Byelections to one vacant seat in the Gujarat Assembly and two seats in the Karnataka Assembly will take place on September 13, the Election Commission announced on Friday.

Fourteen elephants have died at the hands of poachers at the Simlipal National Park tiger reserve in Orissa’s Mayurbhanj district. A fact-finding team which visited the reserve blame the field staff at the reserve for burning the elephant carcasses to destroy evidence.

Maintaining that it is opposed to the PM’s offer to consider autonomy for J&K within the ambit of the Constitution, the Opposit-ion BJP on Wednesday said autonomy for the state, if it reverses the state’s integration with the country, will not be tolerated. The party said it is not opposed to giving “more powers” to the state. The BJP criticised the PM for “reigniting” the autonomy debate and termed it “unfortunate”.

Breaking his silence for the first time after being sacked as Commonwealth Games Organising Committee joint director, Mr T.S. Darbari alleged he was being targeted by OC chairman Suresh Kalmadi. He claimed he had nothing to do with the deal related to the UK-based AM Films, which has come to the attention of investigative agencies following allegations of irregularities in payments.

Absolving the late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi of having played any role in former Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson’s quiet exit from India, former Madhya Pradesh chief minister and sitting Rajya Sabha MP Arjun Singh on Wednesday put the ball in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s court.

Enumeration of castes in the ongoing Census process may now become a reality as the Group of Ministers (GoM) on the issue, headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, has given its assent.

In an unusual judgement, the Delhi high court on Wednesday, in a specific case, said that the marriage between two minors is “valid” and it can be annulled only on the plea by one of the partners. After hearing a petition filed by 18-year-old minor boy (according to Hindu Marriage Act), Jitendra Kumar Sharma, who tied knot with a 16-year-

The Delhi government has specified the court of additional sessions judge as children’s court for dispensing justice to the child victims of various offences and bringing to book the violators of child rights. The moves comes five years after the Commissions for Protection of Child Rights (CPCR) Act, 2005, was passed and required the state to specify a particular court that would be treated as children court.

Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit went around town along with the entire entourage of her officers on Wednesday to inspect the progress in connection with the Commonwealth Games-2010. The Delhi government has, meanwhile, come up with a new deadline for stopping of road cutting — August 20.

Four alleged militants belonging to a Manipuri extremist outfit have been arrested by the special cell of the Delhi police. The accused were remanded to two-day police custody by a city court here.