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Gujarat Polls: A glance at key candidates, constituencies that vote today
On the numerous constituencies that will vote on Thursday morning, a tough contest is anticipated as the BJP seeks to hold onto power and the AAP seeks to make inroads into yet another state.

The phase-1 polling has begun in Gujarat on Thursday and after weeks of intense campaigning by all the political parties, Gujarat’s citizens are ready to cast their votes in the first round of the assembly elections.
The fate of political parties will be decided by over 2 crore
With 89 constituencies spread across 19 districts in Kutch, Saurashtra, and South Gujarat up for election today. Political parties including the Bharatiya Janata Party, Congress, and Aam Aadmi Party have been racing to make election promises.
Voting is being held from 8 am to 5 pm, according to the Indian Election Commission.
There are now 39 political parties running for office, and they have fielded 788 candidates, including 718 men and 70 women.
Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP is taking a chance by attempting to capitalise on anti-incumbency and concerns like inflation and unemployment in order to gain power, while the state’s current ruling BJP is displaying confidence in maintaining its 27-year reign.
On the numerous constituencies that will vote on Thursday morning, a tough contest is anticipated as the BJP seeks to hold onto power and the AAP seeks to make inroads into yet another state.
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Jamnagar North (Jamnagar)
The first on the list is Jamnagar North, where the contest is between Rivaba Jadeja of the BJP, the wife of cricketer Ravindra Jadeja, Bipendrasinh Jadeja of the Congress, and Karsan Karmur of the AAP.
Ahir Jivanbhai Karubhai Kumbharvadiya, a candidate for the Congress, was defeated by incumbent MLA Dharmendrasinh Merubha in the 2017 Assembly elections.
The race for the seat gained attention after a political spat between two members of the same family came to light. Rivaba, who is running for office for the first time, is supporting the BJP, while her sister-in-law and father-in-law are supporting the Congress candidate.
Morbi
The second name on the list is Morbi, which gained attention after the recent tragedy in which a suspension bridge collapsed into the river, killing over 130 people.
Kantilal Amrutiya, a replacement for the outgoing MLA and Cabinet Minister Brijesh Merja, is running against Jayantilal Jerajbhai Patel of the Congress and Pankaj Ransariya of the AAP.
In an effort to pressure the administration over the Morbi tragedy, the opposition parties brought up the matter of “mismanagement” in the incident during the campaign.
Prior to Amrutiya’s loss to Merja, a member of the Congress in 2017, the BJP had previously won the Morbi Assembly seat in 1995, 1998, 2002, 2007, and 2012, according to records.
Merja later joined the BJP and won the Morbi by-elections once more. In 2022, the BJP will have Merja and Amrutiya.
Khambalia (Devbhoomi Dwarka)
The seat gains significance because Isudan Gadhvi, the AAP’s nominee for chief minister, is running from here. Vikram Madam of the Congress and Mulu Ayar Bera of the BJP are his opponents.
The BJP and AAP are anticipated to engage in a close race in the triangular conflict. Ahir Vikrambhai Arjanbhai Madam, a Congress contender, was successful in winning the seat in 2017. Congress has changed who will be running in the 2022 elections.
Rajkot West (Rajkot)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi previously ran in a by-election for Rajkot West in 2002. Vijay Rupani, a former chief minister, ran from the location in the 2017 Assembly elections.
Darshita Shah, a two-time deputy mayor, will compete against Dinesh Joshi of the AAP and Mansukhbhai of the Congress on the BJP ticket.
The seat, which the BJP has held since 1985, is regarded as one of its strongholds.
In the 2017 Assembly elections, Rupani defeated INC candidate Indranil Rajguru by a margin of 53,755 votes to win the seat.
Devboomi Dwaraka
The BJP’s Pabubha Manek is running against the AAP’s Nakum Lakhmanbhai Boghabhai and the Congress’ Malubhai Kandoria, who hasn’t lost an election in 32 years for the Devbhoomi Dwarka seat.
Manek had won the first three elections (1990, 1995, and 1998) as an independent leader. After joining the Congress, he won the seat in 2002. Later, running for the BJP, he prevailed in the Assembly elections of 2007, 2012, and 2017.
Manek defeated Ahir Meraman Markhi of the Congress in the 2017 Gujarat Assembly elections by a margin of 5,739 votes.
Katargam (Surat)
Gopal Italia, the state president of the AAP and a prominent Patidar leader, has been nominated by the constituency and is expected to engage in an exciting fight for the seat. He had been instrumental in the 2015 Patidar quota movement. He will compete against BJP candidate Vinodbhai Amrishbhai Mordiya and Congress candidate Kaplesh Variya, a member of the Prajapati community (OBC).
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Traffic chaos as rain lashes Delhi NCR, more showers forecast tomorrow
Due to heavy rain during the office dispersal hour, traffic chaos covered the captial. Social media is swamped with Delhiites sharing visuals of the rain and jam-packed roads.

Heavy rain lashed several parts of Delhi and NCR on Monday evening. The captial along with on-and-off drizzles had pleasant weather throughout the day.
Due to heavy rain during the office dispersal hour, traffic chaos covered the captial. Social media is swamped with Delhiites sharing visuals of the rain and jam-packed roads.
Earlier today, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued an orange alert owing to rain, thunderstorm, and hailstorm in several parts of the city.
The bad weather conditions in Delhi also triggered the diversion of a total of 10 flights which were scheduled to land at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation said.
Among the 10 flights, three were diverted to Lucknow and seven to Jaipur.
IMD had also said rain coupled with hail and gusty winds of up to 40 km per hour in Delhi will be witnessed on Monday. It also advised people to stay indoors and not seek shelter under trees, as maximum and minimum temperatures are expected to be around 26 and 16 degrees Celsius.
On Saturday, Delhi-NCR witnessed heavy rain with hailstorms taking the temperature to 25.3 degrees Celsius. As per the officials, the capital recorded the lowest temperature so far this month on Saturday.
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Delhi court extends Manish Sisodia’s judicial custody till April 3
A court in the national capital, Monday, extended the judicial custody of former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia by 14 days, till April 3.

A court in the national capital, Monday, extended the judicial custody of former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia by 14 days, till April 3.
Manish Sisodia was arrested by the CBI on February 26 in connection with its ongoing probe into the purported Delhi excise policy ‘scam’ case.
The CBI told Delhi’s Rouse Avenue court that their investigation into the alleged scam is still pending and at a crucial stage which requires Sisodia’s further detention in judicial custody.
The development comes mere two days after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) was granted the AAP leader’s custody for five more days, till March 22.
On Friday last, 51-year-old Sisodia’s ED custody was extended by a court in Delhi till March 22. The ED had told the court that Sisodia was allegedly involved in “large-scale destruction of digital evidence to impede the investigation” and had purportedly changed and destroyed 14 phones.
Manish Sisodia was arrested on March 9 by the ED while he was already lodged in Tihar jail in case against him by the CBI in connection with the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy case.
A Delhi court last week extended the former Deputy CM’s custody by five days after the ED sought more time for investigating the charges.
The ED told the court that some vital information had come up during custody and he had to be confronted with the other accused.
After the court’s decision, senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Raghav Chadha on Friday had claimed that central probe agencies don’t have any evidence, only “fabricated and malicious” stories against Sisodia.
Speaking at a presser, Chadha had accused the BJP of engaging in “politics of revenge” which he claimed was the reason behind Sisodia’s arrest. He had also claimed that the CBI and the ED don’t have any evidence against the former Deputy CM, adding that the probe agencies only questioned Sisodia for 15 hours during seven days of remand.
Chadha had claimed said the BJP was “scared” of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). He further claimed that the probe agencies only have “concocted stories” against Sisodia, and when the CBI couldn’t find anything against him during their interrogation, they asked the ED to “frame more false cases.”
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Rajasthan man abducted and mutilated by wife’s family who didn’t approve of marriage
A man in Ajmer district of Rajasthan was allegedly abducted and mutilated by his wife’s family who did not approve of the couple marriage, officials said on Monday.

A man in Ajmer district of Rajasthan was allegedly abducted and mutilated by his wife’s family who did not approve of the couple marriage, officials said on Monday.
As per the police, the man was abducted from Ajmer district and taken to a nearby villager where his in-laws allegedly chopped off his nose.
The victim had recently got married but the his wife’s family reportedly did not approve of the couple’s marriage.
A report quoted Station House Officer, Gegal, Ajmer Sunil Kumar as saying that the victim filed a complaint today in which he alleged that on March 18, he was kidnapped by his wife’s brother and other family members and taken to a village in Nagaur district where they thrashed him and then cut his nose off.
SHO Kumar said the police have detained some of the accused for questioning, adding that a case has been registered and further investigation is underway.
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Last week, a similar case came to the fore from a village in Madhya Pradesh where an elderly man allegedly committed suicide days after he was punished in a Taliban-esque manner. The victim was reportedly abducted and then shackled to a tree by iron chains, tortured and assaulted, reportedly by the family of a girl who eloped with his son in a village of the state’s Chhatarpur district.
A video of the horrific incident which went viral on social media last Monday, showed the man, identified as Udha Ahirwar, a resident of Panchampur village, chained to a tree—hand and feet—as a woman, presumably his wife feeds him food and water.
According to reports, Ahirwar’s son, Shankar Ahirwar, works as a labour in Rajasthan with the prime accused, Zandu Ahirwar’s son-in-law, a resident of Peera village. Shankar reportedly eloped with Zandu’s granddaughter after the couple fell in love.
The couple got married last month and since then Zandu allegedly began torturing Shankar’s parents, reports said.
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