The Election Commission has said that Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal did not provide proof for his claim that the Haryana government was poisoning the Yamuna water supplied to Delhi. The poll panel stated that even with “the most sober interpretation”, his allegation appeared to promote disharmony.

The former chief minister was asked to submit a “specific and pointed reply” with evidence by 11 am on Friday. The commission first sought proof on Tuesday after a complaint from the Bharatiya Janata Party. Kejriwal responded that he had not broken any laws and was raising public health concerns.

The Election Commission on Thursday asked Kejriwal to explain what kind of poison was allegedly mixed by the Haryana government in the Yamuna river, where it was detected and by which engineers of the Delhi Jal Board. Elections to the Delhi Assembly are scheduled to take place on February 5. Votes will be counted on February 8. Read on.

A group of 160 academics, artists and activists have issued a statement demanding the release of activist Umar Khalid and others arrested for protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act. The signatories included writer Amitav Ghosh, actor Naseeruddin Shah, historian Romila Thapar, economist Jayati Ghosh, peace activist Harsh Mander and political scientist Christophe Jaffrelot.

Khalid has spent 1,600 days in Delhi’s Tihar jail. The signatories criticised his incarceration under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, stating THAT he had been “targeted, vilified and branded by an authoritarian regime”. They alleged that instead of holding those responsible for the February 2020 Delhi riots accountable, the state had targeted activists including Khalid, Gulfisha Fatima, Sharjeel Imam and Khalid Saifi.

The Delhi Police claim the violence was a conspiracy to defame Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government. The signatories condemned anti-terror laws and judicial delays, stating they enabled “prolonged detention, without any trial, without being proven guilty”. Read on.

Maharashtra reported 140 Zika virus disease cases in 2024, its highest since 2021, according to a World Health Organization report. The state had reported one case in 2021, three in 2022 and 18 in 2023.

Maharashtra accounted for most of India’s 151 cases last year, with Karnataka recording 10 and Gujarat one. Pune district was the worst affected with 125 cases. While most infections are asymptomatic, the virus can lead to complications including microcephaly in newborns and Guillain-Barré Syndrome in adults. No such cases linked to the outbreak were reported, the WHO said.

The Zika virus is primarily transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes. It can also be transmitted sexually, or from mother to fetus during pregnancy. The Union government had issued an advisory in July after the first cases were detected in Maharashtra. Health authorities have since intensified surveillance for the disease, particularly among pregnant women. Read on.

Bharatiya Janata Party leader Harpreet Babla won the Chandigarh mayoral election defeating the Aam Aadmi Party and Congress’ joint candidate Prem Lata. Babla secured 19 votes out of 36, while Lata received 17.

The AAP-Congress alliance failed to have its candidate elected despite having a majority in the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, reportedly due to cross-voting in favour of the BJP. The BJP had 16 councillors, while AAP had 13 and Congress six. Congress councillor Gurbax Rawat had defected to the BJP before the election.

Last year, Returning Officer Anil Masih defaced ballot papers to invalidate votes before declaring the BJP candidate the winner. The Supreme Court later overturned the result and instated the AAP’s Kuldeep Kumar as mayor. The mayoral post was reserved for a woman councillor this year. Read on.

No survivors are expected after a passenger aircraft collided midair with a United States military helicopter near the Reagan Washington National Airport in Washington DC on Wednesday night. The American Airlines flight, operated by PSA Airlines, was carrying 60 passengers and four crew while the helicopter had three US Army personnel.

Twenty-seven bodies were recovered from the plane and one from the helicopter, DC fire chief John Donnelly said. “We don’t believe there are any survivors,” he added. Both aircraft were following a “standard flight pattern,” US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said.

“We are cooperating with the National Transportation Safety Board in its investigation and will continue to provide all the information we can,” American Airlines CEO Robert Isom said. Read on.

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