NEWS

Alleging that the rival DMK party leaders have indulged in bribery in order to woo voters in their favour, AIADMK on Monday (April 5) approached the Election Commission of India seeking the disqualification of MK Stalin and his son Udhayanidhi Stalin among other leaders.

Apart from Stalin, the ruling AIADMK also urged ECI to cancel the candidature of other top DMK leaders including party's General Secretary Durai Murugan.

In his complaint R.M. Babu Murugavel, AIADMK's Advocate Wing Joint Secretary, has alleged that Stalin's wife Durga Stalin had paid Rs 10,000 to women self-help groups in the Kolathur constituency seeking their votes as well as to canvass for her husband, a report by IANS said.

Maharashtra vaccinated 4,62,000 people on Saturday, creating a record of sorts for the maximum number of vaccinations in a single day. The state now aims to achieve the target of vaccinating 6 lakh people in a day.

Maharashtra government said that it had set a new national record by vaccinating 4,62,725 citizens in a day.

Maharashtra has so far vaccinated about 73,47,429 people.

Delhi on Monday recorded a slight dip in daily cases of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) after 3,548 fresh infections were added to its tally, according to health department bulletin. The new cases pushed the total cases to 679,962. The fatality count also rose to 11,096 after 15 new deaths were recorded in the last 24 hours, the bulletin showed.

The slight dip in the daily cases, down from 4,033 seen on Sunday, was seen amid reduced testing on Monday as only 64,003 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours, as opposed to 86,899 conducted a day earlier.

Out of the 64,003 tests conducted, 43,960 people were tested through RT-PCR tests and 20,043 were tested via rapid antigen testing method.

The virality of infection and its spread has also surged in the last 24 hours, as indicated by the positivity rate which has crossed the 5% mark. On Sunday, the positivity rate in Delhi rose to 4.64% from 4.48% a day earlier but on Monday, it reached 5.54% - suggesting that more people are testing positive in the bracket of those being tested.

The Chhattisgarh Police will submit a report on the Bijapur encounter to Union Home Ministry on Monday.    

The report will be submitted first to Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel before being sent to the Ministry of Home Affairs. No request has been made for the NIA probe as of now.

In the encounter with Naxals in Bijapur, 22 jawans were killed and 31 sustained injuries on Saturday. Security forces have launched an operation along the Sukma-Bijapur border, where an intense face-off resulted in the deaths of 22 jawans. One soldier is still believed to be missing. His body is suspected to be in foliage and the search operation will resume tomorrow.

Specific intelligence on the presence of prized Maoist leader Hidma now appears to have been a trap in the jungles of Chhattisgarh, sources said.