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She claimed that Gambhir, in his affidavit to the returning officer while filing his nomination had “concealed the information that he is also registered to vote in Karol Bagh, which is punishable under Sec 125A of the Representation of the People Act with up to six months jail time.”

Gambhir had joined the BJP on March 22, saying that he was impressed with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision.

The BJP has fielded the former cricket star from the East Delhi Lok Sabha constituency.

A Delhi court will hear the matter of the criminal complaint against him on May 1.

Gautam Gambhir had held a massive roadshow in Delhi on Tuesday ahead of filing his nomination from East Delhi. The BJP has fielded Gambhir from the constituency in place of sitting MP Maheish Girri.

The seven Lok Sabha constituencies of Delhi will go to polls on May 12. The counting of votes will take place on May 23.

The Supreme Court Thursday constituted a one-man panel of former apex court judge Justice A K Patnaikto hold inquiry into the allegations of larger conspiracy to frame Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and fixing of benches in the top court.
The apex court asked the Directors of CBI and IB as also the Delhi Police Commissioner to cooperate with Justice (Retd) Patnaik as and when sought by him during the inquiry.

It said the outcome of the inquiry will not affect the in-house committee which is dealing with the complaint against the CJI.
The apex court said that on the completion of inquiry, Justice (Retd) Patnaik will file a report in a sealed cover before the court after which the matter will be heard again.

In a candid and “non-political” conversation with actor Akshay Kumar on Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that he often reads the kind of content people – including Twinkle Khanna – usually post about him on social media.

The actor, while talking to the PM about his daily routine, his love for mangoes and his sleep schedule in the sprawling lawns of his residence, also discussed Modi’s presence on social media and showed him some of the memes based on him.

During this particular segment, Modi made a witty remark while revealing that he follows Twitter handle of Kumar and his wife Twinkle Khanna, too, referring to her critical tweets about him.

“I follow you (Akshay Kumar) and Twinkle Khanna ji on Twitter. From the way she targets me, I understand there must be peace in your family life,” he said, much to the amusement of Kumar. “All her anger must have been spent on me, and so you must be feeling at peace,” he added.

Now in an interview with Hindustan Times, Kumar has described his emotions during his candid chat with Modi.

“I did not know where to look. I was stumped by his wit, and the very sporting manner in which he said it. I didn’t know what to reply. I could only laugh embarrassingly and I thought to myself – ‘ek taraf biwi, ek taraf desh ka Pradhan Mantri. Both have powerful portfolios in my life. It’s best to stay quiet’,” said Kumar when asked about Modi’s good-natured dig at Khanna’s tweets.

Mohamed Hasan has barely left his home in Colombo since a string of deadly blasts hit Sri Lanka on Sunday, afraid he could be attacked because he is Muslim.
He has a job at a printing press, but the 41-year-old’s family have begged him to stay home.

“They are worried that if I go out, will I be able to come back alive?” he told AFP outside the Jumma mosque in Dematagoda, where he had ventured briefly to pray.
More than 350 people were killed in the carnage unleashed by the Easter attacks against churches and hotels, which have been claimed by the Islamic State group.
The deaths have horrified Sri Lankans and been condemned by Muslim groups, but many in the community have been left feeling vulnerable.
Zareena Begum, 60, said she had barely slept since the weekend. “I know people are angry at Muslims,” she said in tears outside the mosque. “Infants being carried in the arms of their mothers were killed.
“I never imagined such hatred being there in the hearts of these people (who attacked). Hatred must not sow more hatred.” Wearing a black dress and white headscarf, Begum added: “We have been huddled at our homes. We are scared about going out.”
Sri Lanka’s population of 21 million is a patchwork of ethnicities and religions, dominated by the Sinhalese Buddhist majority.
Muslims account for 10 percent of the population and are the second-largest minority after Hindus. Around seven percent of Sri Lankans are Christians.
Ethnic and religious tensions abound in the country, which suffered through a decades-long Tamil insurgency and more recently has seen outbreaks of sectarian violence.
Muslims have been on the receiving end of sporadic violence and hate attacks since the civil war ended in 2009.
Hardline Buddhist monks have led campaigns against the community, and in 2013 and 2018, Muslim businesses came under attack.
Rumours were even spread that Sinhalese could become sterile if they wore underwear bought from Muslim shops, and that food sold by Muslims would cause infertility.
In the wake of the attacks, Sri Lankan leaders including Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe have urged calm and solidarity.
“The vast majority of Muslims condemn this and they are as angry as the Tamils and the Sinhalese about what happened,” he said Tuesday, calling for unity.
But at the Jumma mosque there was an atmosphere of anxiety, and several worshippers said they hoped police would “take care of every citizen in such critical times”.
Hilmy Ahamed, vice-president of the influential Muslim Council of Sri Lanka, said the community was braced for a backlash, with emotions running high. “Hundreds of people are being buried (so) there is going to be an emotional outburst and some of it could be justifiable,” said Ahamed.
“We have asked the government … to ensure security is maintained. This (attack) has not been carried out by the Muslim community but by some fringe elements.”
In fact, Ahamed and other Muslim leaders said they had warned Sri Lankan authorities years earlier about the leader of the National Thowheeth Jama’ath, a group the government says is its key suspect in the attacks.

With an annual income of over Rs. 12 crore, cricketer-turned-politican Gautam Gambhir is among the richest of all the candidates in fray for the Lok Sabha election in Delhi.

Mr Gambhir, who was nominated by the BJP in East Delhi against AAP’s Atishi Marlena, has shown an income of over Rs. 12.4 crore in the income tax returns filed for 2017-18.

In Delhi North West, BJP’s singer-turned politician Hans Raj Hans has an annual income of Rs.9.28 lakh, as per the IT returns filed in 2017-18.

His Congress counterpart, Rajesh Lilothia had an annual income of Rs. 26.34 lakh, as per the IT returns filed in 2017-18.

Congress candidate from South Delhi Vijender Singh has declared an annual income of Rs. 45 lakh in 2017-18. He also declared movable and immovable assets worth Rs. 3.57 crore and Rs.5.05 crore respectively.

BJP’s sitting MP and candidate from South Delhi Ramesh Bidhuri has movable and immovable assets worth Rs. 18 crore, an increase of close to Rs. 3.5 crore in the last five years, according to his affidavit.

Mr Bidhuri, his wife and dependent Himanshu have shown an income of over Rs. 16.72 lakh, Rs.3.09 lakh and Rs. 3.18 lakh respectively in the IT returns filed in 2017-18.

Former Chief Minister and Congress candidate Sheila Dikshit, who filed her nomination from the North-East Delhi Lok Sabha constituency on Tuesday, declared personal assets worth over Rs. 4.92 crore.

The special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court Wednesday rejected a plea to bar 2008 Malegaon blasts accused and BJP candidate Sadhvi Pragya Thakur from contesting the Lok Sabha elections, citing that it is for the electoral officers to take a call on the matter.

“In the ongoing elections, the court does not have any legal powers to prohibit anyone from contesting the polls. It is the job of electoral officers to decide. This court cannot stop the accused number 1 from contesting the polls. This application is negated,” the court was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

“At this juncture, the NIA cannot state that there is no prima facie case against the accused as the NIA has not challenged the order (rejecting discharge of the accused) before the high court,” it added.

The special NIA court’s response came after Nisar Ahmed Sayyed Bilal, whose son Sayyed Azhar had died in the blast, urged it to prevent Thakur from contesting the polls since the trial is still in progress.

Expressing regret has not earned Rahul Gandhi any reprieve after he admitted yesterday to misquoting the Supreme Court on its order on the Rafale fighter jet deal. The Congress chief has been asked to explain by next Tuesday why he should not be held in contempt for suggesting that the court had endorsed his sharpest political attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi this election season. However, he won’t have to appear in person to file his response.

On Monday, Mr Gandhi had said in an affidavit that he had falsely quoted the top court as “rhetorical flourish in the heat of political campaigning”, without having seen, read or analysed the order. Senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi, acting as Mr Gandhi’s lawyer, today requested that the case be closed. As former Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, arguing on behalf of the BJP, objected, Mr Singhvi pointed out that the court had “not issued notice” to his client but only asked for an explanation.

Mr Singhvi would regret that comment.

“You are pointing out we have forgotten to issue notice. We will cure it by issuing notice,” responded the bench led by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi.

The court had asked for an explanation in the last hearing before it took up the BJP’s contempt petition against Mr Gandhi.

Mr Singhvi maintained that Rahul Gandhi’s statements accusing PM Modi of corruption in the Rafale deal were a political diatribe after the BJP claimed the court had cleared the government of any wrongdoing.

“‘Chowkidar chor hai‘ is being used, has been and will continue to be used as a political campaign,” the Congress leader said later, briefing the media outside.

The Supreme Court will take up the case next Tuesday, along with review petitions against its Rafale order.

On April 10, the court had ruled that classified documents accessed by the media can be used as evidence to consider requests to review its clean chit to the Rafale deal. Hours later, Rahul Gandhi cheered the order with the “chowkidar” slogan that has become central in the Congress attack on PM Modi.

The BJP’s Meenakshi Lekhi accused him of putting words in the mouth of the top court and sued him for contempt.

Her lawyer Mukul Rohatgi today questioned the tone of the affidavit filed by Mr Gandhi yesterday, asking how he could make a petty comment on the judgment when he has “so many lawyers at his command”.

“There has to be some limit to cavalier statements,” he said, pointing out that Mr Gandhi’s “least service of apology” for claiming that the Supreme Court had said “chowkidar chor hai“, was expressed “in a bracket”.

India has shared with China “all evidences” of the terrorist activities of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and its chief Masood Azhar during foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale’s visit to Beijing amid reports that China may finally make moves to lift technical hold on the issue in the UN Security Council. 

Gokhale is on a two-day visit to Beijing where he met Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi and told him that Beijing needed to be “sensitive” to New Delhi’s concerns including listing of .. 

The power of “voter ID” is much more than the “IED” (Improvised Explosive Device) of terrorists, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday after casting his vote in Gujarat.

Mr. Modi appealed to people to come out in large numbers to vote in all the remaining phases of the Lok Sabha polls.

He arrived at a polling booth in Nishan High School, located in Ranip area of Ahmedabad city, in an open jeep in the morning.

BJP president Amit Shah, who is contesting from the Gandhinagar constituency, which covers Ahmedabad city, welcomed him outside the school and accompanied him to the booth.

While arriving at the polling booth, Mr. Modi greeted thousands of people who gathered on both sides of the road. After casting his vote, he walked some distance from the polling booth and interacted briefly with mediapersons.

Mr. Modi said, “Indian democracy presents an example before the world. While on the one hand, an IED is the weapon of terrorists, on the other, the voter ID [identity] is the weapon and power of democracy. I am confident that the power of voter ID is much more than the IED and we should understand the importance of the voter ID card and come out to vote in large numbers.”

The Prime Minister said he felt fortunate to participate in “the great festival of democracy” in his home State Gujarat. “The third phase of polling is taking place today in the country. I am fortunate that I also got the proud moment to fulfil my duty by voting in my home State Gujarat and to have an active participation in this great festival of democracy. By voting, I feel the same sense of purity that one gets after taking bath at the Kumbh mela.”

Mr. Modi urged people to vote with full enthusiasm. “The intelligence of Indian voters to understand whom to vote and whom not to vote is a matter of case study,” he said.

He also welcomed the active participation of those born in the 21st century in exercising their franchise for the first time and conveyed his best wishes to them.

“This entire century belongs to those who are voting for the first time. They have to vote for the bright future of this century. Therefore, I would especially urge the new voters to commit to hundred per cent voting. I am grateful to all the lovers of democracy who voted in large numbers in the first and second phases of the Lok Sabha elections,” he said.

Earlier in the day, the Prime Minister went to seek the blessings of his mother, Heeraben Modi, at his younger brother Pankaj Modi’s residence at Raisan village, located close to Gandhinagar. He spent around 20 minutes with his mother, who gave him a shawl, sweets and a coconut and her blessings for his victory in the polls.

The BJP on Sunday announced its seven more candidates for the Lok Sabha election, nominating Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri from Amritsar and renominating its four sitting MPs from Delhi.

The party has nominated Shankar Lalwani as its candidate from Indore in place of Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan. Mr Lalwani is chairman of Indore Development Authority.

The party has fielded its four sitting MPs from Delhi — Harsh Vardhan from Chandni Chowk, Manoj Tiwari from Northeast Delhi, Pravesh Verma from West Delhi and Ramesh Bidhuri from South Delhi.

Mr Puri, whom the party has been grooming as one of its prominent Sikh leaders, has been fielded from Amritsar, from where Union finance minister Arun Jaitley had contested the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

Meanwhile, the Congress announced candidates for five Lok Sabha seats in Haryana, fielding party heavyweight and former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder

Singh Hooda from Sonipat and replacing Faridabad candidate Lalit Nagar with Avtar Singh Bhadana.

Mr Nagar, who was dropped as Faridabad candidate, is said to be close to former Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra, sources said.

With the announcement of the new list, the party has declared candidates for all the 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana.

When asked to comment on his candidature, Mr Hooda, who is a four-time MLA and has remained Lok Sabha MP on four occasions in the past, said he respects the party’s decision to field him from Sonipat.

“I am a disciplined soldier of the party. I had earlier said that I will contest the polls if my party asks me to do so. My priority is my party,” he said.