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Both had asked for two years time to give up their official bungalows but the Supreme Court would have none of it.
Lucknow: Former UP CM Akhilesh Yadav and father Mulayam vacated their official bungalows on Thursday as per a Supreme Court order earlier this month. This despite both previously requesting two years for moving out.
The Supreme Court had previously ordered that all government bungalows held by former CMs of UP be vacated. The decision was taken by the apex court while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by NGO Lokprahari.
Both Akhilesh and Mulayam had asked for two years time to vacate the bungalows allotted to them. While Akhilesh, who suffered a humiliating drubbing in the last state election, had said that he has no residence to move into, Mulayam had said none of his properties could accommodate his security personnel and the large number of guests he receives daily. Both of them had asked Supreme Court for relief but with none coming their way, had to pack up.
The other former CMs who also have to vacate government bungalows allotted to them are Mayawati, Rajnath Singh, Kalyan Singh and ND Tiwari.

Ludhiana : A resident of Model Gram in Ludhiana, Vasu Aggarwal, has topped the state in Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) 2018 in the undergraduate category, scoring 144.25 marks out of 199. His All-India Rank is 12 at the results that National University of Advanced Legal Studies, Kochi, Kerala, declared on Thursday.
The (CLAT) 2018 was organised on May 13 for candidates seeking admissions to the five-year integrated law degree (Honors) undergraduate programme, or to the one-year LLM post-graduate degree programme in 19 National Law Universities (NLUs) across the country.
Vasu’s father, Vineet Aggarwal is a businessman and mother, Shveta Aggarwal, is a homemaker. Sharing the secret behind his success, Vasu said, “There is no need to study for 12 hours a day to clear the exam. For scoring good marks, one only needs to study with dedication and follow a time-table.” He added, “Family and teachers motivated me to get this rank. My aim is to get admission in the National Law School of India University, Bangalore. With this rank, it is now within reach.”

A dissident Russian journalist Babchenko said he had been part of a special Ukrainian operation to thwart a Russian attempt on his life and said he was fine.
Kiev/Moscow: A dissident Russian journalist who was reported murdered in Kiev dramatically reappeared alive on Wednesday in the middle of a briefing about his own killing by the Ukrainian state security service.
Ukrainian authorities had said on Tuesday that Babchenko, a 41-year-old critic of President Vladimir Putin and of Russian policy in Ukraine and Syria, had been shot dead at his flat and that his wife had found him in a pool of blood.
His reported murder had triggered a war of words between Ukraine and Russia and sent shivers through the journalistic communities in both countries.
But on Wednesday, an emotional Babchenko appeared before reporters saying he had been part of a special Ukrainian operation to thwart a Russian attempt on his life and said he was fine.
“I would like to apologise for what you have all had to go through,” Babchenko, who looked on the verge of tears at times, told reporters.
“I`m sorry, but there was no other way of doing it. Separately, I want to apologise to my wife for the Hell that she has been through.”
He went on to thank the Ukrainian Security Service, the SBU, for saving his life and said the most important thing was that what he called other big acts of terror had been thwarted. He did not specify what those planned acts were.
The SBU said it had received information about the plot and had managed to prevent it.
Babchenko, a Putin critic, lived in the Ukrainian capital after receiving threats at home for saying he did not mourn the victims of a Russian military plane crash.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said in a social media posting late on Tuesday he was convinced what he called “the Russian totalitarian machine” had not forgiven Babchenko for what Groysman called his honesty.
The Kremlin described such allegations as part of an anti-Russian smear campaign.
“This is the height of cynicism against the backdrop of such a brutal murder. It is anti-Russian bluster instead of talking about the need to conduct a thorough, objective investigation,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters before it was revealed that Babchenko was alive and well.
Babchenko sparked a backlash in Russia for his comments in a 2016 Facebook post on a Russian military plane crash. He said his comments had resulted in thousands of threats, his home address being published online and calls for him to be deported.
The plane, carrying 92 people, including dozens of Red Army Choir singers, dancers and orchestra members, crashed into the Black Sea on its way to Syria in December 2016, killing everyone on board.

Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) candidate Tabassum Hasan has taken a massive lead of over 20,000 votes against Mriganka Singh of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The RLD has been backed by opposition parties Congress, Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party.
Speaking to Zee News, Tabassum Hasan said that BJP unnecessarily raked up the issue of Muhammad Ali Jinnah in the run up to the Kairana Lok Sabha bypolls. She said that the ruling party tried to divert the attention of people and mislead them.
According to Tabassum Hasan, there will be no impact of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying that the credit for her performance goes to the people of the country and the alliance between the opposition parties.
Elections were necessitated in Kairana after the seat fell vacant in February following the death of BJP leader Hukum Singh. The BJP fielded Mriganka Singh, daughter of Singh, from the seat.
Following the party’s defeat in from Gorakhpur and Phulpur by-elections in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP had profusely campaigned for Kairana seat in Uttar Pradesh.
Repolling at 73 booths in Kairana Lok Sabha constituency was conducted on Wednesday and witnessed estimated voter turnout of 61 per cent. The Election Commission had ordered repolling at these polling stations in view of technical snags in EVM-VVPAT machines during the bye-election on Monday.
Around 80,000 voters were eligible to cast their votes at the booths where the repolling was held.
Opposition Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Lok Dal as well as the ruling BJP had complained of electronic voting machines (EVM) malfunctioning at these booths. The repoll began at 7 am and ended at 5 pm in 23 polling stations at Nakur, 44 in Gangoh and one station at Thana Bhawan in Saharanpur and five in Shamli.
On Monday, 54 per cent polling was recorded in Kairana seat, which fell vacant following the death of BJP MP Hukum Singh, whose daughter Mriganka Singh is the saffron party candidate in the bypoll.

With the initial trends of the Lok Sabha bypoll results 2018 coming in, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is leading on two seats in Maharashtra – Palghar and Bhandara-Gondia. The saffron party, which had campaigned relentlessly in Kairana in Uttar Pradesh, is trailing on the seat where it has fielded Mriganka Singh.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which was initially leading in both Palghar and Bhandara-Gondia Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra, is now trailing in the latter. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has taken lead in Bhandara-Gondia. However, the BJP has extended its lead in Palghar. In Kairana, BJP’s Mriganka Singh is trailing against Tabassum Hasan of the RLD, which has been backed by the Congress, the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). Tabassum is reportedly leading by over 10,000 votes.
Elections were necessitated in Kairana after the seat fell vacant in February following the death of BJP leader Hukum Singh. The BJP fielded Mriganka Singh, daughter of Singh, from the seat.
In Maharashtra’s Palghar and Bhandara-Gondia seats, all four major parties – BJP, Shiv Sena, NCP, and Congress – left no stone unturned to woo the electorates in their favour during the campaign.
In Maharashtra, Palghar is a reserved seat, which was previously held by the BJP. The seat fell vacant after sitting BJP MP Chintaman Wanga died in January. Chintaman Wanga had been elected from the constituency thrice as a BJP member. However, after his death, his family joined hands with the Shiv Sena. Initially, the Shiv Sena was leader from the seat.
Bhandara-Gondia by-election was necessitated when BJP’s sitting MP Nana Patole quit the party to join the Congress in December 2017.

Counting of votes for the bypoll to the Chengannur Assembly seat in Kerala is underway on Thursday with CPI-M candidate, Saji Cherian, taking a comfortable lead of over 4,000 votes after counting started for the third round.
Chengannur: Counting of votes for the bypoll to the Chengannur Assembly seat in Kerala is underway on Thursday with CPI-M candidate, Saji Cherian, taking a comfortable lead of over 4,000 votes after counting started for the third round.
In the 2016 assembly polls the Communist Party of India-Marxist candidate, KK Ramachandran Nair, had a lead of only 2,000 votes. The bypoll was necessitated following Nair`s death in January
“The signs are good and victory is becoming clear because I have led in all the 14 booths in the first round which include strongholds of the Congress-led UDF,” said Cherian.
“With the trend becoming more and more clear, Cherian appears to be firmly establishing the lead. The CPI-M candidate clearly has an upper hand in the Congress` strongholds,” said senior Congress leader Rajmohan Unnithan.
Congress candidate D. Vijayakumar is in the second position followed by the Bharatiya Janata Party’s PS Sreedharan Pillai.
“I had told soon after the elections that the Left has purchased votes, and all that can be seen now,” said Pillai.
Voting for the seat took place on Monday.

The BJP candidate was on Thursday leading by more than 10,000 votes over his Shiv Sena rival in the counting for Palghar Lok Sabha seat bypoll in Maharashtra. After the fifth round of counting, the BJP’s nominee, Rajendra Gavit, secured 44,589 votes while the Shiv Sena’s Shrinivas Wanaga polled 34,218 votes, an election official said.
Mumbai: The BJP candidate was on Thursday leading by more than 10,000 votes over his Shiv Sena rival in the counting for Palghar Lok Sabha seat bypoll in Maharashtra. After the fifth round of counting, the BJP’s nominee, Rajendra Gavit, secured 44,589 votes while the Shiv Sena’s Shrinivas Wanaga polled 34,218 votes, an election official said.
The Bahujan Vikas Aghadi candidate, Baliram Jadhav, was at the third place with 32,294 votes after the fifth round.
The results of the two Lok Sabha seats — Palghar and Bhandara-Gondiya — in Maharashtra are important for all four major political parties – BJP, Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP – as the outcome is likely to have a bearing on their future course.
The polling, held on Monday, was marred by allegations of malfunctioning in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and the voter-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines.
Following the Election Commission’s order, re-polling was yesterday held at 49 booths in five of the six Assembly segments in Bhandara-Gondiya Lok Sabha constituency.
However, no re-polling was ordered in the Palghar (ST) Lok Sabha constituency.
The by-election in Palghar was necessitated due to the death of sitting BJP MP Chintaman Wanaga. The Bhandara-Gondiya seat was vacated after BJP’s Nana Patole resigned from the party and quit his Lok Sabha membership.
As many as 25 candidates were in the fray for the two seats – 18 in Bhandara-Gondiya and seven in Palghar.

The outbreak of the Nipah virus infection, a newly emerging zoonosis that causes severe disease in both animals and humans, is suspected to be from an unused well in Perambra which was infested with bats.
Kozhikode: The death toll due to Nipah virus in the state rose to 15, with a 28-year-old man succumbing to the deadly virus here, a health department official said on Thursday.
Akhil, a native of Karassery, who was undergoing treatment at the Kozhikode Medical college hospital (KMCH) since May 29, died last night, the official said.
Two more persons, confirmed of having contracted the virus are being treated at KMCH, he said.
Besides, 1,353 people who had been in contact with the affected persons before the confirmation of the disease, are under observation, the official said.
Yesterday, Madhusudhanan (55) of Nellikode in the district, who was undergoing treatment in a private hospital here also breathed his last.
He was working as a Senior superintendent in the Kozhikode District Court.
The outbreak of the Nipah virus infection, a newly emerging zoonosis that causes severe disease in both animals and humans, is suspected to be from an unused well in Perambra which was infested with bats.
The natural host of the virus is believed to be fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family, Pteropus genus.

The former IAS officer and first Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh was brought to Medanta Hospital by an air ambulance.
GURUGRAM: Former chief minister of Chhattisgarh Ajit Jogi is on life support at the Medanta Hospital in Haryana’s Gurugram. According to the doctors, his condition is stable at the moment.
The former IAS officer and first Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh was brought to Medanta Hospital by an air ambulance on Wednesday after being diagnosed with pneumonia.
The 72-year-old Chhattisgarh Janata Congress party chief was earlier undergoing treatment at a Raipur hospital.
“Jogi`s condition is stable and he is on ventilator support. The next bulletin will be shared at 10 am. on Thursday,” Senior Medical Superintendent Dr. AK Dubey said.
Jogi is being treated by a team of doctors led by Yatin Mehta.
Jogi’s wife Dr Renu, son Amit and daughter-in-law Dr. Richa are with him at the hospital.
Before being shifted to Gurugram, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Dr. Raman Singh met Ajit Jogi at the Raipur hospital and wished for his speedy recovery.

Suspended from party 3 years ago: Khalsa says the AAP he joined does not exist today; Gandhi says party will have to shun authoritarian tendencies for him to consider such a possibility.
Chandigarh : In a setback to those trying to reunite the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, suspended party MPs, Dharamvira Gandhi and Harinder Singh Khalsa, seem to be in no mood to patch up with the party leadership.
Both Gandhi and Khalsa, who were suspended from the primary membership of the AAP for alleged “indiscipline and anti-party activities” about three years ago, have ruled out the possibility of returning to the party fold in the present circumstances.
While Gandhi, MP from Patiala, said he would consider such a possibility only if the central leadership of the party gives up its authoritarian tendencies, buries the high command culture and sticks to its promise of autonomy, Khalsa, MP from Fatehgarh Sahib, said the party he had joined ceased to exist a long time ago.
“There is no such thing as the AAP today. The party which was floated or propagated in 2014 is not there,” said Khalsa, rejecting the move outright.
Their comments are significant in view of reports that a section of AAP leaders strongly favours revocation of suspension of Gandhi and Khalsa and reaching out to others who had left the party or are dissatisfied to try and make up lost ground in the state.
The AAP had bagged four – the only ones it won across the country – of the 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab in the 2014 elections, but failed to live up to expectations in the state assembly polls last year. The infighting-ridden state unit has suffered setback after setback since, suffering embarrassing defeats in Gurdaspur Lok Sabha byelection and municipal polls.
Khalsa, a former diplomat, said that he felt cheated because the AAP had strayed from its declared path, ignoring internal democracy, the issue of the Lokpal, the fight against corruption and other similar ideals that attracted people.
“I will contest the 2019 election. During the budget session of Lok Sabha, (Punjab Congress president Sunil) Jakhar asked me about my plans. I told him, “If I join your party, the raison d’être of my being in politics stands defeated. I am still to decide whether I will contest from any party or as an Independent candidate,” he said. Khalsa was the SAD MP from Bathinda from 1996 to 1998.
Gandhi said he was open to talking to like-minded people. “There are nine months to go for Parliamentary elections and anything can happen. My real fight is against the SAD,” he said. The Patiala MP, who launched ‘Punjab Manch’, a political action group, in March this year, said he would give it the shape of a regional political outfit before parliamentary elections. The AAP has decided to contest all the Lok Sabha seats in Punjab, Haryana and Delhi.