Peaceful polling held for by poll in 54 assembly seats across 10 states

Voting for by elections in 54 assembly seats in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Odisha, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Nagaland also took place on Tuesday. The voting for Valmiki Nagar Lok Sabha seat in Bihar and four assembly seats in Manipur will be held on 7th November.Counting for these seats will also take place on 10th November. In Gujarat, 56.85 percent voter turnout was recorded in the by-elections on 8 assembly seats. According to provisional figures of the Election Commission, maximum 74.71 percent polling was recorded in Dang ST constituency.Kaprada ST constituency in Valsad district has registered 67.34 percent polling.Lowest 42.18 percent polling was recorded in Dhari constituency of Amreli district. Karjan constituency in Vadodara district has registered 65.94 percent turnout, while Abdasa constituency in Kutch district has recorded 57.78 percent polling.56.04 percent turnout was recorded in Limbdi constituency, 51.88 percent in Morbi constituency and 47.86 percent in Gadhada SC constituency. Polling concluded peacefully. Counting of votes will take place on 10th November.Outcome of these by-elections will not impact the current political balance in the state. Ruling BJP has strength of 103 members in 182 member state assembly, while Congress has 65 members at present. All 8 seats were vacated following the resignations of Congress MLAs early this year during the Rajya sabha elections. In Madhya Pradesh, the electorates participated in the democratic process actively in the by-elections on 28 assembly seats today despite the Corona pandemic. Around 69.74 percent polling has been recorded in the bypolls.
-About 2.55 crore rural households have been provided tap connections since the launch of Jal Jeevan Mission in August last year. 
At the time of launch of Jal Jeevan Mission in August last year, about 3.23 crore households out of a total 18.93 crore rural households had tap water supply. Goa had become the first state in the country to provide tap water connections to all rural households of the state.Jal Shakti Ministry organised a virtual conference on Tuesday with all states and UTs Ministers in charge of rural water supply to review the progress made under the flagship programme.The video conference was chaired by Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.
-The First Phase of the 24th edition of the Malabar Naval Exercise has begun in Visakhapatnam, Bay of Bengal. Indian Navy, United States Navy, Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force and Royal Australian Navy are taking part in the Naval Exercise. It will continue till 6th of this month.Malabar series of maritime exercises commenced in 1992 as a bilateral Indian Navy- United States Navy exercise. Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force joined Malabar in 2015 and the 2020 edition will now witness participation of the Royal Australian Navy in this joint maritime exercise. According to the Ministry of Defence, the exercise is being conducted as a non-contact, at sea only in view of COVID-19 pandemic. The exercise will showcase the high-levels of synergy and coordination between the friendly navies, which is based on their shared values and commitment to an open, inclusive Indo-Pacific and a rules-based international order.

-In Assam, Rupsi Airport at Kokrajhar district is all set to start commercial operation under Regional Connectivity Scheme by January next year. Sources said that the airport has been re-developed at an estimated cost of  69 crore rupees and has also received its license by Directorate General of Civil Aviation. Spread across 337 acres of land, the newly developed airport has a terminal building with an area of 3,500 sqm. Equipped with 10 check-in counters, the terminal is designed to process 200 passengers during peak hours.

-The Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh Masud Bin Momen has said that the freedom of expression should be exercised responsibly without hurting the religious sentiments of the people.Addressing a group of media persons in Dhaka on Tuesday, the Foreign Secretary said that Bangladesh does not support violence in the name of religion. Expressing sympathy with the victims of terrorist violence, Masud said that Dhaka condemns the recent terrorist attacks in Europe, reports the official news agency BSS. 
Referring to the protest march brought out on Monday by some Islamist groups of Bangladesh against the comments of the French President Emmanuel Macron on the issue of the Prophet’s caricature published in a magazine in France and subsequent violence, Foreign Secretary Momen urged upon all to maintain peace.He also urged that religious sentiments should not be mixed up with economic issues.