NEWS :-

• First phase of polling for 73-Assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh passes off peacefully; over 64 per cent voter turnout reported. 

• Campaigning for Uttrakhand Assembly elections reaches a feverish pitch. Senior BJP leader Narendra Modi criticizes Harish Rawat Government's performance; Chief Minister Rawat says people should go by his development work.  

• In Tamilnadu, another cabinet Minister Pandiarajan shifts loyalty to Paneerselvam;  Sasikala seeks appointment with Governor to parade her MLAs.

• US President Trump says, he is going in for a major tax reform.

• In Hyderabad Cricket Test, Bangladesh still need 166 runs to avoid follow-on against India.   

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The first phase of Uttar Prdesh Assembly elections passed off peacefully today. As many as 64.22 per cent voters excecised their franchise in 73 constituencies spread over 15 districts of the State. Chief Electoral Officer UP, T Venkatesh released the data this evening saying that Shamli polled highest with 67.12 percent. Earlier, briefing reporters in New Delhi, Deputy Election Commissioner, Vijay Dev said, the polling  passed off very peacefully. He appreciated the exemplary participation of voters in the polling process.

The scars of 2013 communal clashes have almost become a matter of the past for both Muzaffarnagar and Shamli districts which was quite evident with the long and serpentine queues of voters in Kaval town, Shahpur, Jansath and several other villages. For any new comer it was quite hard to believe that these places had been the centres of the most tragic events, but as now, most of the people here even do not want to discuss about it. All of them want to progress, flourish and go ahead in the life and for that they chose to vote. The Election Commission had made such meticulous security arrangements in these two most sensitive districts that no major untoward incident happened. Merajuddin, AIR News, Muzaffarnagar.

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The BJP has expressed happiness over its victory in the elections of graduate MLC seats in Uttar Pradesh. Briefing reporters in New Delhi today, Union Minister and party leader Prakash Javadekar said, BJP has won Bareily, Gorakhpur and Kanpur MLC seats with a huge margin.

Mr Javadekar also hit back at Rahul Gandhi for his remarks against the Prime Minister, saying the Congress leader behaved as per his standards and nothing better can be expected from him.

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Campaigning for Assembly elections in Uttarakhand has reached a feverish pitch with political parties fielding their star campaigners to woo the voters. The state will go for single phase polling on Wednesday. Addressing an election rally in Rudrapur today, Senior BJP leader and Prime Minister Narendra Modi strongly defended the Centre's demonetisation move.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi termed the demand of opposition as proof of surgical strike, a blatant disregard to the Indian Army and the nation.

On the other hand, Chief Minister Harish Rawat leading the command single handedly stated the people of Uttarakhand will vote for his party keeping in view the development works done by his government in the past two years. At the same time, many star campaigners addressed several public meetings in the state. While, Union Minister Smiriti Irani, MPs Hema Malini, Yogi AdityaNath were from the BJP,  prominent speakers from the Congress party were MPs Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Rajbabbar, ex- Union Minister Deepa Das Munsi and Sharmistha Mukherjee. With OP Meena this is Sanjeev Sundriyal, AIR News Dehradun.

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In the ongoing political tussle among warring factions of the AIADMK in Tamil Nadu, Sasikala's camp has suffered further set back with more defections. As a big catch for the care taker Chief Minister O.Panneerselvam’s camp, Cabinet Minister K.Pandiyarajan pledged his support to him by visiting him at his official residence in Chennai.

Meanwhile, three of the party MPs, Ashok Kumar, PR Sundaram and Sathyabama have also pledged their support to the Panneerselvam camp. Mr Panneerselvam's camp also got the support of party spokesperson Ponnaiyan.

With the support base eroding in the party, Sasikala shot off a letter to Governor seeking appointment to meet him today along with all the MLAs who support her. She expressed hope that Raj Bhavan will act soon to save the sovereignty of the constitution and democracy.

 Ms Sasikala today met MLAs of the AIADMK who are staying in resorts by the East Coast Road off Chennai and held consultations with them for over three hours. 

On the other hand, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy has called on the Governor this evening. Our correspondent reports that the Raj Bhavan has termed it a courtesy call.

As the days go by, Mr Panneerselvam seems to be making gradual inroads into the Sasikala camp. The defection of Cabinet Minister Pandiarajan is regarded as a big catch for him that would serve to influence other fence sitters as well. To the letter of Ms Sasikala seeking an appointment to present all her supporting MLAs, Raj Bhavan seems to have not yet responded, as Governor is understood to be weighing all the options before him. The Disproportionate Assets Case against Ms Sasikala and others on which judgment is about to be pronounced by the Supreme Court is not numbered in the ‘case list’ for Monday, indicating that the verdict may be out on Tuesday or later. Meanwhile, the police have beefed up security arrangements for Raj Bhavan. Jayasingh, AIR News, Chennai.

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Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Venkaiah Naidu has said, the Congress is not able to digest the growing popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Addressing a press conference in Hyderabad today, he said, disrupting Parliament session on flimsy grounds only shows the Congress party's disrespect for democracy. He said, political satire, comments and criticism are part of parliamentary democracy.

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India successfully test-fired its indigenous Advanced Air Defence interceptor missile today from launching complex of Dhamara Abdul Kalam defence base off Odisha coast. DRDO sources said, the interceptor is a 7.5-metre-long single stage solid rocket propelled guided missile equipped with a navigation system, a hi-tech computer and an electro-mechanical activator would intercept a target, mimicking an incoming enemy missile, mid-air. Defence sources said today’s test was mainly to assess the weapon’s killing capability.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar have lauded the efforts of the DRDO and all the scientists for successful test firing of Exo-Atmospheric Interceptor Missile. An official release said, with this commendable scientific achievement, India has crossed an important milestone in building its overall capability towards enhanced security against incoming ballistic missile threats.

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Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said that all Finance Ministers have a perpetual desire to cut interest rates but they respect the RBI decision. He was replying to a question regarding the cut of interest rates by RBI. Briefing media in New Delhi after RBI Board meeting, Mr Jaitley said electoral bonds for political funding will be announced after holding discussion with the apex bank. He also said economic situation and budget suggestions were discussed during the meeting. 

Replying to a question on demonetisation, RBI Governor Urjit Patel said disclosure about demonetised currency should be verifiable number in physical and accounting sense.

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The BHIM App, which has been developed for fast and secure cashless transactions, was launched on the iOS platform today. In a tweet, NITI Aayog said, the much awaited BHIM for iOS is now available on the AppStore. Earlier, the App was available on Android platform. The Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) is a platform designed to make payment through Unified Payment Service and Unstructured supplementary service Data modes simpler. In December last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the App for fast and secure cashless transactions using mobile phones.

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US President Donald Trump has warned of consequences to American companies planning to shift base abroad, telling them that he will make it harder for them to just say bye-bye and fire everybody. In his weekly address to the nation yesterday, Mr Trump also said that he is working on a major tax reform which will massively reduce taxes of American workers and businesses. The President said, he wants America to be the greatest jobs magnet of the world.

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Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said, his country will not take part in any regional or international conflicts. He told the State media that Iraq is very keen to preserve its national interests and does not wish to be part of any regional or international conflict which would lead to disasters for the region and for Iraq. This comment came after his telephonic conversation with US President Donald Trump. The call was the first between the two leaders.

The White House said, Mr Trump and Mr Abadi spoke on threat posed by Iran across the region. Both the leaders also stressed the importance of their continued cooperation against Islamic State terrorist group.

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In Afghanistan, seven people were killed and 21 others injured in a suicide bomb attack outside a bank in Helmand province today. Helmand Governor's spokesman, Omar Zwak, said the bomber detonated an explosives-packed car next to an Army vehicle as soldiers arrived at a bank in Lashkar Gah to collect their pay. Among the dead were four civilians and three soldiers. The Taliban insurgency took responsibility for the attack.

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A landslide in northern Myanmar's jade mining region has killed nine people. An official today said the men were believed to be searching for jade in Kachin state when a wall of unstable earth collapsed late Thursday night. He said, nine bodies were found buried beneath the rubble.

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In the one-off Cricket Test against India in Hyderabad, Bangladesh were 322 for six in their first innings at close of play on the third day today. Skipper Mushfiqur Rahim on 81 and Mehedi Hasan Miraz on 51 were at the crease. Bangladesh still need 166 runs to avoid follow-on.  

 At present, the visitors trail India by 365 runs after the hosts declared their first innings at 687 for six yesterday. The scores so far: India  - 687 for six declared; Bangladesh-322 for 6.

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Pakistan will meet India in the final of the T20 Cricket World Cup for Blind in Bengaluru tomorrow.  

In the second semi-final at Alur in Karnataka today, Pakistan defeated England by 147 runs.   Put in to bat, Pakistan  put on a massive total of 309 for one in their allotted 20 overs.

Chasing the target, England managed to make only 162 for 7.

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A Chinese soldier, who was stuck in India for over 50 years after crossing the border following the 1962 war, today returned to China with his Indian family members to a rousing reception and an emotional reunion with his kin.

Seventy-seven-year old Wang Qi was received by his close Chinese relatives, besides officials of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Indian Embassy when he reached Beijing along with his son, daughter-in-law and grand daughter by a Delhi-Beijing flight. Officials said, Wang's Indian wife and daughter, however, have stayed back in India due to ill health.Indian officials said, they received positive feed back from the Chinese government and Wang's family for facilitating his return.

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As many as 112 cases were settled in the National Lok Adalat held at different places in Andaman and Nicobar Islands today. The Lok Adalat was organised by the District Legal Services Authority, Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Siddhartha Kanjilal, District and Sessions Court Judge and Chairman of the District Legal Services Authority inaugurated the Adalat. The three Benches took up a total of 782 cases for hearing. Of which, as many as 36 pre-litigation cases of different banks, 73 criminal cases and three motor accident claims were settled in the Lok Adalat. A legal awareness session was also held as part of the Lok Adalat.