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☆ India's Rahul Gandhi appeals after court denies stay of defamation conviction
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

NEW DELHI, April 25 (Reuters) - Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday appealed to the High Court in the western state of Gujarat seeking a stay of conviction in a defamation case, challenging a lower court's ruling against his plea, his lawyer said. The 52-year old scion of India's Congress party was sentenced to two years' imprisonment. His petition seeking a stay of conviction was rejected last week. Gandhi also lost his parliamentary seat following the conviction since lawmakers sentenced to jail terms of two years or more are automatically disqualified and barred from running for election. Two more defamation cases have also been filed against Gandhi elsewhere in India relating to the same comment.

☆ Indian court denies Rahul Gandhi's appeal to stay defamation conviction
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Sumit Khanna | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

AHMEDABAD, India, April 20 (Reuters) - A court in India's western state of Gujarat on Thursday rejected Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's petition seeking a stay of conviction in a defamation case, fuelling uncertainty over whether he will be able to contest an election due next year. "The Surat district court has not granted a stay on Rahul Gandhi's conviction," Naishadh Desai, a local Congress leader and lawyer, told reporters outside the court room. While Thursday's ruling was a setback for Gandhi, his jail sentence remained suspended until he exhausts all legal challenges. Senior Congress leader and Supreme Court lawyer Jairam Ramesh said the party would use every legal option to overturn Gandhi's conviction. The defamation case against Gandhi was brought by Purnesh Modi, a BJP legislator in the Gujarat state assembly.

☆ India's Gandhi to appeal against defamation conviction on "multiple grounds"
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Sumit Khanna | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SURAT, India, April 3 (Reuters) - Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi will on Monday lodge an appeal against his conviction for defamation, his lawyer said, hoping to overturn a judgement that resulted in his expulsion from parliament a year before a general election is due. Gandhi, the scion of a dynasty that has given India three prime ministers, was granted bail and a two-year jail sentence was suspended for 30 days allowing him to appeal in a higher court. "Gandhi will challenge the conviction order on multiple grounds," his lawyer, Kirit Panwala, told Reuters in Surat city in the western state of Gujarat where the appeal will be heard. He said the appeal would also highlight what he called procedural lapses in the trial. Writing by Rupam Jain in New Delhi; Editing by YP Rajesh, Robert BirselOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Indian court convicts Rahul Gandhi of defamation, gives two-year sentence
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Gandhi was present at the court in Surat, a city in Gujarat, which is Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state. Gandhi would appeal against the verdict in a higher court, the president of his Congress party said on Twitter, calling Modi's government "cowardly and dictatorial". "The court has found Rahul Gandhi’s comment to be defamatory. Gandhi said in court that he had made the comment to highlight corruption and not against any community. Reporting by Sumit Khanna in Ahmedabad, writing by Shilpa Jamkhandikar; Editing by Raju GopalakrishnanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Broken wires, faulty renovation caused deadly India bridge collapse, probe finds
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( Sumit Khanna | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

AHMEDABAD, India, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Broken corroded wires, improper welding and changes to the walking surface of a 145-year-old hanging bridge in India contributed to its collapse last year that killed 135 people, an investigation has found. "Main cable of the upstream side was found broken on one side," according to a preliminary investigation report seen by Reuters. "Out of the 49 wires of the main cable, 22 were corroded which indicates that those wires may be already broken before the incident. The Oreva Group did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment. The report blamed Oreva for unrestricted access to the bridge for people and insufficient security arrangements.

☆ Modi's party set for landslide election win in India's Gujarat state
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Sumit Khanna | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi waves to his supporters as he arrives to cast his vote during the second and last phase of Gujarat state assembly elections in Ahmedabad, India, December 5, 2022. The western industrial state is a bastion of the BJP, which has not lost state assembly elections there since 1995. Modi was Gujarat's chief minister for 13 years before becoming prime minister in 2014. The party was also set to surpass its best results in Gujarat when it won 127 seats in 2002. He is eyeing a third term as prime minister in 2024 and campaigned extensively across the state in the run up to the Gujarat vote.

☆ Modi's home state Gujarat votes, seen as easy mid-term test for India's leader
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Sumit Khanna | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Opinion polls conducted in the lead-up to the Gujarat polls projected the BJP to comfortably retain power in the state. In the last state election five years ago, the BJP won 99 seats in the 182-member assembly while Congress got 77. The BJP is expected to win between 131 to 139 seats this time, ABP-CVoter projected in November. Congress could win 31 to 39 seats while the Aam Aadmi Party could bag up to 15. According to India TV-Matrize opinion poll, also conducted in November, the BJP may win up to 119 seats.

☆ India's Aam Aadmi party set for big gains in Modi's home state
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Sumit Khanna | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

SURAT, India, Nov 4 (Reuters) - India's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), formed only a decade ago and having claimed power in Delhi and Punjab state, is set to be the biggest gainer in assembly elections in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state of Gujarat next month. AAP boss and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is known to have national ambitions. "Ninety-nine per cent I am going to vote for Aam Adam Party," said diamond worker Bharat Patel. "It looks like the surge of the Aam Aadmi Party is not going down," Yashwant Deshmukh, founder of polling agency CVoter, told Reuters. With pictures of Modi, the ruling party is underlining the advantages of having a BJP government at the state and nationally.

☆ India's Gujarat state suspends senior local administrator for bridge collapse
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Sumit Khanna | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"The state government has suspended Sandeepsinh Zala, chief officer of Morbi municipality in view of the bridge collapse," Pankaj Joshi, secretary to Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, told Reuters. The bridge - 233 metres in length and 1.25 metres wide - was originally built in 1877 and had been closed for six months for repairs until last week. India Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who hails from the state and was its chief minister for close to 13 years, has called for a detailed and extensive inquiry into the cause of the disaster. The government in the Western Indian state, where legislative elections are due to be held next month, called off the search operation for survivors on Thursday. Local fire brigade, state and national disaster teams will be kept on standby, a government statement said.

[1/2] A man sits at the site of a damaged suspension bridge after it collapsed on Sunday, in Morbi town in the western state of Gujarat, India, November 1, 2022. REUTERS/Stringer/File PhotoMORBI, Nov 3 (Reuters) - India's Gujarat state on Thursday said that the search operation following the collapse of a bridge that led to the death of 135 people had been called off. Local fire brigade, state and national disaster teams will be kept on standby, a government statement said. "One person was reportedly missing since the incident, but we have a police report that says no such person is missing. And hence the decision to call off the search operation," GT Pandya, senior administrative official in Morbi told Reuters.

☆ Flags at half-mast as India's Gujarat mourns deadly bridge collapse
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( Shivam Patel | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] A man sits at the site of a damaged suspension bridge after it collapsed on Sunday, in Morbi town in the western state of Gujarat, India, November 1, 2022. Rescue workers would continue their search for any unaccounted persons for a fourth day, a government control room said, though local officials said on Tuesday that only one person was believed to be missing still. Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel has appealed to people in his state to pray for the departed souls and their families. A senior police official told Reuters this week that about 200 people were on the bridge when it collapsed. Local municipality officials said tickets for about 400 people had been sold, although not necessarily to be on the bridge at the same time.

[1/5] Rescuers conduct search operation after a suspension bridge collapsed on Sunday, in Morbi town in the western state of Gujarat, India, November 1, 2022. REUTERS/StringerMORBI, India, Nov 1 (Reuters) - The death toll from an Indian foot bridge collapse rose to 135 on Tuesday with search operations entering a third day, although nearly all those believed to have been missing are now accounted for. "Search operations have begun again today. Indian army, navy and national disaster response teams continued search operations as locals gathered on the banks of the river near the twisted remains of the bridge. Indian police arrested nine people on Monday, including ticketing clerks and contractors, as they investigate the collapse of the bridge.

☆ Seven members of same family killed in Indian bridge collapse
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( Sumit Khanna | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

AHMEDABAD, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Seven members of the Jadeja family were returning from a temple in the Indian town of Morbi on Sunday when the children asked to be taken to a suspension bridge, a local tourist attraction that had reopened after repairs. The Jadejas were among at least 134 people killed in the accident, one of India's deadliest bridge collapses, a relative and a family friend said. "They were on the bridge when it collapsed," said Kanaksinh Jadeja, a cousin of the two Jadeja brothers - Pratapsinh and Pradyumansinh - who lost their mother, wives and four children. An Oreva spokesperson did not answer calls and text messages from Reuters. The Indian Express newspaper quoted an Oreva spokesperson as saying: "... the bridge collapsed as too many people in the mid-section of the bridge were trying to sway it from one way to the other."

☆ Death toll from India bridge collapse rises to 132, search on for missing
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( Sumit Khanna | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/3] Rescuers search for survivors after a suspension bridge collapsed in Morbi town in the western state of Gujarat, India, October 31, 2022. REUTERS/StringerAHMEDABAD, India, Oct 31 (Reuters) - The death toll from a bridge collapse in Gujarat in India rose to 132, a local government official told Reuters on Monday. read more"The death toll in the bridge collapse incident has gone up to 132. The search and rescue operations are continuing," said the senior official, NK Muchhar, adding that the toll could rise further. Authorities said more than 400 people were on and around the colonial-era suspension bridge at the time of the collapse.

☆ Factbox: Century-old India hanging bridge collapses days after repair
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Here are some details about the bridge:* It was built in 1877 in the town of Morbi in Gujarat state when the British ruled India. * Local authorities call the bridge an "engineering marvel" that was "built to give a unique identity to Morbi using the latest technology available in those days, in Europe". * Local authorities said the Oreva group, maker of Ajanta clocks and electrical products, was this year awarded a contract to maintain and manage the bridge for 15 years. * The bridge was earlier maintained by the local municipality, which used to limit the number of people on the bridge at one time to 20. Reporting by Sumit Khanna; Writing by Krishna N. Das; Editing by Tom HogueOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Suspension bridge collapses in India, hundreds fall in river - officials
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-30 | by ( Sumit Khanna | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

AHMEDABAD, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Hundreds of people fell into a river when a suspension bridge in India's western Gujarat state collapsed on Sunday and a number of them have been hurt, officials said. More than 400 people were on the bridge in the town of Morbi at the time and were plunged into the Machchu River, local TV channel Zee News said. "People fell in the river and there are casualties. Footage broadcast by the TV channel showed dozens of people clinging onto the cables of the collapsed bridge as emergency teams sought to rescue them. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is in his home state Gujarat for a three-day visit, said he has directed the state chief minister to mobilise teams urgently for the rescue operation.

☆ India festival spending booms despite inflation worries, global slowdown
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( Manoj Kumar | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

The sales would include nearly $15.2 billion offline sales, compared to about $8.5 billion in 2019, according to the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT). read moreBut economists said the sense in India was that inflation has peaked while economic activity was picking up. The bump in consumer demand is expected to support economic growth of around 6.5% in the fiscal year ending March 2023, the highest among the world's major economies. Credit demand increases Credit demand increasesThe retail boom is also a boon for the government - goods and services tax collections, a barometer of consumer demand, rose 26% year-on-year in September, data showed. "After two consecutive downbeat festive seasons, consumer sentiment and spending appear to have rebounded this year... which may boost economic growth in the current quarter, but may not sustain thereafter."

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