India

Cuttack, Mar 14: Three persons were convicted while six others were acquitted by a court in Cuttack in connection with the nun rape case in Odisha’s Kandhamal district during the 2008 communal riots. District Sessions Court Judge Gyana Ranjan Purohit held Mitua alias Santosh Patnaik guilty under section 376 (rape) of IPC, two other accused persons Gajendra Digal and Saroj Bahdei were convicted

Lucknow, Mar 14: BJP general secretary Varun Gandhi has ruled out campaigning against his estranged cousin and Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi in Uttar Pradesh's Amethi constituency. The 34-year-old leader, likely to contest on a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ticket from Sultanpur, told media late Thursday that he believed in political decorum and never harboured any ill will against his

New Delhi, Mar 14: Backing its “tainted” leaders, the Congress on Thursday announced that former Union ministers Subodhkant Sahai and Pawan Kumar Bansal would contest the Lok Sabha elections from Ranchi and Chandigarh respectively, while Petroleum Minister M Veerappa Moily would be fielded from Chikkaballapur. After the party’s Central Election Committee meeting, spread over two days, the Congress

New Delhi, Mar 14: The BJP on Thursday announced its third list of candidates for nine states for the April-May Lok Sabha elections. The list of 100 candidates included prominent leaders like Sushma Swaraj, Shahnawaz Hussain and Rajiv Pratap Rudy. The party, however, decided to delay announcement of candidates from Uttar Pradesh owing to lack of unanimity on Varanasi and Lucknow constituencies

New Delhi, Mar 14: The talks between Congress and TRS over an alliance have run into trouble and the regional party of Telangana has now opened a channel of communication with BJP for a possible tie-up. The talks between TRS and Congress have got into difficulties over the number of seats each will contest in the newly-formed Telangana state, particularly for the 119-member Assembly, sources said

New Delhi, Mar 13: The AAP has almost decided to pit former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal against Narendra Modi in the Lok Sabha polls if the BJP's prime ministerial candidate contests from Varanasi. AAP leader and Kejriwal confidant Manish Sisodia, who is the virtual no. 2 in the AAP, also said his party hopes to field 350-400 candidates in the April-May elections and do particularly well

New Delhi, Mar 13: The BJP on Thursday announced that Chief Minister Narendra Modi will contest elections from one seat in the state, without ruling out the possibility that he may fight on a second seat from Uttar Pradesh. “I can definitely say that Modiji will fight elections from one seat in Gujarat,” state BJP general secretary Vijay Rupani told reporters in Ahmedabad. “There has been a

Sahara group chief Subrata Roy will stay in Tihar jail for some more time as the Supreme Court Thursday declined his plea for release on a personal bond with an assurance that he will not leave the country. The apex court bench of Justice K.S. Radhakrishnan and Justice J.S. Khehar reiterated their earlier order as they asked senior counsel Ram Jethmalani if there was any proposal by the Sahara

Denied a ticket, suspended DMK MP and former Union Minister M K Alagiri today caused an embarrassment to his party when he called on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who regretted that the party left the UPA. Sources close to Alagiri described the meeting as a "courtesy" call and said he thanked the Prime Minister for giving him an opportunity to serve in the Union Council for four years between 2009

New Delhi, Mar 13: The Delhi High Court Thursday upheld the death sentences awarded to four convicts in the Dec 16, 2012 gang-rape. A division bench of Justice Reva Khetrapal and Justice Pratibha Rani also dismissed the appeals of four convicts challenging the trial court verdict awarding them the death penalty. The trial court had Sep 13, 2013 awarded death sentences to Mukesh (26), Akshay Thakur