Diplomats From 15 Countries Arrive In J&K To Witness Festival Of Democracy

by Pabitra Mohan Senapaty

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

A delegation of diplomats from 15 countries, including the US, Norway, Philippines, Algeria, Spain and South Africa, arrived here on Wednesday to witness the polling process taking place in J&K after a gap of 10 years.

Srinagar, Sep 25: A delegation of diplomats from 15 countries, including the US, Norway, Philippines, Algeria, Spain and South Africa, arrived here on Wednesday to witness the polling process taking place in J&K after a gap of 10 years.

Sources said the delegation of diplomats from the 15 countries arrived in the morning.

“The delegation will witness the people's participative voting at many polling stations. The over 61 per cent voting in the first phase of the J&K elections has re-affirmed the faith of the people of the union territory in the democratic process and the arrival of the diplomatic delegation to witness the same is the result of the success of India’s democracy in J&K,” sources said.

The delegation includes diplomats from the US, Spain, Norway, Philippines, South Africa, the Republic of Korea, Rwanda, Algeria, Nigeria, Panama, Somalia, the United Republic of Tanzania, Guyana, Mexico and Singapore.

Sources said the diplomats will visit some polling stations during the day to see for themselves the festival of democracy being celebrated in Kashmir to elect a representative government of the people.

The Legislative Assembly election is being held in three phases in J&K. Voting for the first phase ended with over 61 per cent voter turnout on September 18.

Voting for the second phase started at 7 a.m. Wednesday and will end at 6 p.m. A total of 25.78 lakh votes will decide the political fate of 239 candidates in six districts of J&K.

The Election Commission of India has established 3,502 polling stations across the six districts of J&K -- Poonch, Rajouri, Reasi in Jammu division and Srinagar, Budgam and Ganderbal in Kashmir.

Senior politicians, including former J&K Chief Minister and Vice president of National Conference Omar Abdullah, JKPCC chief Tariq Hameed Karra, BJP J&K president Ravinder Raina, former Ministers Ali Mohammad Sagar, Asiya Naqash, Abdur Rahim Rather, Hakim Mohammad Yasin, Choudhary Zulfiqar and J&K Apni Chief Syed Altaf Bukhari are in the electoral fray in the second phase.

Voting for the third and last phase of these elections will take place on October 1 and counting will be held on October 8.

--IANS

Sunny Singh, Aditya Seal Play Same-Sex Couple In ‘Amar Prem Ki Prem Kahani’ Trailer

by Shambhu Datta Mishra

Mumbai, Sept 25: The trailer of the upcoming streaming movie ‘Amar Prem Ki Prem Kahani’ was unveiled Wednesday.

It blends love and humour as it gives a glimpse of the life of Amar (played by Sunny Singh) who is burdened by societal expectations as he discovers his sexuality.

In search of liberation, he travels to London, and falls in love with Prem (played by Aditya Seal) on the flight. However, things take a turn when Amar is called back by his family over the pretext of an emergency. He later realises that he has been pushed into an arranged marriage.

The situation tests the strength of the same-sex couple as they navigate life.

Time to break the stereotype! Yeh love story aa rahi hai to blow your mind! 😌#AmarPremKiPremKahani streaming 4 October onwards, only on JioCinema Premium.@mesunnysingh @AdityaSeal_ @PranutanBahl #DikshaJsingh @gajjarhardik #JyotiDeshpande @imparthgajjar @poonam_shroff… pic.twitter.com/1tncmV9TBh — Jio Studios (@jiostudios) September 25, 2024

Talking about his character, Sunny Singh said, "Amar is a Punjabi guy—a sweet charmer who is emotionally connected with everyone in his family. However, he has kept one thing hidden from them: his sexuality, and he has been hesitant to discuss it. For Amar, love is very pure and compassionate, and he has always been searching for a strong relationship, which he finds with Prem, a contrasting personality. The film portrays same-sex relationships beautifully and aesthetically on screen”.

The film also stars Pranutan Bahl, whose dry sense of humour is absolutely loved by her co-actor Aditya Seal.

Aditya Seal said, “Prem wears his heart on his sleeve and lives each day as it comes. For him, love is a feeling he’s both afraid of and guards himself against until he meets "the one" and realises the lengths he’ll go to get that love back. Playing Prem was an interesting challenge because, no matter what I do, I’ll never truly experience the depth of what Prem feels. A huge part of this journey is owed to the film director, who helped me understand Prem on a deeper level. Pranutan is such a darling—her dry sense of humour made working with her a lot of fun, and we had some great banters”.

Presented by Jio Studios, produced by Jyoti Deshpande, Parth Gajjar and Poonam Shroff and directed by Hardik Gajjar, ‘Amar Prem Ki Prem Kahani’, is set to stream on JioCinema from October 4, 2024.

(IANS)

Read More Odisha News

Sensex Closes At All-Time High, Nifty Above 26,000 For First Time

by Shambhu Datta Mishra

Mumbai, Sept 25: India equity indices closed at a record high Wednesday following positive cues from global markets.

At closing, Sensex was up 255 points, or 0.30 per cent, at 85,169 and Nifty was up 63 points, or 0.25 per cent, at 26,004.

It is the first time that the Nifty closed above the 26,000 mark. Intraday, Sensex and Nifty made a fresh all-time high of 85,247 and 26,032 respectively.

Selling was seen in the midcap and smallcap stocks. The Nifty Midcap 100 index closed at 60,465, down 385 points or 0.63 per cent, and the Nifty Smallcap 100 index closed at 19,357, down 82 points or 0.42 per cent.

Among the major sectoral indices, fin service, pharma, metal, realty, media, energy, private bank, infra, PSE and services were major gainers. Auto, IT, PSU Bank and FMCG were major laggards.

In the Sensex pack, Power Grid, Axis Bank, NTPC, Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Finance, Tata Steel, HDFC Bank, M&M, ITC, ICICI Bank, and HCL Tech were the top gainers. Tech Mahindra, Tata Motors, Titan, Kotak Mahindra Bank, SBI, JSW Steel, and Wipro were the top losers.

Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst, LKP Securities, said: "The Nifty made another lifetime high as bulls seemed in no mood to back down, despite a weak start. The sentiment is likely to remain positive as long as it remains above 25,900, where aggressive put writing was visible. Technically, the Nifty has sustained above its very short-term moving average."

"Furthermore, no reversal is visible in the momentum indicator. Therefore, we might witness a range-bound to positive move in the near term. Resistance on the higher end is seen at 26200-26250," he added.

The foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold equities worth Rs 2784 crore September 24, while domestic institutional investors extended their buying as they bought equities worth Rs 3868 crore on the same day.

(IANS)

Diplomats From 15 Countries Arrive In J&K To Witness Festival Of Democracy

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