The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) continues to expand its family as Advocate Buta Singh Bairagi, a prominent figure in human rights and grassroots politics, joined the party today. AAP Punjab President Aman Arora welcomed him into the party, emphasizing how AAP’s people-centric policies under the leadership of Arvind Kejriwal and the impactful governance of Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann are resonating with individuals across the state.

Advocate Buta Singh Bairagi has an illustrious career in human rights and has made notable contributions to the political landscape, having contested various elections too. His inclusion in the AAP is expected to significantly boost the party’s political and social outreach.

Sardar Raja Iqbal Singh of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was elected as the new Mayor of Delhi as the party managed to win 133 votes in the municipal contest, which had 262 eligible voters.

Along with 238 councillors, a total of 10 MPs and 14 legislators were also eligible to vote in Friday’s election, taking the number of eligible voters to 262.

The BJP managed to reclaim the post of the city’s First Citizen after two years of dominance by the Aam Aadmi Party, ushering in what Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva described as a “Triple Engine” government in the national capital.

Now, the BJP is in a position to call the shots in the Centre, the Delhi government and the MCD.

In the Mayoral election, Singh’s rival from the Congress, Mandeep Singh, got just eight votes. The AAP boycotted the election. A total of 10 MPs and 14 legislators were also eligible to vote in Friday’s election.

Senior Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, on Friday said that the idea of the terrorists is to divide the society, and make brother fight brother, but the people of India must stand together to defeat terrorism once and forever.

Addressing the media here at the end of his daylong visit to the Kashmir Valley in the wake of the Pahalgam attack, Gandhi said: "It has been a terrible tragedy, and I came here to get a sense of what is happening and to help."

"I met one of the injured because the rest of the injured have gone back home. I assure the families who have lost their dear ones that the entire nation stands as one with them," he said.

Noting that the "entire J&K has condemned this terrible action and they have fully supported the nation this time", he said: "The idea of the attack was to divide the society and make brother fight brother. It is very important that every individual and the entire nation stands as one so that we can defeat what the terrorists want to do."

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar called a Cabinet meeting on Friday and approved 34 proposals.

One of the major decisions was dismissing Vijay Kumar, former Executive Officer of Barbidha, and Raman Rai, former Circle Officer of Sikta Zone (West Champaran), currently Assistant Settlement Officer in Kishanganj from their services due to administrative and disciplinary reasons.

The Cabinet has also approved 663 non-technical posts for 71 offices of the Integrated Urban Engineering Organisation under the Urban Development Department.

These posts aim to ensure smooth functioning and will cost the government Rs 35.27 crore annually.

The Cabinet has approved Bihar Special Survey and Settlement Amendment Rules, 2025.

Offering relief to activist Medha Patkar, a Delhi court on Friday ordered her release on furnishing a Probation Bond and payment of Rs one lakh compensation in a defamation case filed in 2001 by Delhi Lt Governor V.K. Saxena. The order came within hours of her arrest at a city railway station.

In a related development, Patkar withdrew her plea from the Delhi High Court against the orders of lower courts.

A subordinate court ordered her release within hours of being arrested on her arrival at a Delhi railway station at 6 a.m. for being presented before a judge in the Saket district court complex.

She was arrested to execute a non-bailable warrant (NDW) issued against her in the defamation case. The court had observed that she was deliberately flouting its sentencing order to submit probation bonds and Rs one lakh as fine in the defamation case.

Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who arrived in Kashmir on Friday, met those injured in the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack.

Congress leaders said here that Rahul Gandhi visited the Army's Base Hospital in Badamibagh Cantonment area of Srinagar, where those injured in the terror attack are admitted.

A total of 26 civilians were killed, and around two dozen people were injured in that cowardly terror attack that took place in Baisaran meadow of Pahalgam.

“Rahulji will also meet various delegations, including those from the party and trade and tourism sectors," said the Congress leaders.

The Supreme Court on Friday castigated Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi over his alleged derogatory remarks on freedom fighter Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.

In November 2022, Rahul Gandhi, during his Bharat Jodo Yatra, made defamatory comments on Savarkar at a rally in Maharashtra's Akola.

A bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Manmohan asked Rahul Gandhi to refrain from making “irresponsible statements” as it told him not to speak anything against freedom fighters.

“Mahatma Gandhi also used ‘your faithful servant’ while addressing the Viceroy? Someone does not become a servant like this. Next time, somebody will say Mahatma Gandhi was the servant of the British,” it remarked.

Amid continuing protests by both “genuine” and “tainted” losers of teaching and non-teaching jobs in state-run schools in West Bengal following a Supreme Court order earlier this month, a new angle of irregularity has surfaced.

The irregularity concerns a section of the “tainted” candidates already identified by the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC). These candidates were shown as “non-joined” as per the records of the school education department, which means that these teaching and non-teaching staff have not joined duty despite getting appointments.

The question has now surfaced -- if such candidates were marked as “non-joined” as per records of the state education department, how could they draw salaries for so many years?

Activist Medha Patkar was arrested here on Friday after the court issued a non-bailable warrant against her in a defamation case filed by Delhi Lt Governor V.K. Saxena.

She was arrested by the Delhi Police in the morning and will be produced in the court later in the day.

A court here on Wednesday issued a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against Patkar over her non-appearance and non-compliance with the sentence order in connection with a decades-old defamation case filed by Delhi L-G Saxena. The court had observed that she was deliberately flouting its sentencing order to submit probation bonds and Rs one lakh as fine in the defamation case filed in 2001.

Additional sessions judge Vishal Singh had observed that instead of appearing before the court to comply with the sentencing of April 8, the 70-year-old social activist had remained absent and deliberately failed to comply with the order to avail of the benefit of probation subject to furnishing the compensation amount.

J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said on Thursday that he is in touch with state governments where harassment of Kashmiris is being reported in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack.

“The J&K government is in touch with the governments of the states where these reports are originating from. I’m also in touch with other Chief Ministers in these states and have requested they take extra care,” he wrote on X.

The Chief Minister was responding to a post by ruling National Conference (NC) spokesperson, Imran Nabi Dar, seeking the Chief Minister’s intervention after videos of Kashmiris being harassed emerged on social media.