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National Conference wins three Rajya Sabha seats in J&K; ‘cross-voting’ gives BJP one The ruling National Conference (NC) won three Rajya Sabha seats in Jammu & Kashmir, and the BJP won one seat after voting. The BJP registered a dramatic victory on the fourth seat by bagging 32 votes despite having 28 legislators in the J&K Assembly. Three senior NC leaders -- former Ministers Choudhary Mohammad Ramzan and Sajjad Ahmed Kichloo, and party treasurer Gurwinder Singh Oberoi – won. The BJP’s State president Sat Sharma won the fourth seat defeating NC candidate Imran Nabi Dar who polled 22 votes. Judicial panel to begin inquiry into Leh violence from October 25 The judicial commission constituted by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) will start inquiring into the circumstances that resulted in violence and the deaths of four civilians during street protests on September 24 in Ladakh’s Leh district. An official said Justice B.S. Chauhan, heading the judicial commission, will start meeting people from October 25 in Leh. The probe panel will begin hearings at Melongthang, Leh, from October 25 up to 28. PM Modi to lead parade on 150th birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lead the Rashtriya Ekta Diwas parade near Kevadia in Gujarat on October 31 to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister of the country. Built around the theme of ‘Unity in Diversity’, the event will be held at Ekta Nagar, nestled between the Satpura and Vindhyachal mountain ranges in Gujarat where Sardar Patel’s Statue of Unity was inaugurated in 2018, Border Security Force Director General Daljit Singh Chaudhary said. 19 killed as Bengaluru-bound bus catches fire after bike collision near Kurnool In one of the deadliest road accidents in Andhra Pradesh in recent years, a private sleeper bus bound for Bengaluru from Hyderabad turned into a moving fireball at Chinna Tekuru village in Kalluru mandal of Kurnool district, killing at least 19 people and leaving several others injured, four of them critically. Twenty-seven people escaped the inferno. When the mishap took place, there were 40 adults, four children, and two drivers inside the bus, making it 46 including two drivers. The deceased included five women and two children. Day after being chosen as Opposition’s CM face, Tejashwi appeals to voters to give him a chance A day after being selected as the Chief Ministerial candidate of the Opposition India bloc, Tejashwi Yadav began his campaign by appealing to voters to give him one chance. Asserting that unemployment is the biggest enemy in Bihar, he claimed that he had generated five lakh jobs when he was Deputy Chief Minister of the State, and can do more if given an opportunity. Bihar’s per capita income is still the lowest in the country, despite Nitish Kumar ruling Bihar as Chief Minister for 20 years, and Narendra Modi holding the Prime Minister’s post for the past 11 years, Mr. Yadav said. Kurnool bus tragedy occurred due to overspeed and negligence, says State Disaster Response and Fire Services D-G Officers deployed in Kurnool district's Fire Control Room received a fire call around 3 a.m. on the fire accident in Bengaluru-bound private travels bus. “The accident occurred due to overspeed and may be negligence of the driver. The bus went up in flames near Ullandakonda village, 18 kilometres away from Kurnool. In all, 43 persons were in the ill-fated bus,” said the in-charge Director-General, A.P. State Disaster Response and Fire Services, P. Venkata Ramana. Zubeen Garg death: Assam SIT expects probe material from Singapore in 10 days The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing Assamese cultural icon Zubeen Garg’s mysterious death expects to get CCTV footage and witness statements from the Singapore Police Force (SPF) within 10 days. Garg died while swimming off an island in Singapore on September 19, hours before he was scheduled to perform at the North East India Festival there. SC to hear contempt plea on October 27 against lawyer who threw an object at CJI Bench The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Monday (October 27, 2025) a petition filed by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) seeking criminal contempt action against advocate Rakesh Kishore for hurling an object, which appeared to be a rolled-up sheaf of papers, at Chief Justice of India B. R. Gavai who was presiding in court on October 6. A Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi will hear the SCBA petition, which will be represented by president and senior advocate Vikas Singh. SIR of electoral rolls in Tamil Nadu to begin in a week, ECI tells Madras High Court The Election Commission of India (ECI) informed the Madras High Court that it would commence “in a week or so” a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Tamil Nadu, as the State is set to witness the Legislative Assembly elections in 2026. Appearing before the first Division Bench of Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice G. Arul Murugan, ECI standing counsel Niranjan Rajagopalan said, the SIR in Tamil Nadu is expected to commence soon as part of the nationwide exercise. Gaza peace deal ‘landmark’ step towards stability in Middle East: India The recently signed Gaza Peace Agreement is a “landmark” step towards stability in the Middle East, India has said, reiterating that a two-state solution remains “the only pragmatic path” to achieving durable peace between Israel and Palestine. Speaking at the United Nations Security Council’s quarterly open debate on the situation in the Middle East, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Parvathaneni Harish, said, “It is India's earnest desire to realise the vision of a stable and peaceful Middle East... deprivation and indignity cannot be part of daily life; civilians must not die due to conflict.” Congress, BJP spar over OBC politics in poll-bound Bihar On a day when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the village of socialist leader and former Bihar Chief Minister Karpoori Thakur in the poll-bound State, the Congress on Friday said Thakur’s government collapsed in 1979 because the Jan Sangh withdrew support over reservation to Other Backward Classes (OBCs). “Is it not an acknowledged fact that the Jan Sangh – from which the BJP emerged – brought down Karpoori Thakurji’s Govt in Bihar in April 1979 when the then CM introduced reservation for OBCs? Is it not a fact that Karpoori Thakur ji was subjected to the vilest abuse by RSS and Jan Sangh leaders then?” Congress communications chief Jairam Ramesh asked in a post on X. GST officials should rely on technology and not place extra burden on taxpayers: FM Nirmala Sitharaman Goods and Services Tax (GST) officials should rely on their own technology and systems rather than placing the onus of providing paperwork on the taxpayers, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told tax officials on Friday (October 24, 2025). Speaking at the inauguration of the new CGST Bhawan in Ghaziabad, Ms. Sitharaman told the gathered tax officials that their work did not end with the implementation of the reduced GST rates. PM-SHRI enrolment rocks ruling LDF coalition politics in Kerala The Kerala government’s decision to join the PM-SHRI scheme to access substantial Central grants for school education has roiled ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) coalition politics. The Communist Party of India (CPI) has taken strong exception to the move, which it has deemed as an implicit acceptance of the “RSS’ majoritarian nationalism-inspired“ National Education Policy (NEP). Piyush Pandey, advertising world doyen, passes away Piyush Pandey, advertising industry legend behind some iconic campaigns, died in the early hours of Friday. He was 70. A creative person he was known for creating many highly successful ad campaigns such as for Fevicol and Vodafone. Donald Trump says he’s ending trade talks with Canada over TV ad President Donald Trump said late that he was ending “all trade negotiations” with Canada because of a television ad opposing U.S. tariffs that he said misstated the facts and called “egregious behavior” aimed at influencing U.S. court decisions. The post on Mr. Trump's social media site came after Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he aims to double his country’s exports to countries outside the U.S. because of the threat posed by Trump’s tariffs.
