"Jai Shri Ram, Jai Shri Ram" -- the chant rang out loud in the heart of Gwalior this evening, as a heated confrontation unfolded between a police officer and a lawyer amid prohibitory orders and tightened security across the city. What started as a dispute over enforcing prohibitory orders, quickly turned into a dramatic face-off between senior police officer Hina Khan and advocate Anil Mishra. Both sides chanted of "Jai Shri Ram" before a stunned crowd. The atmosphere in Gwalior has been tense over the installation of a statue of BR Ambedkar at the Madhya Pradesh High Court premises. Though the Dalits have called off their protest march planned for October 15, a security blanket has been firmly spread over the city in view of earlier instances of caste conflict. According to eyewitnesses, advocate Mishra, former president of the lawyers' association, arrived with his supporters to recite Ramayan's Sundar Kand near Phoolbagh on Monday evening. Hina Khan ...
Of the 57 seats going to polls today, nine are from West Bengal, 13 from Uttar Pradesh, eight from Bihar, six from Odisha, four from Himachal Pradesh, three from Jharkhand, and the lone seat of Union Territory Chandigarh. All 13 seats of Punjab are also on today's list. The election is expected to be triangular, with INDIA allies Congress and Aam Aadmi Party having a "friendly" contest that is expected to split the non-BJP vote and play into BJP hands. Polling will also take place for the remaining 42 assembly seats and six Lok Sabha seats in Odisha. The BJP, which has replaced the Congress as the main Opposition party, is hoping to corner Naveen Patnaik's Biju Janata Dal. By-elections are being held on six assembly seats in Himachal Pradesh, which will also have a bearing on the fortunes of the state's Congress government. All six seats were held by Congress but the MLAs had turned rebel and cross-voted in the Rajya Sabha election, resigned and joined the BJP...