K’taka family declared ‘fake’ voters by Rahul Gandhi found to be genuine in preliminary EC probe

Bengaluru, Aug 8, 2025
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s claim about a family of voters being fake has turned out to be false. Preliminary verification by the Election Commission in Bengaluru has confirmed that the individuals in question are genuine voters, sources revealed on Friday.

Rahul Gandhi had alleged that a family of three — one male and two females — were fake voters based on the fact that he was unable to view their photographs. However, images of the three individuals, along with their GPS-tagged address, have since surfaced on social media.

The photograph shows the family members displaying their Voter ID cards at their residence located on 2nd Main, JCR Layout, Panthur, near Kadubeesanahalli in Bengaluru. The three members of the family are Om Prakash Bagri, Saraswati Devi Bagri, and Mala Bagri, the ECI sources said.

Sources said the reason the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Karnataka asked Rahul Gandhi to personally submit an affidavit was due to his previous tendency to disown the allegations he made against the Election Commission of India (ECI).

“The reason for asking for a declaration this time is that in the past, he has never submitted any self-signed letter. Whatever reply we provide is sent to some other entity, and each time he disowns it,” the sources stated.

Officials from the ECI also pointed out that Rahul Gandhi had referred to the Maharashtra issue on December 24, 2024. “An advocate from AICC wrote to us, and we issued a detailed reply on December 24, 2024. That reply is publicly available on our website. Yet, Rahul Gandhi claims that we never responded. Even yesterday, he repeated the same allegation,” the sources explained.

The ECI sources further noted that on Thursday (August 7), the Karnataka government decided to use the electoral roll as the base for conducting the caste survey. Ironically, on the same day, Rahul Gandhi launched a scathing attack on the credibility of the electoral rolls.

While the Congress-led Karnataka government vouched for the authenticity of the electoral rolls by basing its most important policy — the caste census — on them, Rahul Gandhi simultaneously questioned their integrity, the ECI sources pointed out.

Rahul Gandhi held a press conference on Thursday in Delhi, making serious charges regarding committing election fraud. He gave the example of the Mahadevapura Assembly segment in Bengaluru.

The Congress leader also addressed the huge protest in Bengaluru, reiterating his charges demanding 10 years of data regarding the voters and also videos. “Otherwise, you are hiding a crime. If you (ECI) attack ‘One Man One Vote’ right, we will attack you,” Rahul Gandhi warned.(Agency)

Carcasses of five wild elephants found in Kerala’s Ernakulam forests

Kochi, Aug 8, 2025
The carcasses of five wild elephants, including a calf and a pregnant female, have been recovered from three forest divisions in Kerala’s Ernakulam district, following days of intense rainfall and flooding in the region.

Two tuskers were found dead on Thursday in the Kuttampuzha forest range, which falls under the Malayattoor division, about 50 km from Kochi. Their bodies were spotted in the Pooyamkutty River near Kuttampuzha panchayat.

According to forest officials, both elephants were about 15 years old and had likely fallen from the Pindimed waterfall.

Preliminary examination revealed signs of internal bleeding and fractured ribs, possibly caused by the fall and being swept downstream by strong river currents.

The carcasses appeared to be around two days old.

The carcasses of a female elephant and her calf were recovered near a waterfall about 20 km from the Idamalayar dam. Residents of the Adichilthotti tribal settlement spotted the bodies and informed the authorities.

Forest officials suspect the two elephants may have slipped while attempting to cross the flooded Idamalayar River and plunged down the nearby waterfall.

Malayatoor Divisional Forest Officer P Karthik on Friday told IANS that four carcasses of elephants were found in the division on Thursday. He said that there was nothing unusual about the deaths of the four elephants, which appeared to have occurred due to flooding after heavy rain.

In a separate incident, a pregnant female elephant was found dead in a rivulet at Ayyampuzha, near Angamaly, according to a local media report. The body was located in the Athirappilly forest area, which comes under the Vazhachal division.

Samples of the viscera from all five elephants have been collected and sent for forensic analysis. Following the post-mortem examinations, the elephant carcasses were buried as per protocol.

This is not the first time elephant deaths have been reported during floods in Kerala. In 2018, during the catastrophic monsoon, several elephants were swept away in rivers across Idukki and Wayanad districts.

Similar incidents were reported in 2020 in the Periyar and Parambikulam tiger reserves. The Forest Department has initiated a joint inquiry across all three forest divisions affected.

Officials have also asked local communities to remain alert and report any further sightings or unusual activity along riverbanks.(Agency)

Govt withdraws Income Tax Bill 2025 from Lok Sabha, new version to be tabled on Monday

New Delhi, Aug 8, 2025
The Income Tax Bill, 2025, which was introduced in the Lok Sabha on February 13 to replace the existing Income Tax Act, 1961, has been formally withdrawn, sources said on Friday.

A new version of the Income Tax Bill, incorporating most of the recommendations made by the Select Committee chaired by BJP MP Baijayant Jay Panda, will be introduced in Parliament on Monday, according to people in the know.

To avoid confusion by multiple versions of the Bill and to provide a clear and updated version with all the changes incorporated, the new version of the Income Tax Bill will be introduced for the consideration of the House.

According to Panda, who chaired the Parliamentary Select Committee responsible for reviewing the legislation, the new law, once passed, will simplify India’s decades-old tax structure, cut down legal confusion, and help individual taxpayers and MSMEs avoid unnecessary litigation.

“The current Income Tax Act of 1961 has undergone more than 4,000 amendments and contains over 5 lakh words. It has become too complex. The new bill simplifies that by nearly 50 per cent — making it far easier for ordinary taxpayers to read and understand,” Panda told IANS recently.

He further stated that the greatest beneficiaries of this simplification would be small business owners and MSMEs who often lack the legal and financial expertise to navigate complicated tax structures.

The new measures will play a significant role in creating a fair and equitable system of direct taxation that ensures no additional burden of direct taxes on the working and middle-class population of the country.

Slabs and rates have been changed across the board to benefit all taxpayers. The new structure substantially reduces the taxes of the middle class and leaves more money in their hands, boosting household consumption, savings and investment, according to the government.

The Finance Act, 2025, has increased the income threshold for claiming a tax rebate under section 87A of the Income Tax Act, 1961 for resident individual taxable under the new tax regime under section 115 BAC of the Act from Rs 7 lakh to Rs 12 lakh, and the maximum rebate amount has been raised from Rs 25,000 to Rs 60,000.

Marginal relief as provided earlier under the new tax regime is also applicable for income marginally higher than Rs 12,00,000, as per the Finance Ministry. The new income tax bill will make filing taxes easier for common citizens and small businesses.(Agency)

Mike Pence says US companies and consumers paying the cost of Trump’s tariffs

Washington, Aug 8, 2025
Former US Vice President Mike Pence, in a scathing attack against President Donald Trump’s trade policy, said on Thursday that American companies and consumers are paying the cost of US tariffs.

Pence took to X to highlight that the cost of production of US companies like auto giant Ford has shot up following the increase in tariffs on inputs. US consumers are also ending up paying higher prices for goods due to the tariffs levied by Trump, he added.

The former Vice President emphasised the need for “Free trade with Free nations”.

To drive home his point, Pence tagged an article from ‘Reason,’ a US monthly magazine, which stated that Ford had paid $800 million in tariff-related expenses during the second quarter of 2025, despite building most of its cars in America.

“If President Donald Trump’s tariffs were boosting the prospects of American-based manufacturing, then Ford Motor Co. ought to be one of the biggest winners.

After all, Ford builds more vehicles in the United States than any other automaker — it churned out 1.8 million of them last year — while employing around 57,000 manufacturing workers at plants across the upper Midwest. It’s a legacy American brand, doing the sort of blue-collar work in the Rust Belt that the Trump administration believes its trade policies will directly benefit,” the article states.

In reality, the tariffs are crushing Ford. The automaker announced this week that it paid $800 million in tariff-related expenses during the second quarter of 2025 (during which it posted its first quarterly loss since 2023), and that it expects the tariffs to reduce annual profits by about $3 billion. Even for a company that earned an operating profit of $10.2 billion last year, that’s a tremendous blow, the article written by Eric Boehm stated.

The Ford management is reported to have held multiple rounds of talks with the Trump administration in an attempt to reverse the setback due to the hike in tariffs.

Mike Pence had earlier stated that President Trump’s tariffs marked the “largest peacetime tax hike on the American people in the history of this country” and contributed to rising costs for consumers.(Agency)

After Rahul Gandhi’s claims, Congress mulls legal action over BJP victory in Kerala’s Thrissur

Thrissur, Aug 8, 2025
The Congress party in Kerala is considering initiating legal proceedings over the BJP’s victory in the Thrissur Lok Sabha constituency in the 2024 general elections following the revelations made by Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi regarding large-scale electoral fraud.

The Leader of Opposition in the Kerala Legislative Assembly, V.D. Satheesan, told the media on Friday that Gandhi has called for a thorough investigation into alleged election malpractices.

“Numerous complaints have emerged in Thrissur regarding the Sangh Parivar’s illegal addition of votes. The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) will examine the possibility of initiating legal proceedings in this regard,” Satheesan said.

In Thrissur, which was a sitting Congress seat, BJP candidate and actor-turned-politician Suresh Gopi secured a historic win with a margin of 74,686 votes.

Veteran Congress MP from Badagara, K. Muraleedharan, contested from Thrissur but finished third, while former State Minister and senior CPI leader V.S. Sunil Kumar took the second spot.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Congress candidate T.N. Prathapan had won Thrissur by a margin of 93,633 votes, defeating CPI’s Rajaji Mathew Thomas. At that time, Suresh Gopi finished third with 2,93,822 votes.

Rahul Gandhi has alleged that in the Mahadevapura Assembly seat under the Bangalore Central Lok Sabha constituency — where the BJP won by 32,000 votes — over one lakh fraudulent entries were added to the voters’ list.

These irregularities reportedly include multiple voters registered under the same name, over 60 voters listed at the address of a single-room house, English alphabets replacing the father’s name, house numbers recorded as “0” and voters aged 70 or 80 years appearing in the list of first-time voters.

Gandhi further claimed that such large-scale manipulation was also carried out during the recent Parliamentary elections and in state elections in Maharashtra and Haryana.

He asserted that the BJP/NDA remains in power by subverting free and fair elections and therefore has no legitimate right to continue in office.(Agency)

Priyanka Chopra treats with some awe-worthy glimpses of little Malti with her family

Priyanka Chopra shares glimpses of little Malti

Mumbai, Aug 8, 2025
Global sensation Priyanka Chopra is making the best of both worlds. Along with dominating Hollywood with back-to-back powerful performances, the diva is also enjoying motherhood to the fullest with her dear daughter, Malti Marie Chopra Jonas.

PeeCee used social media to drop some precious family moments of little Malti with her mom, and father, Nick Jonas.

The primary photo showed Malti relaxing on her seat while Priyanka held a tablet with “Mama” written on it. Next was a video of the little munchkin enjoying in the middle of a fountain.

Another picture featured Malti and her buddies picking out some treats for themselves in the candy shop.

We also see daddy’s little princess accompanying her father Nick as he practises for his upcoming performance.

PeeCee also uploaded a still of Malti channeling her inner artist with some watercolors and a canvas.

One of the videos in the post had Priyanka and Malti running in their lush green backyard.

The sweet post ended with a beautiful photo of Nick and Malti taking a walk down the beach.

The ‘Fashion’ actress also treated the netizens with some more adorable glimpses of her daughter with her friends and family.

“Ohana means Family. Family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten. – lilo and stitch,” PeeCee captioned the post.

For those who do not know, Priyanka and Nick tied the knot back in 2018, after which the lovebirds welcomed Malti via surrogacy in 2022.

In a recent update, PeeCee and Malti landed in Hyderabad, most likely to shoot for SS Rajamouli’s “SSMB29”, opposite Mahesh Babu.

On Monday, she took to her Instagram stories and posted a photo of little Malti sitting on her comfy chair on the balcony, looking out the glass window at the beautiful landscape of the city.

Priyanka captioned the post, “Hyderabad mornings…”, along with a red heart emoji.(Agency)

Vaibhav Raj Gupta calls his grandfather ‘his first fashion icon’

Mumbai, Aug 8, 2025
Aside from proving his mettle as a versatile actor with diverse performances in “Gullak” and “Mandala Murders”, Vaibhav Raj Gupta is also making a lot of heads turn with his fashion choices.

Vaibhav has revealed that fashion has always played a meaningful role in his life. Calling his grandfather his first fashion inspiration, he said, “He was an artist. The way he carried himself, the way he dressed — it was pure elegance. In his youth, he looked like Dilip Kumar, and as he aged, he reminded me of Al Pacino. Watching him taught me that fashion is about presence, not just clothing.”

Vaibhav added that for him, style is not about trends — it’s about energy, expression, and emotion.

As he was growing up, he used to emulate his grandfather’s effortlessly chic looks, and this early influence stayed with him over the years, invoking a deep admiration for icons in both Bollywood and sport.

Vaibhav’s fashion is influenced by Ranbir Kapoor, whom he admires for his easygoing charm; Vicky Kaushal, for his sharp minimalism; and Shah Rukh Khan, who, according to Vaibhav, “always carries himself with timeless grace.”

Coming to Hollywood, Vaibhav looks up to the breezy style sensitivities of Jake Gyllenhaal, Brad Pitt, and Benicio Del Toro.

In addition to this, Vaibhav called renowned footballer Lionel Messi a true fashion icon.

“The way he wears his jersey, his sneakers, his tattoos — it’s full of personality and quiet confidence”, Vaibhav noted.

Stating his personal definition of fashion, he added, “Fashion is not just about wearing good clothes. It’s about how you feel in them. Confidence, comfort, and authenticity — that’s what makes a look memorable.”

Work-wise, Vaibhav underwent a massive physical transformation to play Vikram Singh, a hardened cop in Netflix’s psychological crime thriller “Mandala Murders”.

He trained rigorously at the Yash Raj Films gym under the expert supervision of a fitness trainer.

His intense fitness regimen included at least three hours of training every day, with a minimum of 30 reps per set.(Agency)

India recorded over 15 lakh cancer cases in 2024: Minister

New Delhi, Aug 8, 2025
In 2024, India witnessed a surge in cancer cases, with over 15 lakh people diagnosed with the deadly disease, said Prataprao Jadhav, Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, on Friday.

In a written reply to a query in Lok Sabha, Jadhav detailed the rising cases of cancer in the country.

“The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has informed that as per the National Cancer Registry Programme (ICMR-NCRP) Data, the estimated incidence of cancer cases in the country for 2024 is 15,33,055,” Jadhav said.

The incidence of cancer is rising steadily in the country – from 13.5 lakh in 2019 to 15.3 lakh in 2024. In 2020, 13.9 lakh cases were diagnosed. The cases spiked to 14.2 lakh in 2021, to 14.6 lakh in 2022, and 14.9 lakh in 2023, the Minister said.

He further noted that “8.2 lakh patients are estimated to have died of cancer in 2023 — the highest since 2019”.

In 2019, 7.5 lakh patients succumbed to the disease, and 7.7 lakh, 7.8 lakh, and more than 8 lakh died, respectively, in 2020, 2021, and 2022.

“The reasons for the increase in the number of estimated cancer cases are due to access and availability of improved diagnostic techniques for the detection of cancer, increased life expectancy, growing share of geriatric population, higher health consciousness, and improved health-seeking behaviour,” Jadhav said.

In addition, “there has been a significant increase in the classical risk factors associated with Communicable Disease (NCDs), including cancer such as tobacco and alcohol consumption, insufficient physical activities, unhealthy diets, consumption of high salt, sugar and saturated fats, etc,” the Minister explained.

To counter this, the government has undertaken the National Programme for Non-Communicable Diseases (NP-NCD).

The main aim of the programme is prevention and control of common NCD risk factors through an integrated approach and reduction of premature morbidity and mortality from cancer and other NCDs.

“The focus of this programme is on health promotion, early diagnosis, management, and referral of cases, besides strengthening the infrastructure and capacity building. The capacity building is provided at various levels of health care for prevention, early diagnosis, cost-effective treatment, rehabilitation, awareness, and behaviour change communication,” Jadhav said.(Agency)

Delhi CM intervenes to lift curbs on ethnic wear at Pitampura restaurant

New Delhi, Aug 8, 2025
Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Friday intervened in the matter of a north Delhi restaurant denying entry to a guest in traditional Indian wear on the grounds of not following the outlet’s ‘western dress’ code.

As the news of Pitampura-based eatery’s action reached Assembly premises, BJP’s Jangpura legislator Tarvinder Singh Marwah sought action against those who disrespected Indian ethnic clothes.

Marwah told IANS, “Whoever has done this must be punished according to the law. A salwar kameez is an Indian dress. No restaurant can refuse entry to guests for wearing it.”

After CM Gupta intervened and ensured that the restaurant lifted its dress code, she took to X to signal that all was well now.

“The operators of this Pitampura restaurant have accepted that they will no longer impose any restrictions based on attire and will welcome citizens coming in Indian attire. On Raksha Bandhan, they will also offer some discounts to sisters coming in Indian attire,” said the CM in a post, along with a smiley.

Her post on X was retweeted by Delhi Art & Culture and Tourism Minister Kapil Mishra, along with short videos of the owners of the restaurant in which they could be heard clarifying about the “misunderstanding” that inconvenienced a couple on August 3.

In one such video, Neeraj Aggarwal, director of the restaurant, said, “All guests in all dress code are welcome to our outlet. I invite people – whether from North India or South India – to our family restaurant and enjoy.”

The clarification came after the CM took note of the couple’s video on social media voicing their pain over the restaurant at the Metro Station stopping them from entering the premises.

“My wife was stopped at the entry gate while another guest in a mini skirt was allowed to enter,” complained the middle-aged man in the video.

Earlier, reacting to a social media post by the couple complaining against the restaurant, Mishra said on X, “This is unacceptable in Delhi… CM @gupta_rekha ji has taken serious note of the incident. Officials have been directed to investigate the incident and take immediate action.”(Agency)

India-Brazil can build new partnership, diversify trade partners: Brazilian researcher on Trump’s tariff tirade

Brasilia/New Delhi, Aug 8, 2025
A day after United States imposed additional 25% tariff on imports from India, bringing it at par with Brazil, a leading scholar reflected on its likely impact on global economic order and how the two nations – members of BRICs can come togther to cushion the impact.

In an exclusive conversation with IANS, Emilio Diaz, researcher from the University of Sao Paulo offered deep insights into the consequences of 50% tariffs, imposed by Trump administration on both nation and the two developing nations could come together to build new partnerships and give strength to respective economies by diversifying trade partnership.

This assumes significance in light of the fact that Brazilian President dialed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, seeking to enhance ties in trade, technology, energy, defence and agriculture. He has also spoken about the need for BRICS nations to formulate a joint response to Trump’s tariff tirade.

Below is the full Interview:

IANS: Trump has imposed 50 per cent tariffs on India and Brazil. How will it impact the respective economies and world in general?

Emilio Diaz, Researcher, Sao Paulo University: I believe that the impact is little hard to estimate. I think that we can see some drop in GDP numbers mainly because of exports initially, but I feel that if the situation continues as it is with all the threat and after the position of tariff, I believe that we are having a lack of confidence in the American market as well as in other countries. This can have a further impact for our economies.

IANS: Should countries like India and Brazil aggressively now form a new economic world order, especially because the US has been acting unruly with tariffs?

Emilio Diaz: I believe that we are having a new world order in economy because United States is no longer the only powerful economy and this is the reason why they are doing all this.

I believe that we should, essentially, continue to do what we are doing but we don’t need to be aggressive. We can make partnerships, we can diversify the partners, intensify the economies among the BRICS countries as a whole.

We can deal with the United States as we are already doing, trying to negotiate, but not resisting also when it comes to sensible features of our countries because in Brazil for example, what they requested is to deliver to them, the independence of their republican power. This is not trade. This is interference in a sovereign country.

IANS: Indian PM and Brazilian President spoke to each other amidst all the tariff issues and showed support to each other. How do you look at it?

Emilio Diaz: I don’t believe that the countries right now are interested in having a direct confrontation, but I believe that we are already doing that in an indirect way. We have some manifestations already in Europe that this is not acceptable. We also have popular, public opinion on all countries because we are extremely connected nowadays.

IANS: India has categorically said that it will not give in before US pressure. How do you rate India’s response to the US?

Emilio Diaz: I’m not sure if the conditions were so clear in this sense. I feel that there is a difference in both cases. In case of India, this is not the first time that the United States threatened to impose tariffs.

IANS: Will India, Brazil and like-minded countries develop new markets for their products?

Emilio Diaz: Yes, this looks the likely way out.(Agency)

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