Bhopal, Apr 20 (PTI) The Election Commission (EC) Saturday issued a show-cause notice to Malegaon blast accused and BJP candidate from Bhopal Pragya Singh Thakur over her remark about Hemant Karkare, the Maharashtra ATS chief who was killed in the 26/11 terror attack, an official said here.

Addressing BJP workers here Thursday night, Thakur had claimed that Karkare died during the attack as she had "cursed" him for torturing her when he probed the blast case as chief of the Anti-Terrorism Squad.

However, after her remarks kicked up a row, she tendered an apology Friday.

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.

Bhopal, Apr 21 (PTI) The Election Commission has issued another show-cause notice to BJP's Bhopal Lok Sabha candidate and Malegaon blast accused Pragya Singh Thakur for her remark that she was proud of her participation in demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya.

Thakur made the controversial remark while speaking to a television channel.

Ahmedabad, Apr 20 (PTI) As many as 58 out of total 370 candidates in the fray from all the 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat have various criminal cases registered against them, as per Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) analysis.

Among them, 34 nominees are facing serious offences including the charges of murder and attempt to murder under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

LONDON (AP) — Queen Elizabeth II is celebrating her 93rd birthday, which this year coincides with Easter Sunday.

The queen is marking Easter by attending a service with other senior royals at St. George’s Chapel on the grounds of Windsor Castle, west of London.

She was joined by Prince William and his wife Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, and Prince Harry, whose wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, is expecting their first child in the coming weeks and did not attend.

New Delhi, Apr 20 (PTI) The Aam Aadmi Party has extended its unconditional support to the Left Democratic Front in Kerala following which the Left front also expressed its support to the ruling party in Delhi for the general elections.

"The AAP's political affairs committee (PAC) has decided to give unconditional support to the Left Democratic Front candidates in the state (Kerala)," AAP leader Somnath Bharti said.

Bhubaneswar, Apr 20 (PTI) Odisha chief electoral officer Surendra Kumar has suspended 14 government officers for dereliction of duty in the second phase of polling on April 18 and recommended fresh polling at a booth in Sorada assembly segment in Ganjam district.

Kumar said the 14 officers were deployed in five Lok Sabha and 35 assembly constituencies amd were suspended on charges of dereliction of duty during the simultaneous polls.

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. 

New Delhi, Apr 21 (PTI) The Congress on Sunday condemned the serial blasts at multiple locations in Sri Lanka, with party president Rahul Gandhi terming it a "diabolical act of terrorism".

More than 160 people were killed and over 450 injured in a string of near simultaneous blasts at churches and luxury hotels in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday.

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. 

Dhanbad, Apr 20 (PTI) A teenaged girl died hours after being allegedly raped by at least five persons, who were members of a marriage party, in a village in Dhanbad district of Jharkhand, police said Saturday.

All the five, including two minors, have been apprehended, they said.

The marriage party had come from Jamtara district of the state to the village under East Tundi block. Some of the wedding guests went to meet their relatives in another part of the village. The victim was a neighbour of their relatives, Superintendent of Police (Dhanbad Rural) Aman Kumar said.

Raigarh, Apr 20 (PTI) Five men have been arrested for allegedly gang-raping a 15-year-old girl at her house in Raigarh district of Chhattisgarh, police said Saturday.

The incident took place on Wednesday night in a village under Gharghoda police station area when the victim was alone at her house, Raigarh Superintendent of Police Rajesh Kumar Arawal said Saturday.