Manipur records 77 per cent in final Phase of Assembly Polls

Manipur on Saturday recorded a high voter turnout of about seventy seven percent in the final phase of polling in the assembly elections, while the voter turnout percentage for re-polls was 78 percent. For the final phase, polling was conducted at 1247 polling stations of twenty two assembly constituencies of ten districts. Simultaneously, the re-polls at twelve polling stations of five assembly constituencies were also concluded today without any unwanted incidents. Ninety two candidates are in fray in the final phase polls in Manipur. The polling started from 7 AM and continued till 4 of this evening. However, the polling continued beyond 4.00 PM for those who reached the polling stations and were not able to cast their vote up to 4.00 PM. The election officials allowed those who reached the polling station before 4 o clock to cast the votes and tokens were issued to them. The counting of votes for the first and final phase will be held on March 10. The first phase polling was held on February 28 for 38 assembly constituencies and the voter turnout percentage was 89 percent.

-Campaigning for the seventh and final phase of elections in Uttar Pradesh ended Saturday evening. Polling for 54 seats of this phase will be held on  March 7. Poll campaign ended at 4 p.m. on chakiya assembly seat of Chandauli district and Robertsganj and assembly seats of Sonbhadra district. on the rest of 51 assembly seats the campaign ended at 6 p.m in the  evening. High voltage campaigning was witnessed at all assembly seats of this phase and perticularly on seats of Varanasi district which is the nerve centre of the grand finale. Senior BJP leader and Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a meeting with intellectual class of Varanasi on Saturday morning. and Later addressed a rally in khajuri area of Varanasi.  Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav also campaigned in Varanasi.  Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra held a road show in varanasi. The 54 seats going to polls in this phase are spread over Azamgarh, Mau, Jaunpur, Ghazipur, Chandauli, Varanasi, Mirzapur, Bhadohi and Sonbhadra districts.

-The Indian Navy successfully demonstrated the accuracy of an extended-range land-attack Brahmos supersonic cruise missile from the stealth destroyer INS Chennai on Saturday. The missile hit its intended target with pinpoint accuracy after traversing an extended range trajectory and performing complex manoeuvres. This achievement establishes the Indian Navy's ability to strike even deeper and influence land operations further away from sea, when and where required. Both Brahmos missile and INS Chennai are indigenously built and highlight the cutting-edge of Indian missile and ship-building prowess. They reinforce the Indian Navy's contribution towards the Atma Nirbhar Bharat and Make in India endeavours.

-Kerala Government has announced school final examination schedule as Covid-19 transmission in the State shows a marked decline. SSLC public examination will commence on March 31 and end on April 29.  Plus two exams will be held from March 30 to April 22 while Plus One and VHSE exams will take place from June 02 to 18. Education Minister V. Sivankutty informed that annual examination for classes one to nine will be held from March 23 to April 02.

-In Tamil Nadu, in indirect elections for the urban civic body chief and deputy chief posts, the ruling DMK rebel candidates in some places trounced the official nominees of their own party and of the alliance partners. It has led the party president and the state chief minister MK Stalin to issue a strongly-worded statement, asking the rebel cadres to step down from the posts immediately.The ruling alliance partners including the CPI (M) and the VCK have made open statements decrying the DMK rebels’ actions, who have asked the DMK to do justice for them. In another development, the DMK has removed the party’s Kanyakumari East Secretary from the post. The action comes in the wake of the DMK candidate in the mayoral election for the Nagercoil Municipal Corporation getting four votes less than the collective strength of the party and its allies. The four votes went in favour of the BJP. However, the DMK candidate won the mayoral post with a tender majority. Nagercoil in Kanyakumari district is the only municipal corporation in Tamil Nadu that saw an election for the mayor post. All the other 20 mayors were elected unopposed. Similarly, the principal opposition AIADMK has expelled some of its rebel cadres for anti-party activities in defiance of the party leadership’s directives in the elections.