Exit polls: Congress likely to win Rajasthan, TRS in Telangana; tight race in MP, Chhattisgarh

The Congress is likely to take back control of at least one large state months ahead of the General Elections next summer, showed exit polls released on Friday after the Assembly elections. All exit polls predicted a comfortable win for the Congress in Rajasthan. In Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, however, the race will be tight, with exit polls divided between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the Opposition Congress.

Exit polls predicted the Telangana Rashtra Samithi could stay in power in Telangana, and the Opposition Mizo National Front will unseat the Congress after it ruled for two terms. Only one exit poll was available for Mizoram.

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Tamil Nadu: Madras High Court issues interim stay on Art of Living’s event at Thanjavur temple

The Madurai bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday issued an interim stay on a two-day event organised by Ravi Shankar’s Art of Living at the Brihadisvara temple in Tamil Nadu’s Thanjavur district, reported Puthiyathalaimurai TV.

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Krishnamurthy Subramanian appointed the new chief economic adviser

The government on Friday appointed Krishnamurthy Subramanian the new chief economic adviser for a term of three years, reported PTI.

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Supreme Courts fines advocate ML Sharma Rs 50,000 for filing ‘frivolous petitions’

The Supreme Court on Friday imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on advocate ML Sharma for filing “frivolous” public interest litigation, Bar & Bench reported.

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Delhi Court allows Ram Jethmalani to withdraw his suit against BJP’s expulsion of him

A Delhi court on Friday allowed a joint petition from advocate Ram Jethmalani and the Bharatiya Janata Party to withdraw the lawyer’s pending suit against his expulsion from the party, PTI reported.

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Clashes in Hazaribagh after Hindutva groups defy Section 144, stage rallies on Babri anniversary

Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh city witnessed scenes of rioting on Thursday evening after Hindutva organisations violated prohibitory orders and took out processions to mark the anniversary of the 1992 demolition of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya.

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Sabarimala: SC denies urgent hearing to Kerala government’s plea against monitoring panel for shrine

The Supreme Court on Friday rejected an urgent hearing of the Kerala government’s plea challenging the High Court’s order appointing a monitoring committee to look into security and other concerns at the Sabarimala temple, PTI reported.

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BJP’s Coochbehar rally: Amit Shah claims democratic process is being suppressed in West Bengal

Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah on Friday claimed that the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal is suppressing the democratic process and misusing power.

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‘Kedarnath’ screening banned across Uttarakhand, says state tourism minister

Uttarakhand Tourism Minister Satpal Maharaj on Friday said screening of Hindi film Kedarnath has been stopped across the state, a day after the state High Court dismissed a plea seeking to ban the movie.

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Anti-Sterlite protests: SC refuses to stay CBI inquiry into police firing that killed 13 people

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to stay the Central Bureau of Investigation’s inquiry into the Tamil Nadu Police’s decision to fire at protestors demonstrating against mining firm Vedanta’s Sterlite Copper plant in Thoothukudi district in May, PTI reported.

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Nagaland militant group rescinds decision to call off ceasefire with Centre

A breakaway faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang) on Thursday abrogated its decision to revoke a unilateral ceasefire with the Centre with immediate effect. The NSCN (K) had signed a ceasefire agreement with the government in 2001 but unilaterally revoked it three years back.

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Vijay Mallya case: Supreme Court refuses to stay Enforcement Directorate proceedings

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to stay proceedings initiated by the Enforcement Directorate to get a special anti-corruption court to declare Vijay Mallya a fugitive economic offender and confiscate his properties. The top court asked the agency to respond to Mallya’s plea challenging its move.

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Former Fortis Healthcare promoter Malvinder Singh accuses brother of physically assaulting him

Malvinder Singh, one of the former promoters of Fortis Healthcare, Ranbaxy and Religare Enterprises, on Thursday accused his brother Shivinder Singh, also an ex-promoter, of physical assault.

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Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter: Special CBI court to deliver judgement on December 21

A special CBI court in Mumbai will pronounce the judgement in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case on December 21. Final arguments in the case ended on Wednesday after lawyers of the 22 people accused in the case made their submissions to Special CBI Judge SJ Sharma. The CBI had told the court that hostile witnesses obstructed the probe into the deaths of Sheikh and his wife Kauserbi in 2005, and his aide Tulsiram Prajapati in 2006.

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Sensex and Nifty break three-day losing trend, close nearly 1% higher

Indian benchmark indices broke their three-day losing trend and rose nearly 1% each on Friday based on cues from global markets. The BSE Sensex rose 361.12 points to close the day at 35,673.25, and the National Stock Exchange Nifty 50 gained 92.55 points to end at 10,693.70.

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Uttarakhand: Ganga activist has gone missing from Dehradun hospital, say reports

An activist fasting since June 24 to demand conservation of the Ganga has reportedly been missing since the beginning of this week, reports said. Gopal Das has been fasting to highlight mining in the Ganga riverbed at Uttarakhand’s Triveni and Bag ghats.

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Rajasthan: Vasundhara Raje urges EC to act against Sharad Yadav for body shaming her

Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje on Friday said the Election Commission should take cognizance of Loktantrik Janata Dal leader Sharad Yadav’s remarks body shaming her at an election rally.

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GDP back series: Central Statistics Office revised UPA growth rate up 3 years ago, says report

The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation’s Central Statistics Office had finalised the Gross Domestic Product back series data nearly three years ago after the base year was changed from 2004-2005 to 2011-2012. The data had shown an upward revision in growth rates for the years the United Progressive Alliance-led government was in power but the NITI Aayog rejected it.

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Bulandshahr: ‘Cow killers’ and not inspector’s murderers are top priority, says police officer

A senior Uttar Pradesh police official has said the police have decided to focus on the alleged incident of cow slaughter that triggered violence in the state’s Bulandshahr district on Monday and not the murder of police inspector Subodh Kumar Singh by suspected protestors.

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Odisha: Defence analyst Abhijit Iyer-Mitra released from prison after more than a month

Defence analyst Abhijit Iyer-Mitra, who was arrested in October for allegedly hurting the religious sentiments of the people of the state by posting satrirical tweets, was released from judicial custody on Thursday, a day after the Orissa High Court granted him bail.

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Polling underway in Telangana and Rajasthan

Polling began for all 119 seats in the Telangana Assembly and 199 of 200 seats in Rajasthan on Friday morning. In the Rajasthan elections, 2,294 candidates are in the fray. The non-governmental organisation Association for Democratic Reforms had reported that of the 2,188 candidates it analysed, 320 are facing criminal cases. As many as 1,821 candidates, including Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, his nephew T Harish Rao and 12 other cabinet colleagues are in the fray in Telangana.

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Facebook makes it a must for political advertisers in India to disclose their identity and location

Users who want to use Facebook for political advertising in India will now need to confirm their identity and location and also give the platform more details about who is placing the ads. This is part of the measures the social media giant announced on Thursday to prevent the abuse of its platform ahead of the Lok Sabha elections next year.

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Johnson & Johnson faulty implants: Centre’s compensation formula unacceptable, say affected patients

A group of patients who received faulty hip implants from Johnson & Johnson on Thursday informed the government that its formula for determining compensation due to them was done “without due consultations” with stakeholders.

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Cabinet approves agriculture export policy with aim to double farmers’ incomes by 2022

The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved an agriculture export policy to push towards the government’s commitment to double farmers’ income by 2022, the government said. The policy aims to double agricultural exports to more than $60 billion (Rs 4.24 lakh crore at current exchange rate) by 2022 and reach $100 billion afterwards with a “stable trade policy regime”.

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Avni killing: Inquiry panel says rules were violated, doubts tigress was shot at in self-defence

An inquiry panel has found that several norms were breached during the killing of “man-eating” tigress Avni in Yavatmal, Maharashtra, on November 2. The fact-finding committee that was set up by the National Tiger Conservation Authority to investigate the controversial killing submitted its report on November 28. It is not yet in the public domain.

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