Itanagar: Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu and Union Minister Kiren Rijiju cast their votes on Friday at their native villages as the polling for two Lok Sabha seats and 50 assembly constituencies is underway, officials said. Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein also exercised his franchise in his village in the Chowkham assembly segment. Rijiju cast his...

Guwahati: Long queues were seen outside booths since the morning as polling was underway for five constituencies in Assam in the first phase Friday. Poling began at 7 am in Dibrugarh, Jorhat, Lakhimpur, Sonitpur and Kaziranga seats, and 86.5 lakh voters are eligible to vote. Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal of the BJP and Congress's deputy leader in...

Lucknow: The Election Commission of India (ECI) is monitoring polling across 50 per cent of the booths through webcasting. Additionally, the ECI has deployed 1,510 video teams at the polling booths, as stated by the chief electoral officer (CEO). The commission has established 111 model polling stations, with 45 booths managed by women personnel, 36 by youths,...

New Delhi: Vice Admiral Dinesh Kumar Tripathi will be the new Navy Chief by the end of this month succeeding incumbent Admiral R Hari Kumar. Admiral Kumar will retire from service April 30. Vice Admiral Tripathi is currently serving as Vice Chief of the Naval Staff. "The government has appointed Vice Admiral Dinesh Kumar Tripathi, presently serving...

Jaipur: A wax statue of ace India cricketer Virat Kohli was installed at the Jaipur Wax Museum on the occasion of World Heritage Day Thursday. Visitors will now get the opportunity to click themselves with the former India captain's wax figure at the wax museum housed in the Nahargarh Fort, said Anoop Srivastava, the Founder-Director of Jaipur...

Dubai: Iran fired air defence batteries early Friday morning after reports of explosions near a major airbase at the city of Isfahan, the state-run IRNA news agency reported. It remained unclear if the country was under attack. However, tensions remain high after Iran's unprecedented missile-and-drone attack on Israel. One government official suggested sites may have been targeted...

Jaipur: Voting for the first phase of elections was underway in 12 Lok Sabha seats in Rajasthan Friday. The voting began at 7 a.m. and will continue till 6 p.m. Rajasthan Chief Secretary Sudhanshu Pant was among the first 50 voters to cast his vote. He joined the queue of voters at 7 a.m. and cast his...

Rourkela: With the district administration making elaborate security arrangements to tackle any unpleasant situation, Ram Navami celebrations in Sundargarh district remained peaceful. Contrary to other areas in the district, the procession was taken out Thursday in Rourkela. “This is the tradition we have been following from the beginning,” said one Shankar of Daily Market Akhada. A total...

Hatadihi: A woman from Sadha village under this block in Keonjhar district, whose organs were donated following her death with the written consent of her family members, was given a guard of honour during her funeral Thursday by the district administration. The deceased woman was identified as Sanjukta Jena, 48, wife of Rabindra Jena of Sadha village....

Bhubaneswar: Noted writer and painter Prafulla Mohanti, who is a British citizen of Indian origin, recently converted his two-storey house in Nanpur village of Jajpur district into an art gallery, which was recently opened on his 90th birthday. The gallery titled ‘The Creative Hands’ houses hundreds of paintings made by Mohanti and other artists. The artist reportedly...