A helicopter carrying Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar had to make an emergency landing in Uttrakhand’s Munsiyari due to bad weather on Wednesday.

Pithoragarh District Magistrate Vinod Girish Goswami said the chopper, which was on its way to Milam Glacier, left at around 1 pm.

However, due to the cloudy weather and low visibility, it landed on a helipad in Ralam village, 42 km away, at around 1.30 pm, he said.

Additional Chief Election Officer of Uttarakhand Vijay Kumar Jogdande is with the CEC, he said.

There were three people on board the helicopter apart from the pilot. They are all safe and waiting for the weather to clear up to return to Munsiyari, the DM said.

They have the necessary communication equipment including satellite phones, he added.

“I have talked to the CEC twice. They are all safe. If the weather clears up, they will be taken back to Munsiyari and if it does not, they will rest at the ITBP camp near Ralam,” the DM said.

On Tuesday, the Election Commission announced the schedule for the upcoming Maharashtra and Jharkhand Assembly elections.

Maharashtra will vote in a single phase on November 20, while Jharkhand will witness voting in two phases on November 13 and November 20. The counting of the votes will take place on November 23, according to ECI. 

Addressing the media on Tuesday, CEC Kumar said that the date of issue of Gazette notification for the Maharashtra Assembly election is October 22, and the last date for filing nominations is October 29. He added that the date for scrutiny of nominations will be October 30 and the last date for withdrawal of candidates is November 4. 

The 2024 Maharashtra election will see a key contest between the Maha Vikas Aghadi (Shiv Sena-UBT, NCP-Sharad Pawar faction, Congress) and the ruling Mahayuti Alliance (BJP, Shiv Sena-Eknath Shinde faction, NCP-Ajit Pawar faction). 

As the National Conference (NC) vice president Omar Abdullah took oath as the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday reiterated his party’s commitment to restoring statehood in the Union Territory.

Apart from Kharge, Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, NCP (SP) leader Supriya Sule, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and other INDIA alliance leaders, attended the swearing-in ceremony in Srinagar.

Speaking to ANI, Kharge said, “I have come here to congratulate him. We are happy that our alliance partner became the CM and democracy has been established here after a long time. We will ensure that statehood is restored here.”

LoP Rahul Gandhi, who also attended the sworn-in ceremony, extended his congratulations to Omar Abdullah on becoming Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir.

“However, government formation without statehood felt incomplete today,” Gandhi said in a post on X.

“Democracy was snatched from the people of Jammu and Kashmir, and today we renew our pledge to continue our fight until statehood is fully restored,” the Leader of Opposition said.

Meanwhile, Congress leader Ghulam Ahmad Mir urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to respond swiftly to the people’s mandate and restore the statehood of Jammu and Kashmir.

“The people have given their mandate to restore the status of the state. It was our first agenda. The PM also made this commitment to restore the state after the delimitation, and then the election. The formation of a cabinet (in J&K) is the third step. We would want the PM to respond as soon as possible to the mandate of the people. We want to say that give us the state, we will run the cabinet,” Mir said speaking to ANI.

Earlier, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti said that the people here have been witnessing a difficult time after the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019, and now the new government must bring in its first resolution concerning it.

“I congratulate the people of Jammu and Kashmir on getting a stable government after a long time. J-K has been facing a difficult time since August 2019 (after the abrogation of Article 370). They have given a mandate with great hope thinking that the wrong decision taken will be condemned on the floor of the House,” said Mufti.

The central government led by the Prime Minister had in August 2019 repealed Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, effectively ending the special status given to Jammu and Kashmir.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday expressed his concern over terrorism, extremism and separatism during his address at a conclave of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Islamabad, Pakistan. He said cooperation must be based on mutual respect and sovereign equality and that it should recognise the territorial integrity and sovereignty of nations.

During his address at the 23rd SCO meeting, he asserted that cooperation in areas like trade, energy and connectivity is unlikely to flourish if activities across borders are characterised by terrorism, extremism and separatism.

“SCO cannot progress if we cherry-pick global practices, especially of trade and transit,” the EAM said.

The External Affairs Minister led the Indian delegation at the SCO Council of Heads of Government (CHG) summit in Islamabad which was chaired by Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

The dignitaries, comprising seven Prime Ministers from Russia, China, Belarus, and Central Asian nations, Iran’s Vice President, and Jaishankar, assembled for a group photograph on earlier today, followed by the plenary session of the 23rd SCO CHG.

Jaishankar said trust was key for cooperation and the SCO member nations can benefit immensely if the grouping moves ahead collectively.

He said SCO’s primary goal of combatting terrorism, separatism and extremism is even more crucial in current times. Jaishankar highlighted that it requires honest conversation, trust, good neighborliness and reaffirming commitment to SCO Charter.

“SCO needs to be firm and uncompromising in countering the ‘three evils’,” Jaishankar said. Globalization and rebalancing are current day realities and that there is need for SCO countries to take it forward, he added.

“It should recognise territorial integrity and sovereignty. It must be built on genuine partnerships, not unilateral agendas. It cannot progress if we cherry-pick global practices, especially of trade and transit,” he said, in remarks seen as an indirect reference to China’s assertive behaviour on key issues. 

Earlier, former Pakistani Foreign Minister Khursheed Mahmood Kasuri has described External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s trip to Islamabad as a ‘positive step’, suggesting it could help ease tensions between the two nations. This statement follows Jaishankar’s comments dismissing the likelihood of bilateral talks during his visit.