News18 Daybreak | SC Dismisses ex-staffer's Right to Report in Sexual Harassment Case Against CJI and Other Stories You Need to Watch Out For

The Supreme Court today rejected a plea by 21 opposition parties that asked for counting of at least 25% per cent EVM paper trail machines - instead of only five - in every assembly segment. This was the second time the top court turned down their plea.

"We are not inclined to modify our order," a bench of Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi said today.

During a hearing on April 8, the Election Commission had argued that results of the Lok Sabha election could be delayed by five days if 50 per cent of voter-verifiable paper trail or VVPAT machines in every assembly segment were counted

A day after CJI Ranjan Gogoi was given a clean chit by the Supreme Court’s in-house inquiry panel in the sexual harassment case, the complainant has demanded that she be given the report to know the basis on which her complaint was found to have "no substance".

“I have a right to know how, why and on what basis have your Lordships found my complaint to have ‘no substance’,” she wrote in her letter to the panel.

The woman’s demands for transparency and a fair probe were echoed by many activists and lawyers, who gathered to protest outside the SC on Tuesday. Fifty-five of them were detained during the demonstration.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who led the opposition party leaders in filing the review plea, said that he would not give up the fight for transparency in the election process.

Over 200 Delhi University teachers have issued a public statement condemning Prime Minister Narendra Modi for making "derogatory and untrue" remarks about former PM Rajiv Gandhi.

Their statement came after Modi in a rally on Saturday targeted Congress president Rahul Gandhi on the Rafale issue and said "your father was termed 'Mr Clean' by his courtiers, but his life ended as 'Bhrashtachari No 1' (corrupt number 1)."

"Narendra Modi has lowered the dignity of the office of the prime minister by making derogatory and untrue remarks about the late Rajivji, who made the supreme sacrifice in the service of the nation," the statement issued Monday night and signed by 207 teachers read.

No prime minister has ever "stooped" to this level through such actions as has Modi, it said. Supreme Court to hear Congress party’s complaint on PM Modi’s ‘Bhrashtachari Number 1’ remark against PM Modi. Congress termed the complaint an insult to a Prime Minister who died for India—

A day after the idea of a ‘Federal Front’ gathered steam with Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao visiting his Kerala counterpart in Thiruvananthapuram, Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday said the meeting turned out to be ‘extremely significant’.

"We discussed about the national political scenario. KCR’s assessment is that both the fronts will not come close to the majority mark,” Vijayan said, adding that regional parties will play a huge role this time. However, no discussions related to their prime ministerial candidate were held, he said.

The TRS chief has been proposing a non-BJP, non-Congress federal front at the Centre. As part of his plan, Rao has embarked on a tour of Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

KCR, as Rao is popularly known in the state, had also placed a call to Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, but the Chief Minister's office said it was a courtesy call."

Vijayan said that since every state is facing problems, there should be a new government at the Centre which is rooted in values of secularism and is based on the federal system.

Two Reuters journalists jailed in Myanmar after they were convicted of breaking the Official Secrets Act walked free from a prison on the outskirts of Yangon on Tuesday after spending more than 500 days behind bars.

Before their arrest in December 2017, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo had been working on an investigation into the killing of 10 Rohingya Muslim men and boys by security forces and Buddhist civilians in western Myanmar's Rakhine State during an army crackdown that began in August 2017. The operation sent more than 730,000 Rohingya fleeing to Bangladesnh, according to U.N. estimates.

President Win Myint has pardoned thousands of other prisoners in mass amnesties since last month. It is customary in Myanmar for authorities to free prisoners across the country around the time of the traditional New Year, which began on April 17.