THE HEADLINES:
- Moderate to brisk polling is on for the 70-member Delhi Assembly; 36 percent polling reported till 1 o' clock.
- In Jammu and Kashmir, polling is being held for four Rajya Sabha seats.
- Ahead of JD(U) Legislative Party meeting by party President Sharad Yadav, Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi is holding a closed-door meeting with his predecessor Nitish Kumar.
- Russia, Germany and France agree to draw up a plan to end fighting in Ukraine as rebels wage a deadly offensive in the country's east.
- Kerala's Sajan Prakash to figure in the 100-metre freestyle final, eying for his seventh Gold at the National Games.
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The polling for Delhi Assembly is underway peacefully. Around 36 per cent voting turnout was recorded till 1 PM.
Vice President Hamid Ansari, Delhi Chief Electoral Officer Chandra Bhushan Kumar and BJP Chief Ministerial candidate Kiran Bedi were among the first to cast their votes. Congress President Sonia Gandhi voted at Nirman Bhawan. Delhi Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung voted at a school near Raj Niwas. Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi voted at the Aurangzeb Road booth and AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal at BK Dutt colony. Union Minister Dr Harshvardhan, Delhi BJP Chief Satish Upadhyay, Congress campaign committee chief Ajay Maken and Aam Aadmi Party leaders Saurabh Bharadwaj and Ashish Khetan also exercised their franchise. A total of 673 candidates are in fray for the 70-member member assembly. Meanwhile, Election Commission has said that no exit poll can be telecast before 6.31 this evening.
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Now, we go over to Sadar Bazar to have latest inputs from our correspondent Anand Kumar.
Let's move to Patparganj constituency where our correspondent Suparna Saikia will give the latest update.
On to Patel Nagar Constituency, now, where our correspondent Shiela has to say more about the scenario there.
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At a time when the voting for Delhi assembly is progressing smoothly, the BJP and the Aam Aadmi Party today traded serious allegations against each other. BJP leader Kiran Bedi alleged that AAP workers are forcing people to vote for it and even showed a video of a woman purportedly being abused at a polling booth. Reacting to the charge, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal accused the BJP of distributing alcohol and money to voters.
Meanwhile, Aam Admi Party has lodged a complaint with Delhi Chief Electoral Officer against BJP leader Kiran Bedi accusing her of violating the election laws. The AAP alleged that Ms. Bedi is leading a Padyatra in Krishna Nagar constituency along with election material which she can not do during voting hours. The party also said the yatra is being telecast live by some news channels.
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In Jammu and Kashmir polling for four Rajya Sabha seats in the State began this morning amid tight security arrangements. The polling, which started at the Assembly Secretariat in Jammu at nine in morning, will end at 4 PM. Former Union Minister and Leader of Opposition Gulam Nabi Azad is among the seven candidates who are in the fray for the Rajya Sabha seats. Other contestants are PDP's Mir Mohammad Fayaz and Nazir Ahmad Laway; BJP's Shamsher Singh and Chander Mohan Sharma and Sajjad Ahmad Kichloo and National Conference's Nasir Aslam Wani. AIR Srinagar Correspondent reports that both the BJP-PDP and the NC-Congress combines are fighting the elections under seat sharing arrangements. PDP, with 28 seats, is the single-largest party in the State Assembly, which is currently in suspended animation, while BJP has 25 seats in the 87-member House.
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In a day of dramatic political developments in Bihar, Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi is holding a closed-door meeting with Nitish Kumar. Party President Sharad Yadav is also present in the meeting. Manjhi called on his predecessor, accompanied by two of his senior ministerial colleague Brishen Patel and Narendra Singh. The sudden change in Chief Minister's stance leads to speculation that a truce is being worked out between the two warring factions.
Now we go over to our Correspondent KK Lal who is outside Nitish Kumar's residence in Patna. Over to you Lal.
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A suspected Indian Mujahideen (IM) operative was arrested yesterday in connection with a 2010 case. The arrest is related to an incident of sending an email to a media house on behalf of the banned outfit warning about terror strikes in New Delhi. Speaking to media persons in Mumbai, Deputy Commissioner of Police Dhananjay Kulkarni said, that the 30 year old Ajaz Sheikh who resides in Pune was produced before a court yesterday which remanded him to Crime Branch custody till 13th of February.
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VHP leader Praveen Togadia was detained by the police on his arrival in Bengaluru today. The Bengaluru city police has issued prohibitory orders against him restricting his entry into the city. Togadia was to participate in the Virat Hindu Samajotsava organized by VHP in the city tomorrow. Karnataka High court had rejected his application to stay the prohibitory orders.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi today inaugurated the Heads of the Missions Conference in New Delhi. The three-day conference will focus on what diplomacy can do for the country. Usually, the focus had been how international issues are shaping up, their impact on India and what India can do globally. This year the theme of the conference is Diplomacy for Development.
External Affairs Ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said, Mr. Modi had requested for inputs on the functioning of Embassies in terms of how people perceive them. He said, these inputs will be taken on board and there will be a detailed session on what Missions are doing to respond to the perceptions.
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Defence Minister Monohar Parrikar has said the defence procurement policy will be revised soon with the prime intention of protecting the interests of the armed forces. Speaking at a National Symposium on Self Reliance of Defence Manufacturing held in Hyderabad this morning, he said there are certain bottle-necks in the current system, causing delay in procurement. He laid emphasis on removal of the procedural bottlenecks. He said critical defence manufacturing must be promoted for defence self reliance and also for economic growth as it will strengthen defence exports as well.
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And in International News,
The leaders of Russia, Germany and France agreed during late night talks in Moscow to draw up a plan to end fighting in Ukraine as rebels wage a deadly offensive in the country's east. A spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin said that more than four hours of talks that wrapped up early today saw the leaders agree on the drafting of a blueprint that would also include proposals from Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko. The three leaders, who did not address the media after the meeting, are to discuss the effort with Poroshenko by telephone tomorrow. The visit was German Chancellor Merkel's first to Moscow since the start of the Ukraine crisis, while French President Hollande had made a brief stopover in December. Merkel and Hollande first flew to Kiev on Thursday for discussions, when US Secretary of State John Kerry also visited the Ukrainian capital.
Meanwhile, one civilian and two soldiers were killed yesterday and 25 wounded in fighting over the last 24 hours, a government official said.
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In Yemen, Shiite Houthi rebels have dissolved the Parliament and taken control of the reins of the impoverished nation. They have set up a five member Presidential council to run the affairs of the country. It will form a transitional Government for two years. A 551-member national council will replace the Parliament and a revolutionary council will be set up to defend the nation. The Houthi militia control the capital Sanaa and had set a deadline of Wednesday for Yemen's leaders to fill the vaccum, or else they would act unilaterally. The move came after the President, Prime Minister and Cabinet quit last month.
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In Bangladesh, the deadly violence and arson has intensified with 5 more people burnt to death and 30 injured late last night. The incident occured in yet another petrol bomb attack on a police-escorted bus in Gaibandha in north Bangladesh. The attack came shortly after the ruling Awami League Central working Committee decided in a meeting last night not to hold a dialogue with the BNP-led opposition. Awami League General Secretary Ashraful Islam told reporters that the party had decided to continue its tough stance against the violence of the BNP-Jamaat alliance. Reacting to the government's decision, the BNP-led 20-party opposition has announced a 72-hour country wide shutdown beginning Sunday over and above the ongoing nationwide transport blockade effective since the 6th of January.
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Fog continued to prevail in most parts of north India today. Rail and air services were disrupted in the national capital this morning, with around 70 trains cancelled and 6 flights delayed. The MeT department has predicted a partly cloudy sky in Delhi from the afternoon onwards.
In Punjab and Haryana, cold conditions continued in several parts, with mercury dropping by a few notches below normal in both states. Karnal in Haryana was the coldest place in the region as it recorded a minimum temperature of 4 degrees celsius. In Punjab, Ludhiana recorded the minimum of 4.8 degrees.
Residents of the Kashmir division, including Ladakh region, are experiencing a slight respite from the intense cold wave as there has been a rise in the minimum temperature at several places. Srinagar recorded minimum temperature of minus 1.5 degrees Celsius, slightly up from minus 1.9 degrees the previous night.
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In Jordan, thousands of protesters have urged the Amman government to step up its retaliatory air strikes against ISIS positions after the ruthless killing of a Jordanian pilot at the hands of the terrorist group. Queen Rania, the wife of King Abdullah, joined the protesters, carrying a picture of the pilot. Meanwhile, Jordan has extended air strikes against the Islamic State group to Iraq. The move comes after Jordanian foreign minister Nasser Judeh said the country is stepping up its air campaign against the IS.
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Pakistan has said that it may grant non-discriminatory market access status to India and the two countries are moving towards sealing a deal to liberalise trade. Pakistan Commerce Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan told mediapersons in Islamabad that there is an incorrect perception that Most Favoured Nation (MFN) means giving India extraordinary market access. That is why, he said, it has been decided to replace MFN with non-discriminatory market access status (NDMA).
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In sports,
In the 35th National Games , top swimmer Sajan Prakash will look to continue his Gold winning spree when he figures in the finals of the 100-metres freestyle category today. Sajan representing Kerala has bagged the maximum 8 medals in these Games so far, which includes 6 Gold and 2 Silver.
Finals of 100-metre Women's freestyle and 100-metres Women's Breast-stroke categories will also be held today.
In Men's Football, Goa will take on Punjab, while Maharashtra will meet Mizoram in the semi-finals.
Services continues to lead the medals tally with 37 Gold, 11 Silver and 13 Bronze. Maharashtra is second with 25 Gold, 31 Silver and 21 Bronze. Haryana is at the third spot with 25 Gold, 15 Silver and 7 Bronze.
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Pakistan offspinner Saeed Ajmal's action has been cleared by the International Cricket Council (ICC), giving him the go ahead to bowl in international cricket. The development could see Ajmal play at the upcoming World Cup.
ICC also cleared the action of Bangladesh's Sohag Gazi.
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