Live updates: TMC sweeps assembly bypolls, BJP keeps MP, Cong wins in HP

Three Lok Sabha and 29 Assembly constituencies held by-elections on October 30.

11:14 AM

ED takes Anil Deshmukh for medical examination after his arrest

Former Home Minister of Maharashtra Anil Deshmukh was taken for a medical examination from the Enforcement Directorate office on Tuesday.

 

He was arrested by the agency last night in connection with extortion and money laundering allegations against him. He will be produced before court today.

10:46 AM

W Bengal bypolls: TMC leading in all four constituencies

Trinamool Congress is leading in all the four Assembly constituencies in West Bengal, early trends show.

 

After three rounds of counting of votes which began at 8.a.m., TMC candidate Udayan Guha is leading by a margin of more than 29,000 votes against his nearest rival Ashok Mondal of BJP.

10:46 AM

JD(U), RJD lead in one seat each in Bihar assembly bypolls

The ruling JD(U) and main opposition RJD are leading in one assembly seat each in Bihar, early trends showed on Tuesday.

 

Rajeev Kumar Singh of JD(U) was leading by a margin of 224 votes over his RJD rival Arun Kumar in Tarapur, according to the Election Commission website. RJD's Ganesh Bharti was ahead of JD(U)'s Aman Bhushan Hajari by 365 votes.

10:45 AM

BJP leading in MP bypolls

The BJP is leading on all four seats - three Assembly and one Lok Sabha - after first round of counting of votes on Tuesday.

 

The counting, which began at 8 a.m., is underway amid tight security arrangements.

 

After first round of counting, till 9 a.m., candidates of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are leading at all four seats.

 

Gyaneshwar Patil, BJP's candidate in Khandwa Lok Sabha seat has got 16,984 votes so far against 11,264 of Congress's Raj Narayan Purni.

 

From Raigon, BJP candidate Pratima Bagari bagged 5,973, while Congress candidate Kalpana Verma 5,754 votes.

 

In Jobat, BJP candidate Sulochna Rawat is leading with 1,590 votes against Congress' Mahesh Patel.

 

Similarly, in Prithvipur seat, BJP candidate Shishupal is leading with 429 votes against Nitendra Pratap Singh of Congress.

10:45 AM

Dadra and Nagar Haveli LS bypoll: Shiv Sena takes lead in initial counting

Shiv Sena candidate Kalaben Delkar, the wife of former MP Mohan Delkar who had allegedly committed suicide, took a lead of over 4,000 votes in the first one hour of counting of votes for by-election to the Dadra and Nagar Haveli Lok Sabha seat.

 

The counting of votes commenced here at 8.30 am on Tuesday.

 

After the completion of three rounds, Kalaben Delkar was leading by over 4,800 votes. She has so far received 12,268 votes, her close rival, BJP candidate Mahesh Gavit, garnered 7,418 votes, while Congress' Mahesh Dhodi received 447 votes, an Election Commission official said.

 

10:45 AM

Assam assembly bypolls: BJP leads in two places

Ruling BJP candidates are leading in Bhabanipur and Thowra assembly bypolls in Assam, according to initial trends available for two of the five seats where counting of votes is underway.

 

According to the Election Commission website, BJP's Phanidhar Talukdar was leading his nearest Congress rival Sailendra Nath Das by 7,839 votes in Bhabanipur. BJP nominee for Thowra seat Sushanta Borgohain was ahead of his Independent challenger Dhaijya Konwar by 2,524 votes.

 

10:23 AM

PM Modi to review Covid-19 vaccination in districts with low coverage tomorrow

Immediately after returning to India after attending the G20 Summit and COP26, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will virtually hold a review meeting with districts having low COVID-19 vaccination coverage on Wednesday at 12 noon.

 

As per an official statement from the Prime Minister's Office, the meeting will include districts with less than 50 per cent coverage of the first dose and low coverage of the second dose of COVID-19 vaccine.

 

The Prime Minister will interact with District Magistrates of over 40 districts in Jharkhand, Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, and other States with districts having low vaccination coverage.

10:04 AM

Active Covid-19 cases in country lowest in 250 days

India added 10,423 new coronavirus cases, the lowest in 259 days, while the active cases declined to 1,53,776, the lowest in 250 days, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Tuesday.

 

With the fresh cases, India's tally climbed to 3,42,96,237.

 

The death toll climbed to 4,58,880 with 443 fresh fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am.

 

10:00 AM

Maharashtra: 118 new COVID-19 cases in Thane, 2 deaths

With the addition of 118 new cases of coronavirus, the infection tally in Maharashtra's Thane district has gone up to 5,65,999, an official said on Tuesday.

 

These new cases were reported on Monday, he said.

 

Two more persons also succumbed to the viral infection, which raised the death toll in the district to 11,523, he said, adding that the COVID-19 mortality rate in Thane stood at 2.03 per cent.

9:41 AM

Celebrations for 'Hindu Heritage Month' begin in Canada's Ontario

Hindu Forum Canada has begun celebrations of Hindu Heritage Month in the nation's most populous province Ontario, which is home to about a million Hindus.

 

In collaboration with Devi Mandir Pickering, the Canadian Hindus' gross root organisation has displayed giant billboards across Greater Toronto Areas to celebrate Hindu Heritage Month.

 

9:15 AM

Global Covid-19 caseload tops 247.1 mn

The global coronavirus caseload has topped 247.1 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 5 million and vaccinations soared to over 7.08 billion, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

 

In its latest update on Tuesday morning, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload, death toll and the total number number of vaccine doses administered stood at 247,123,213, 5,005,420 and 7,083,312,988, respectively.

 

The US continues to be the worst-hit country with the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 46,089,514 and 746,982, according to the CSSE.

 

 

9:07 AM

Deepotsav begins in Ayodhya on a grand scale

The Deepotsav celebrations in Uttar Pradesh's Ayodhya district began on a grand scale on Monday evening.

 

The majestic 'Ram Ki Paidi' Ghat was dotted with colourful lights for the mega celebrations. The ghat is the main venue of Deepotsav celebrations which will be illuminated with nine lakhs earthen diyas on the eve of Diwali on Wednesday.

 

Deepotsav is being held for the fifth consecutive year and the scale has increased with each celebration.

 

8:46 AM

Fuel prices hiked for seventh consecutive day, petrol crosses Rs 110 mark in Delhi

Petrol and diesel prices witnessed a hike for the seventh consecutive day across the country on Tuesday.

 

In Delhi, with an increase of Rs 0.35 in petrol and diesel prices, their cost rose to Rs 110.04 per litre and Rs 98.42 per litre respectively today.

 

In the country's financial capital, Mumbai, the petrol and diesel prices increased to Rs 115.85 per litre and Rs 106.62 per litre respectively.

 

Petrol and diesel have been priced at Rs 110.49 and Rs 101.56 per litre respectively in West Bengal's Kolkata and Rs 106.66 and Rs 102.59 per litre respectively in Chennai.

8:42 AM

It's my duty to raise the voice of developing nations, says PM Modi at COP26

Noting that climate change is a "big threat" to the existence of some developing nations, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said that he feels it's his duty to raise the voice of developing countries while addressing the COP26 Global Leaders' Summit here in Glasgow.

 

Speaking in Hindi at the COP26 Global Leaders' Summit here in Glasgow, PM Modi emphasised that climate change is a "big threat" to the existence of some developing nations and said, "It is my duty to raise the voices of developing nations."

8:20 AM

G20 urged to provide more Covid-19 vaccines to poor nations: Report

Group of 20 (G20) nations faces growing pressure on offering poor nations more Covid-19 vaccines, said a news report by India's Wion News' online portal on Sunday.

 

"As the leaders gathered to discuss plans to protect against future pandemics, health experts and activists expressed concerns that the world's richest nations were still not doing enough to help people in poor nations survive the current one," said the report.