. Both Mungaoli and Kolaras assembly segments fall within his Guna Lok Sabha constituency and Scindia led his party’s campaign in the MP bypolls. For the BJP, Chouhan led from the front and also deployed a host of state cabinet ministers for the campaign.

In the process, the MP bypolls triggered a Chouhan versus Scindia face-off as the Congress member of parliament is widely seen as the party’s potential chief ministerial candidate in the November 2018 Madhya Pradesh elections.

Talking to reporters, senior Congress leader Ajay Singh, who is the leader of opposition in the Madhya Pradesh assembly, conceded Scindia’s influence in the constituency but said the Congress did not have “a tradition of projecting a chief ministerial candidate”.

“The BJP has given a slogan: ‘Ab Ki Baar, 200 Paar’ (This time around, 200-plus seats) for the 2018 assembly elections. But our slogan is ‘Ab Ki Baar, Congress Ki Sarkar’. Our target is to reduce the BJP to a two-digit tally in the assembly elections and the winds of change demonstrated by the victory in bypolls will turn into a cyclone by November 2018 that will sweep the BJP away,” Singh said.

In Odisha’s Bijepur bypoll, BJD nominee Rita Sahu defeated her BJP rival Ashok Panigrahi by 41,933 votes.

Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik hailed the outcome and said it would have an impact on the general elections in 2019. “Such an enormous victory with a margin of over 40,000 votes will have an impact on future elections,” Patnaik told reporters while thanking the people of Bijepur for their overwhelming support.

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News Network
March 9,2020

Kolkata, Mar 9: A diabetic man died in the isolation ward of a hospital in West Bengal's Murshidabad on Sunday, a day after he was admitted there with suspected symptoms of coronavirus following his return from Saudi Arabia.

According to doctors, he was admitted to the hospital with fever, cough and cold.

Though test results of his blood and swab samples for novel coronavirus were awaited, it can be said that he died probably of diabetes, Director of Health Services Ajay Chakraborty told PTI.

"The man was highly diabetic and was on insulin. He returned home from Saudi Arabia and had no money to take insulin for the last three to four days.

"He was also suffering from fever, cough and cold. He was admitted to the isolation ward of the Murshidabad Medical College and Hospital yesterday and died today," the health services director said.

"We are waiting for the results of medical tests. The possibility of his death due to novel coronavirus infection is remote," he said.

However, precautions will be taken during the last rites of the victim according to the directives set by the central and state governments for patients who die of the virus, another senior official said.

"Family members will not be allowed to touch the body since the man had been suffering from cough and breathlessness. Those performing his last rites will be given protective gear, masks and gloves. Though test results are yet to be known, we do not want to take any chance," he said.

Meanwhile, the state health department has issued a directive to all private medical facilities to create a system for assessing all patients at admission allowing early recognition of possible COVID-19 infection and immediate isolation of patients with suspected novel coronavirus infection in an area separate from other patients.

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News Network
January 27,2020

Kolkata, Jan 27: The West Bengal government on Monday tabled a resolution against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in the Assembly.

The resolution appeals to the Union government to repeal the amended citizenship law and revoke plans to implement NRC and update NPR.

As per reports, state Parliamentary Affairs Minister Partha Chatterjee introduced the resolution in the House around 2 pm.

Three states - Kerala, Rajasthan and Punjab - have already passed resolutions against the new citizenship law.

The law has emerged as the latest flashpoint in the state, with the TMC opposing the contentious legislation tooth and nail, and the BJP pressing for its implementation.

The new citizenship law has emerged as the latest flashpoint in the state, with the TMC opposing the contentious legislation tooth and nail, and the BJP pressing for its implementation.

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News Network
April 20,2020

Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 20: The Kerala health department has declared 88 local bodies including the corporation, municipality and panchayats, spread over 14 districts in the state as COVID-19 hotspots.

"The lockdown restrictions in these areas will be continued in the hotspots announced by the state health department," said state DGP Lokanath Behera in a statement.

"Hot spots are being announced based on COVID-19 positive cases, primary contacts and secondary contacts. As the outbreak of the disease increases, hot spots will be revised daily," said State Health Minister KK Shailaja.

However, the Minister said that a particular region will be excluded from the hot spot after a weekly data analysis.

District wise hot spots in the state - Thiruvananthapuram (3) including Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, Kollam (5), Alappuzha (3), Pathanamthitta (7), Kottayam District (1), Idukki (6), Ernakulam (2), Thrissur (3), Palakkad (4), Malappuram (13), Kozhikode (6), Wayanad (2), Kannur (19) and Kasaragod (14).

In Kerala, 400 people have detected positive for coronavirus, including 3 deaths, as per the Union Health Minister.

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