Indian Sub-continent

New Delhi, May 4; PTI/GANASHAKTI: In a scathing criticism of the Election Commission (EC), Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said when it comes to matters related to the opposition, the poll watchdog is "completely biased".

His remarks come in the wake of clean chits given by the EC to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah on various complaints of Model Code of Conduct violations.

Kota (Rajasthan), May 4 (PTI) A court here convicted two persons, including a woman, in the abduction and rape case of a 13-year-old girl.

While the court sentenced Jhalawar's Chitawa village resident Inderraj Gujjar (25) to life imprisonment till the remainder of his natural life, Seema Saina (27), a resident of Salora village in Jhalawar, was given 10-year rigorous imprisonment.

Thane, May 4 (PTI) The Thane district court in Maharashtra has sentenced a man to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment for raping a 13-year-old girl.

Judge S A Sinha also imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on the 42-year-old man (name not disclosed), a resident of Uttan in the district, after convicting him under Section 376 (rape) of the IPC on Friday.

New Delhi, May 3 (PTI) The Election Commission Friday found no violation of model code or its instructions on armed forces in two speeches delivered by BJP president Amit Shah in West Bengal and Maharashtra.

The Commission concluded that it is of the considered view that in this matter, no such violation of MCC or ECI's instructions is made out.

Addressing a rally in Krishnanagar in West Bengal, Shah reportedly said when IAF jets pounded terror camps in Balakot, the act was mourned in Pakistan and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's office.

Mumbai, May 3 (PTI) Dismissing reports of veteran actor Mumtaz's death, a family member said Friday the yesteryear star is fit and fine.

There were reports on social media that the actor passed away Friday.

Khunti (Jharkhand), May 4 (PTI) A tribal woman dances in frenzy while a man intones mantras in what seems like an age-old ritual to a pagan god, but then this is a 'Pathalgadi' area and she is leading the villagers in worshipping a stone plaque inscribed with tenets governing their everyday lives.

Kolkata, May 4 (PTI) The high-pitched campaigning by different political parties for seven Lok Sabha constituencies going to the polls in the fifth phase on May 6 came to an end Saturday evening.

The campaigning during the last couple of days was marred by the panic over Cyclone Fani, which caused large scale destruction in neighbouring Odisha.

The fear over the calamity led all political parties to cancel their election meetings.

On the last day of campaigning the BJP candidate of Bongaon(SC) seat, Shantanu Thakur was injured in a road accident.

New Delhi, May 4 (PTI) Taking the BJP's nationalism narrative in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls head-on, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said the Indian Army is not Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "personal property" and it should not be politicised as he also slammed the government on tackling terror, citing JeM chief Masood Azhar's release during the NDA rule.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, May 4 (Xinhua): About three police officers and 14 militants were killed in checkpoint clashes in Afghanistan's southern province of Kandahar on Saturday, provincial police chief said.

"The clashes started at early hours of the day after Taliban stormed Boldak Nika police security checkpoint in Spin Boldak district, southern of provincial capital Kandahar city. And the exchange of fire lasted for four hours, leaving the casualties," Gen. Tadeen Khan told Xinhua.

KANPUR: Though voting has been completed in the city, the residents are still infuriated at the deletion of their names from the voter’s list. A complaint containing their demands like who is responsible for deletion of their names, what is the responsibility of BLO, why were dead voters’ name not deleted, how has polling booth changed, why do names of a family not come in a serial. N Pandit, corporator, has submitted a letter to ADM (city) Vivek Srivastava here on Friday.