Arunachal Pradesh Assembly | BJP wins 10 of 60 Assembly seats uncontested
The BJP on March 30 won 10 of 60 Assembly seats in Arunachal Pradesh uncontested. Among the winners was Chief Minister Pema Khandu. The BJP candidates were the sole candidates in their respective constituencies after March 27, the last date for filing nominations. “We have received nominations from only one candidate in five Assembly constituencies. The outcome will be official after March 30, the last date of withdrawal of nominations,” State’s Joint Chief Electoral Officer Liken Koyu had said on March 28.
Delhi Police on March 30 filed its first charge sheet, spread across about 8,000 pages, in the UAPA case against NewsClick and its founder Prabir Purkayastha for allegedly running Chinese propaganda, naming him and the firm owning the portal as accused. The final report was filed by the Delhi Police Special Cell before Additional Sessions Judge Hardeep Kaur. According to special public prosecutors, Akhand Pratap Singh and Suraj Rathi, the charge sheet names Purkayastha and PPK NEWSCLICK Studio Private Limited as accused.
No exit poll from 7 a.m. on April 19 to 6.30 p.m. on June 1, says Election Commission of India
The Election Commission of India has issued a notification banning the conduct, publication or publicising of exit polls between 7.00 a.m. on April 19 and 6.30 p.m. on June 1 when votes will be cast for the Lok Sabha and four State Assembly polls. The notification issued on March 28 also made it clear that under the provisions of the Representation of the People Act, displaying any election matter including results of any opinion poll or any other poll survey, in any electronic media, would be prohibited during the 48-hour period ending with the time fixed for the conclusion of the poll.
ED files first chargesheet in Delhi Jal Board money-laundering case
The Enforcement Directorate has filed its first chargesheet in connection with a money-laundering probe linked to alleged irregularities in the Delhi Jal Board, official sources said on March 30. The about 8,000-page-long prosecution complaint, which includes 140 operational pages apart from annexures, was filed by the federal agency before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act court in Delhi on March 28, sources told PTI. The court has listed the matter for April 1 for taking cognisance of the chargesheet, they said.
Bail may be a rule in many cases, but anticipatory bail is not, says Supreme Court judgment
The Supreme Court has in a judgment said that bail may be the rule in many cases, but anticipatory bail is certainly not the norm. A Bench of Justices C.T. Ravikumar and Sanjay Kumar said the power of the courts to grant anticipatory or pre-arrest bail is an extraordinary one, and not to be given for the asking.
Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur said that his Ministry has taken note of an alleged physical assault on women footballers by an official during the ongoing Indian Women’s League. Palak Verma and Ritika Thakur, two players of Khad FC, accused Deepak Sharma, the general secretary of Himachal Pradesh Football Association, of physical assault on March 28. Reacting to the news, the Union Minister posted on X, “The Ministry of Sports has taken a serious note of an alleged physical assault upon women footballers by an official during the ongoing Indian Women’s League in Goa.”
President Murmu confers Bharat Ratna on 4 eminent personalities posthumously
President Droupadi Murmu on March 30 conferred the Bharat Ratna on former Prime Ministers P.V. Narasimha Rao and Chaudhary Charan Singh; former Bihar Chief Minister Karpoori Thakur; and agronomist M.S. Swaminathan. All the four awards were conferred posthumously at a brief ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Zero FIR registered against KTR for making objectionable comments against Telangana CM
The Banjara Hills police registered a zero FIR case against former minister and Bharat Rashtra Samithi working president K.T. Rama Rao for allegedly making objectionable comments against the Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy. Officials from the Banjara Hills police said that a case was initially booked by the Hanamkonda police of Warangal following a complaint from Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee member B. Srinivasa Rao.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan hit the campaign trail on March 30 for a 24-day whirlwind tour of Kerala’s 20 Lok Sabha constituencies. In an e-mail interview with The Hindu on March 29, Mr. Vijayan articulated the pivotal nature of the 2024 Parliamentary elections. He underscored that the Parliamentary elections were a referendum on “preserving India’s secular democracy” and little else. Mr. Vijayan said it was reductive to depict the Left Democratic Front’s (LDF) staunch resistance to the implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act as a “question about minority or majority”. Instead, the “question is about secularism”, he added.
BJP president J.P. Nadda on March 30 notified the setting up of the party’s manifesto committee for the Lok Sabha election. The committee is to be headed by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will be the committee’s convener, and another Union Minister, Piyush Goyal, its co-convener. The Chief Ministers of four States — Bhupendra Patel of Gujarat, Himanta Biswa Sarma of Assam, Mohan Yadav of Madhya Pradesh, and Vishnu Deo Sai of Chattisgarh are also members of this 27-member committee.
INDIA bloc rally not person-specific but to protect democracy, Constitution: Congress
The Congress asserted on March 30 that the INDIA Opposition bloc’s “Loktantra Bachao Rally” that will be held at the Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi is not aimed at protecting a person but at saving the Constitution and democracy. The Opposition party said a “strong message” will be sent out from the rally on March 31 to Lok Kalyan Marg (where the Prime Minister’s residence is located) that the BJP-led Government’s “time is up”.
Dutch hostage drama over, suspect held
A hostage drama in the Netherlands that lasted several hours on March 30 ended without bloodshed as all hostages were freed and police took the suspect into custody. Authorities have said there was no reason to suspect a “terrorist motive” for the ordeal, which took place at a night spot popular with young people in the town of Ede. “The last hostage has just been released. One person has been arrested. We cannot share more information at this time,” announced police on X, formerly Twitter.
China reaffirms financial support for Sri Lanka
China has said it would continue to support Sri Lanka, as the crisis-hit island nation’s Prime Minister on March 30 wrapped up a visit to Beijing to try to finalise a debt restructuring deal. Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena arrived in China on Monday for a visit that included meeting President Xi Jinping and an appearance at the Boao Forum, a high-profile international meeting.
Death toll in Israeli strikes on Syria climbs to 52, says monitor
The death toll in Israeli air strikes on Syria has risen to 52, including 38 government soldiers and seven members of Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement, a war monitor said on March 30. The strikes on March 29 fuelled concerns of a wider regional conflagration. They targeted “a rocket depot belonging to Lebanon’s Hezbollah” near the Aleppo airport in northern Syria, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
India’s forex reserves rise by $140 million to hit fresh peak of $642.63 billion
India’s forex reserves increased by $140 million to touch its all-time high of $642.631 billion during the week ended March 22, the Reserve Bank of India said. This is the fifth consecutive week of a jump in the overall reserves. The kitty had increased by $6.396 billion to $642.492 billion in the previous reporting week. The previous peak was recorded in September 2021, when the country’s foreign exchange reserves reached $642.453 billion. The reserves took a hit as the central bank deployed the kitty to defend the rupee amid pressures caused majorly by global developments since last year.
T20 World Cup: Indian squad likely to be selected in last week of April
India’s 15-member squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup in the USA and West Indies is likely to be named in the last week of April as the ICC’s cut-off date for submission of teams is May 1, a BCCI source said on March 30. Every participating team will get a chance to change players in their initial squad till May 25.
BAN vs SL second Test | Top-order blitz puts Sri Lanka in commading position against Bangladesh
A top-order batting blitz brought Sri Lanka to 314-4 and left the tourists firmly in command of the second and final Test against Bangladesh on March 30. Kusal Mendis top-scored with 93 in Chittagong while openers Dimuth Karunaratne (86) Nishan Madushka (57) helping power the innings. Dinesh Chandimal was batting on 34 alongside skipper Dhananjaya de Silva on 15 at stumps.
