Here are the day’s top stories:

‘Vehicles cause more pollution than firecrackers,’ says Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Tuesday questioned why there were calls to ban firecrackers when the pollution caused by automobiles was far greater than that produced by firecrackers. The court asked the Centre whether there was any comparative study on the pollution caused by firecrackers and vehicles.

Lok Sabha elections: Mamata Banerjee releases list of TMC candidates for West Bengal, 41% are women

West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday announced her party’s candidate list for all the 42 Lok Sabha seats and said that it is fielding 41% female candidates. Her announcement came days after Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced that his Biju Janata Dal will allocate a third of its party tickets to women in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Assam NRC: Supreme Court sets March 28 as deadline for EC to address voters’ list discrepancies

The Supreme Court on Tuesday told the Election Commission to submit by March 28 an action plan to deal with instances when a person’s name is present in the voters list in Assam but not in the National Register of Citizens. The National Register of Citizens is scheduled to be published on July 31, which is the Supreme Court’s deadline.

AgustaWestland scam: Court allows ED to investigate Christian Michel inside Tihar jail

A Delhi court on Tuesday allowed the Enforcement Directorate to question British businessman Christian Michel, who is an accused in an alleged scam in the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland VVIP helicopter deal, inside the Tihar jail. He also claimed that ex-CBI Special Director Rakesh Asthana had threatened him in Dubai and told him to toe the agency’s line during investigation.

CWC meeting: Priyanka Gandhi takes on Modi in first speech, tells voters their ‘vote is a weapon’

Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday addressed her first public rally since she joined active politics earlier this year. Addressing the Jan Sankalp Rally in Gujarat, Vadra took on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, questioning him on employment, black money and the safety of women.

2019 Lok Sabha elections: Hardik Patel joins Congress in Ahmedabad

Patidar leader Hardik Patel joined the Congress party in the presence of its president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday, NDTV reported. The party held a meeting of its Working Committee in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad on Tuesday, where Congress leaders discussed the campaign for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Mayawati rules out possibility of BSP allying with Congress in any part of India

Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Tuesday ruled out the possibility of allying with the Congress in any part of the country, PTI reported. Her statement follows Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav claim on March 5 that the Congress is part of the Opposition’s alliance in Uttar Pradesh for the Lok Sabha elections.

Maharashtra: Senior Congress MLA’s son joins ruling BJP, may get Lok Sabha election ticketSujay Vikhe Patil, the son of Maharashtra Congress MLA Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday, PTI reported. Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil is the Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly.

Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft is ‘highly sophisticated’, implemented precautionary measures: SpiceJet

Domestic carrier SpiceJet on Tuesday claimed that it has already implemented precautionary measures while flying the “highly sophisticated” Boeing 737 Max aircraft. “It has flown hundreds of thousands of hours globally and some of the world’s largest airlines are flying this aircraft,” SpiceJet’s Head of Communications Tushar Srivastava said. “We are actively engaged with both Boeing and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and will continue to put safety first, as always.”

Jammu and Kashmir: Man with grenades and detonator arrested outside Army camp in Poonch district

The Jammu and Kashmir Police on Monday arrested a 33-year-old man with two grenades and a detonator outside an Army camp in Poonch district. Poonch Superintendent of Police Ramesh Kumar Angral said the accused, Rajinder Singh, was arrested outside the Army town gate in Surankote.

CWC meeting: No sacrifice too great to defeat BJP-RSS ideology of fascism, says Rahul Gandhi

Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said the party resolved to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s ideology of fascism, hatred, anger and divisiveness. “No sacrifice is too great in this endeavour; no effort too little; this battle will be won,” he tweeted. The party is holding a meeting of its Working Committee in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad on Tuesday.

Uttar Pradesh: Woman attempts to deliver baby using YouTube tutorial, both die

A woman and her newborn died in Gorakhpur on Sunday night after she allegedly attempted to deliver the baby with instructions from a YouTube video. The woman’s neighbours informed her landlord about blood flowing out of her room on Monday morning. The landlord then broke the door open and found the woman and the baby dead.

Javed Akhtar says row over elections during Ramzan is a ‘distorted version of secularism’

Lyricist and scriptwriter Javed Akhtar on Tuesday said he was disgusted by the controversy around holding elections during Ramzan. The Trinamool Congress had claimed that the timing of the Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal would inconvenience people during Ramzan. “This is the kind of distorted and convoluted version of secularism that to me is repulsive, revolting and intolerable. Election Commission should not consider it for a second,” Akhtar said.

AIADMK accuses Puducherry CM of ‘giving freebies’, seeks Election Commission’s intervention

The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Monday wrote to the Election Commission, accusing Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy of violating the Model Code of Conduct by giving “freebies to public”. The Lok Sabha elections for 2019 will be held from April 11 to May 19, and the results will be announced on May 23. Puducherry will vote on April 18.

Delhi: Arvind Kejriwal claims AAP will win all 7 Lok Sabha seats even without Congress alliance

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal claimed on Tuesday that the Aam Aadmi Party will win all seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi even without an alliance with the Congress. “The people of Delhi have decided to make all seven AAP MPs victorious with large margins on the basis of the demand for full statehood,” Kejriwal said. “Even without the Congress, the AAP will win all seven seats in Delhi.”

AIADMK accuses Puducherry CM of ‘giving freebies’, seeks Election Commission’s intervention

The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Monday wrote to the Election Commission, accusing Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy of violating the Model Code of Conduct by giving “freebies to public”.

Delhi: Family of woman who was charred to death in car accuses her husband of murder

The family of a woman, who was charred to death with her two daughters in a car in New Delhi on Sunday, has alleged that she was murdered by her husband, PTI reported. A cousin of 34-year-old Anjana Mishra, who died in the accident, claimed it was “a planned murder” and asked the police to investigate.

Gujarat: Congress claims defection of five MLAs to BJP will not affect Lok Sabha prospects

Congress General Secretary Rajeev Satav, who is in charge of the party in Gujarat, claimed that the defection of five MLAs to the Bharatiya Janata Party will not affect the party’s performance in the Lok Sabha elections. He said that 17 MLAs left the party before the 2017 Assembly elections, yet the Congress increased its tally from 59 to 77 seats, and senior leader Ahmed Patel also won the Rajya Sabha elections.

Tejashwi Yadav urges Opposition leaders to boycott TV news debates that further BJP agenda

Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav on Monday urged Opposition leaders to not participate in debates on television news channels, which he said had the “sole aim of denigrating Opposition parties”. In a letter to political leaders, Yadav claimed it is an “open secret” that a powerful section of the television media is “deeply vested in the electoral fortunes” of the ruling BJP.

India the second-biggest importer of weapons after Saudi Arabia between 2014-’18, says report

India was the world’s second-largest importer of weapons between 2014 and 2018, behind Saudi Arabia, which accounted for 12% of arms imported during that period, shows a study conducted by a Sweden-based think tank. India, with a share of 9.5%, until now had been the largest importer of weapons for more than a decade.

Bihar: Five policemen suspended after custodial torture, death of two prisoners

Five police personnel in Bihar’s Sitamarhi district have been suspended after the custodial torture and death of two prisoners on March 7. The two men, Gufran Alam, 30, and Taslim Ansari, 32, had been detained in a robbery and murder case.

Congress posts old Ravi Shankar Prasad clip after he slams Rahul Gandhi for ‘Masood Azhar ji’ remark

The Congress on Tuesday tweeted a video of Bharatiya Janata Party leader Ravi Shankar Prasad using the Hindi honorific “ji” for Jaish-e-Mohammad founder Hafiz Saeed. The tweet, accompanied by the hashtag #BJPLovesTerrorists, came a day after the Union minister criticised Congress President Rahul Gandhi for a similar utterance.

BJP suggested poll panel against bringing print media under 48-hour curbs before voting day: HT

The Bharatiya Janata Party told an Election Commission panel that use of the print media and door-to-door campaigns should remain excluded from the purview of the 48-hour “silent period” ahead of an election. Most other political parties took a different view.

Ethiopia plane crash: Only pilots with 1,000 flying hours to command Boeing 737 Max 9 jets, says DGCA

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation on Monday issued additional safety instructions to two Indian carriers that operate the Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft. Pilots of SpiceJet and Jet Airways should have at least 1,000 hours of flying experience to command these planes. The direction came a day after a Boeing 737 Max 8 plane operated by Ethiopian Airlines crashed six minutes after taking off from Addis Ababa. All 157 on board the plane were killed.

India did not respond to UK’s requests for more information about businessman Nirav Modi: NDTV

The British authorities have received no response from the Indian government to several queries for information about fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi, who is living in the United Kingdom, NDTV reported on Monday. A legal team that offered to visit India to facilitate action against Modi also got no response, unidentified officials told the news network.

India, US agree Pakistan must take ‘concerted action’ to end terror infrastructure, prosecute groups

India and the United States on Monday agreed that Pakistan must take “concerted action” to dismantle terror infrastructure and deny safe haven to terror organisations. This was decided in a meeting between Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Washington, DC.

Election Commission revises poll schedule for Anantnag Lok Sabha seat

The notification said that while the polling dates for Anantnag would remain the same – April 23, April 29 and May 6, the last date of issuing a gazette notification had been revised to March 28, last date for filing a nomination to April 4, and the last date for the withdrawal of candidature to April 8.

‘Rahul Gandhi is born to a Muslim and Christian, how did he become a Brahmin?’ asks Union minister

Union minister Anantkumar Hegde has stirred up yet another controversy by questioning Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s ancestry in response to questions raised by the Opposition party about the Indian Air Force’s airstrikes conducted across the Line of Control. The Union minister of State for Skill Development referred to Gandhi as a “pardesi” or foreigner at a gathering in Uttara Kannada on Sunday, The News Minute reported.