New Delhi [India], March 17 (ANI): The All India Congress Committee (AICC) announced the names of two more candidates on Wednesday for the upcoming West Bengal Assembly polls.
Congress leaders Abdur Rezzak Mollah and Avjit Narjinary will contest from Falta and Kalchini assembly seats respectively.
On Sunday, the Congress Party released a list of 34 candidates for the forthcoming West Bengal assembly elections.
Among the key names mentioned in the list include Abdul Mannan, Shiladitya Haldar, Amitabha Chakraborty and Alok Ranjan Banerjee.
Mannan, the Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly will contest from Champdani seat. Chakraborty will contest from the Shyampur assembly seat and Banerjee from Sreerampur.
Congress has made an alliance with the Left Front to contest in the ensuing West Bengal Assembly polls. However, the newly-formed Indian Secular Front (ISF) has also joined the Congress-Left alliance in the poll-bound Bengal. Till now, 92 seats have been finalised for Congress in the alliance.
Earlier this month, Congress had released the names of 16 candidates for the West Bengal Assembly polls.
Elections to 294-member West Bengal Assembly will be held in eight phases starting from March 27 with the final round of voting taking place on April 29. The counting of votes will take place on May 2. (ANI)

New Delhi [India], March 17 (ANI): A meeting of the Central Election Committee (CEC) of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) began at the party headquarters on Wednesday evening to finalise candidates for the remaining four phases of the West Bengal assembly elections.
The high-level meeting is being attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP President JP Nadda and other leaders.
The BJP has finalised candidates for the first four phases of the West Bengal polls. It has also finalised almost all candidates for polls in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Assam.
Till now, BJP released the names of 112 candidates for the first four phases of the forthcoming assembly polls in the state. In its earlier list, the party has fielded four MPs including Union Minister Babul Supriyo, Locket Chatterjee, Swapan Dasgupta and Nisith Pramanik.
BJP has also fielded eminent economist Ashok Lahiri from the Alipurduar assembly seat. Further, several actors such as Yash Das Gupta, Tanusree Chakraborty, Payal Sarkara, Anjana Basu and Hiraan Chatterjee have also been fielded by the BJP for the upcoming polls.
Elections to the 294-member state assembly will be held in eight phases starting from March 27 with the final round of voting taking place on April 29. The counting of votes will take place on May 2. (ANI)

Nellore (Andhra Pradesh) [India], March 17 (ANI): In the ongoing investigation in the Amaravati land scam case, Andhra Pradesh Crime Investigation Department (CID) on Wednesday conducted raids in the house and office of former minister and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader Ponguru Narayana in Nellore.
Former Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister of Andhra Pradesh, P Narayana, was served notice by Andhra Pradesh CID in connection with the Amaravati land case. He is facing allegations of taking away the lands of farmers by cheating, illegally and fraudulently when he was Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister during the TDP regime.
Andhra Pradesh CID also issued a notice to TDP Former Minister P Narayana to appear before the CID office on March 22 in connection with this case.
The same notices were served yesterday to TDP Chief N Chandrababu Naidu and was asked to appear before the CID on March 23 as he was too named in the case.
Andhra Pradesh CID’s DSP A Lakshmi Narayana Rao told ANI that raids are being conducted at the residence and office of former Minister P Narayana from this morning in connection with the Amaravati land scam case. (ANI)

Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], March 17 (ANI): Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao on Wednesday ordered the authorities to take all necessary steps to control the spread of coronavirus, which has been on a rise in recent days.
Telangana registered 247 new COVID-19 cases and 158 recoveries in last 24 hours, informed the union health ministry on Wednesday morning.
Rao, speaking in the assembly, said that the state has been witnessing a rise in the number of COVID-19 cases since last week. “The number of cases of coronavirus has been increasing in the state for the last one week. We are taking all the necessary steps to control the situation in the state.”
“Even in the past, due to the spontaneous steps taken by the Telangana government, the state was able to stand at a better place compared to many states in the country.”
“In some places, especially some residents of a school’s hostel, have registered a surge in COVID-19 cases and all the necessary steps are being taken by the state government to control the situation. We are having a regular conversation with the central government and having been receiving necessary suggestions from them too,” KCR added.
Earlier in the day, the Mancherial district administration of Telangana informed ANI that it had conducted COVID-19 tests at Mancherial Government Girls School on Tuesday for teachers, students and 48 results came out positive.
A total of 226 members were tested for COVID-19, of which 49 members, including 28 students, six parents, 12 teachers and three others tested positive. All the positive patients were shifted to the government’s health facility centers for treatment. The school has been temporarily closed by the district administration until further orders.
Similarly, the Rangareddy district administration of Telangana informed ANI: “All the students of the Government Minority Welfare Hostel in Rangareddy district were tested for COVID-19, in which 38 students have been tested positive. They have been shifted to a government hospital for treatment and other students were sent to their residences. The welfare hostel has been closed temporarily by the authorities until further orders.” (ANI)

Dehradun (Uttarakhand) [India], March 17 (ANI): Taking strict action on the matter of substandard road construction, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat has instructed to suspend the two engineers of the Public Works Department (PWD).
According to a statement from the Uttarakhand Chief Minister’s office, orders have been issued by the principal secretary PWD to suspend both the engineers.
The Chief Minister took the matter which went viral on social media and gave instructions to suspend AE Ajit Singh and JE Anil Kumar in the case of ‘poor road construction’ in km 154-155 of Laxmanjhula-Kandi-Dugadda-Rathuvadhab-Dhumakot motorway in Dugadda Public Works Provincial Section.
Rawat has also ordered a further inquiry into the matter. (ANI)

New Delhi [India], March 17 (ANI): Terror incidents and attempts of infiltration from across the border in Jammu and Kashmir have reduced significantly over the last three years, said the Ministry of Home Affairs on Thursday.
“During the past three years, there has been a significant decrease in terror incidents and attempts of infiltration from across the border in Jammu and Kashmir. However, the incidents of shelling from across the border have increased during the past three years,” the MHA said in the Rajya Sabha.
According to the Ministry, compared to 2018, which saw 614 incidents of terror, only 244 incidents were reported in 2020.
Similarly, infiltration also reduced from 2018 (328) when compared to last year’s figures (99).
Ceasefire violations, however, increased drastically from 2018 to 2020.
In 2018, 2,140 ceasefire violations took place, which further increased in 2019 (3,479) but saw a massive jump in 2020 where such violations were 5,133.
“The steps taken include proactive operations to seek and arrest/neutralize the terrorists, the identification and arrest of over-ground workers/supporters of terrorism, action against members of banned organisations, intensified night patrolling and checking at Nakas, security arrangements through appropriate deployment, coordination meetings amongst intelligence agencies, high level of alertness maintained by the security forces and legal action in cases of terror funding etc,” the MHA added. (ANI)