Polling Begins In 6 Districts Of J&K; PM Modi Urges Voters To Exercise Franchise

by Pabitra Mohan Senapaty

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

Polling across 26 Assembly constituencies in six districts of Jammu and Kashmir began on Wednesday morning to decide the fate of 239 candidates in the fray.

Srinagar, Sep 25: Polling across 26 Assembly constituencies in six districts of Jammu and Kashmir began on Wednesday morning to decide the fate of 239 candidates in the fray.

Voters started gathering at polling booths in the early morning to exercise their franchise as a clear autumn sky greeted them.

Most polling stations in the six districts of the Union Territory including Poonch, Rajouri and Reasi in Jammu division and Srinagar, Budgam and Ganderbal in the Valley wore a festive look.

Security forces drawn from the local police and the CRPF exchanged smiles with the voters as they started pouring out at polling stations.

A total of 25.78 lakh electors are eligible to exercise franchise in the second phase of J&K elections which started at 7 a.m. and will end at 6 p.m. on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged all voters to exercise their franchise to play an important role in strengthening democracy.

In a post on X, Prime Minister Modi wrote, "Today is the second phase of voting for the Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir. I appeal to all voters to cast their votes and play their important role in strengthening democracy. On this occasion, I congratulate all the young friends who are going to vote for the first time!"

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

NC and the Congress have formed a pre-poll alliance to contest the elections. NC has fielded candidates for 52 seats while Congress is contesting 31 seats. Two seats, one for the CPI-M in the Valley and the other for the Panthers Party in Jammu division have been left uncontested by the NC-Congress alliance.

On five seats of Sopore in Valley and Banihal, Nagrota, Kishtwar and Doda in Jammu division, the two parties could not reach a consensus and both have fielded candidates in these constituencies to engage in a friendly contest.

Voting for the third and last phase of J&K Legislative Assembly polls will be held on October 1 and counting will take place 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)

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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)

Polling Begins In 6 Districts Of J&K; PM Modi Urges Voters To Exercise Franchise

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