Indian Sub-continent

Raipur, Apr 21 (PTI) The high-decibel campaign for the third phase of Lok Sabha polls in Chhattisgarh's seven seats ended on Sunday, which saw acrimonious exchanges between the main rivals BJP and Congress over issues like corruption, poverty and farmers' woes.

The third phase of polling on April 23 will mark the completion of Lok Sabha elections in the state.

COLOMBO, April 21 (Xinhua) -- An eighth blast ripped through Colombo after a series of explosions rocked the Sri Lankan capital earlier in the day, police confirmed on Sunday.

Police said the latest explosion was reported from Dematagoda in the north of the capital.

The government has imposed a nationwide curfew from 6 p.m. Sunday to 6 a.m. local time on Monday.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — At least 190 people were killed and hundreds more hospitalized with injuries from eight blasts that rocked churches and hotels in and just outside of Sri Lanka’s capital on Easter Sunday, officials said, the worst violence to hit the South Asian country since its civil war ended a decade ago.

With a curfew imposed, police conducted a search operation on the outskirts of Colombo, where the latest of eight blasts took place.

Kanpur: Model booths will not be decorated with balloons. This is because of the balloon being symbol of one independent candidate contesting from Kanpur seat. A decision to this effect has been taken by the Election Commission as it becomes violation of the code of conduct. 

As the voting on this seat is to take place on April 29, there will be erected model booths in the city areas. Decorations will be done without using balloons. In the last elections the use of balloons was not prohibited. So the model booths had been decorated with balloons. 

Kanpur: The road that was neglected for the past six months changed its poor face on arrival of State chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday. Pandav Nagar main road got its complete facelift. The road users now find shining road.

The Nagar Nigam engaged its above two-dozen employees  in improving the bad condition of the road. The patchwork was done with care. Potholes were filled up. Cleaning was undertaken by the safai workers. Dirtless surface of the road was worth seeing. Roadside trees were pruned nicely. 

Balurghat/Gangarampur (WB), Apr 19 (PTI) Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee Friday claimed that the BJP will get a 'rosogolla' (zero) in West Bengal in the general elections, asserting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's aim of winning a large number of seats will remain a day dream.

Banerjee said the the prime minister's promise of offering 'laddoos' to the voters of Bengal in both their hands will never be fulfilled.

Mumbai, Apr 18 (PTI) The Maharashtra unit of the BJP on Thursday announced expulsion of four party leaders who are contesting the Lok Sabha election against official candidates of the BJP or its allies in the state.

Bhausaheb Wakchaure, Anil Gote, Manikrao Kokate and Suhas Natavadkar were expelled for violating the party discipline, a BJP source said.

BJP MLA Anil Gote is contesting as independent against BJP leader and Union Minister of State for Defence Subhash Bhamre from Dhule-Malegaon.

New Delhi, Apr 18 (PTI) Hardening its stand against Pakistan, India Thursday indefinitely suspended cross-LoC trade at two points along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir effective Friday, following reports that it was being "misused" by elements from across the border to smuggle weapons, narcotics and fake currency.

Srinagar, Apr 18 (PTI) As many as 90 polling booths, mostly in downtown city, saw no voting in Thursday's elections to the Srinagar Parliamentary seat, sources said.

The Srinagar constituency comprising eight assembly segments recorded zero turnout in as many as 50 polling booths.

The majority of these booths were located in Eidgah, Khanyar, Habba Kadal and Batmaloo, sources said.

New Delhi, Apr 18 (PTI) With Jet Airways suspending operations, as many as 440 slots are vacant at Delhi and Mumbai airports which will be allocated to other airlines in a transparent manner, a senior official said Thursday.

Civil Aviation Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola also said Jet Airways is expected to provide information next week to the ministry about tickets booked by passengers and how it plans to refund them.