Assembly elections: Counting begins in four states

December 8, 2013

New Delhi, Dec 8: The results of the Assembly elections to four key heartland States — Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Delhi — to be announced on Sunday will set the stage for the 2014 general election.

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BJP leaders, cheered by exit polls predicting the party winning three of the four States and emerging as the single largest party in Delhi, are nevertheless keeping their fingers crossed. A senior leader said on Friday: “I would like to wait till Sunday to accept congratulations.” BJP president Rajnath Singh held a “strategy session” at the party headquarters with senior functionaries.

If the BJP, out of power at the Centre for nine years, has much at stake in these polls, so has Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, now the prime ministerial candidate, who addressed a number of election rallies in all four States. The BJP’s much-publicised “Modi Magic” will face the first litmus test in the verdict in the four States, the polls being dubbed “semi-finals” to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

Not surprisingly, a day ahead of the results, the mood in the Congress was downbeat, with its leaders hoping the party would fare better than what the exit polls had suggested.

Congress leaders said if the party failed to win at least one of these four States (counting for Mizoram will take place on Monday), it would not just set the tone for next year’s Lok Sabha elections, it would also make it very difficult for it to persuade the Opposition to cooperate with it in the ongoing Parliament session, in which it has a heavy legislative agenda.

The government is keen on pushing through not just a slew of anti-corruption laws, including the Lokpal Bill and the Whistle-blowers’ Bill but also the key Bill on Telangana. Indeed, if Telangana is created before next year’s elections, the Congress believes, it will give the party an electoral boost in the region. On the other hand, if the new State does not become a ground reality, the party will face the prospect of getting wiped out in both Telangana, and Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema.

Publicly, the Congress maintains that the Assembly elections are fought on local issues and the results will have no impact on the general election. “The BJP should be cautious in celebrations, even if opinion and exit polls are true. We won all these 4 States in 1998, 1999. The Lok Sabha results were an eye opener for us,” Congress general secretary Shakeel Ahmed said on Twitter.

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Agencies
March 22,2020

New Delhi, Mar 22: The total number of novel coronavirus cases in India rose to 341 on Sunday after fresh cases were reported from various parts of the country, the Union Health Ministry said.

The total includes 41 foreign nationals and five deaths, the latest being reported from Maharashtra, taking the death toll in the state to two.

Delhi, Karnataka and Punjab have reported one death each so far. Twenty-four others have been cured/discharged/migrated.

The figure of 341 cases include 63 cases in Maharashtra, which has reported the highest number of COVID-19 cases, including three foreigners.

Kerala has reported 52 cases, including seven foreign nationals.

Delhi has reported 27 positive cases, including a foreigner, while Uttar Pradesh has recorded 25 cases, including a foreigner.

Telangana has reported 21 cases, including 11 foreigners. Rajasthan has reported 24 cases, including two foreigners.

In Haryana, there are 17 cases, which include 14 foreigners.

Karnataka has 20 coronavirus patients. Punjab and Ladakh have 13 cases each. Gujarat has 14 cases while Tamil Nadu has 6 cases, which includes 2 foreigners. Chandigarh has five cases.

Madhya Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, and West Bengal reported four cases each. Andhra Pradesh and Uttarakhand have reported three cases each. Odisha and Himachal Pradesh reported 2 cases each.

Puducherry and Chhattisgarh have reported one case each.

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Agencies
January 25,2020

Jammu, Jan 25: People in Jammu and Kashmir expressed happiness over the restoration of mobile data services and internet access through fixed-line across the Union Territory on Saturday.

Speaking to ANI Jitendra Sharma, a resident of Jammu said, "The government has taken a good decision. People had been facing hardship for a long period and I think it will improve further."

"It is a big relief to people. People can finish their pending work. I hope that 4G services will also be resumed soon," said a resident of Kashmir.

The internet speed is restricted to 2G only.

"Access shall be limited only to whitelisted sites and not to any social media applications allowing peer to peer communication and virtual private network applications. Directions shall be effective from January 25 and will remain in force till January 31," the statement by the government read.

Earlier on January 15, 2G services were reinstated in Jammu, Samba, Kathua, and Udhampur for white-listed sites.

The Central government had suspended the internet in the region following the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution on August 5 last year, which conferred special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, and its bifurcation into two Union Territories -- Ladakh, and Jammu and Kashmir.

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News Network
April 2,2020

New Delhi, Apr 2: With 437 new cases reported in the last 24 hours, the tally of COVID-19 positive cases in India shot up to 1,834 on Wednesday night.

The number of deaths in the country due to COVID-19 has risen to 41.

The total number of active cases in the country is 1,649. 143 persons have been cured and discharged from the hospitals. One person has migrated, according to the data provided by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Earlier on Wednesday, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla urged all state governments and Union Territory administrations to ensure the lockdown measures issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs are strictly implemented.

"All the state governments/UT administrations are requested to strictly implement the lockdown measures issued by MHA in the exercise of the powers under Disaster Management Act, 2005 in letter and spirit," Bhalla said.

Prime Minister Modi had earlier announced a 21-day lockdown in the entire country to deal with the spread of coronavirus, saying that "social distancing" is the only option to deal with the disease, which spreads rapidly.

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