The big news: EC defends delay in releasing Delhi voter turnout, and nine other top stories
Other headlines: SC said states cannot be forced to give quotas in government job promotions and coronavirus toll rose to 908 in China.
A look at the headlines right now:
- Final voter turnout in Delhi polls was 62.59%, says EC hours after AAP cried foul over delayed figures: This figure is significantly lower than the turnout during the 2015 elections, recorded at 67.13%.
- ‘States can’t be forced to give reservations in government job promotions,’ says Supreme Court: The court said such reservations were not a fundamental right. BJP ally Lok Janshakti Party asked the Centre to ensure continued benefits for SC/ST communities
- Coronavirus toll rises to 908 in China as 97 more deaths reported: The number of infections in China reached 40,171, with nearly 6,500 of these being severe cases.
- Civilian shot dead by suspected militants in south Kashmir’s Pulwama: No militant organisation has claimed responsibility for the shooting yet. Mobile internet was cut off during daytime in J&K on Sunday on Afzal Guru’s death anniversary.
- Omar Abdullah’s ‘considerable influence’ over voters cited as a reason for PSA charges, say reports: The government dossier stated that Abdullah had tried to provoke people through Twitter against the revocation of J&K’s special status.
- Several women at all-women’s college in Delhi allege sexual assault by drunken men at annual fest: A woman said first-year women students were lying unconscious on the campus following the incident.
- Goa archbishop urges CAA’s repeal, says its use of religion is against India’s secular fabric: He described the new citizenship law, the National Population Register and the National Register of Citizens as ‘divisive and discriminatory’.
- Jammu and Kashmir Police summon two journalists for questioning for publishing JKLF statement: The journalists were Naseer Ahmad Ganie, who works for the Outlook magazine, and Haroon Nabi, who works for local news agency CNS.
- Several detained after scuffle at Calcutta Book Fair, mob beats up police officer: The incident began when a group of youths shouted anti-CAA slogans at the fair after seeing BJP leader Rahul Sinha there.
- On first visit as Sri Lanka PM, Mahinda Rajapaksa says ‘others are friends, but India is a relation’: Rajapaksa met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday, and thanked him for the priority New Delhi gives to Colombo.