Elections for 19 Rajya Sabha seats spread across eight states will be held on Friday with the contest in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan promising to be a close affair between the BJP and the Congress.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has refused to congratulate India on its election as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for a two-year term, beginning January  2021.

The test-firing comes as the United States is seeking an extension of a U.N.-imposed arms embargo against Iran, which is due to expire in October.

The journalist and Scroll.in's 'editor-in-chief' have been booked under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, and sections of the IPC.

Voting for three Madhya Pradesh seats in Rajya Sabha takes place Friday. The BSP and SP said MLAs supporting the BJP were going against the party line.

Pakistan committed 15 ceasefire violations in J&K in May alone, starting around the same time as the the India-China standoff along the LAC began in Ladakh.

BJP is a minor partner in the Meghalaya government led by National People’s Party, which withdrew support to the former in Manipur.

Imphal: The opposition Congress in Manipur on Thursday served a notice for the removal of Speaker Y. Khemchand as the party emerged stronger after the rebellion of nine MLAs of the ruling BJP-led coalition.

Kathmandu: Nepal’s upper house of Parliament on Thursday unanimously voted to amend the Constitution to update the country’s new political map, laying claim over three strategically key areas along the border with it.

India has already termed as “untenable” the “artificial enlargement” of territorial claims by Nepal after its lower house of Parliament on Saturday unanimously approved the new political map of the country featuring areas which India maintains belong to it.

Nepal last month released the revised political and administrative map of the country laying claim over the strategically key areas, more than six months after India published a new map in November 2019.

The National Assembly, or the upper house of the Nepalese parliament, unanimously passed the Constitution amendment bill providing for the inclusion of the country’s new political map in its national emblem.

The bill to amend the Constitution to update the new map was tabled in the National Assembly, the upper house on Sunday, a day after the House of Representatives unanimously endorsed it.

All 57 members of the National Assembly, who were present on the occasion, voted in favour of the amendment bill. There were zero votes against the Bill.

National Assembly Chairperson Ganesh Timilsina said that 57 members voted for the bill.

“There was no voting against the bill and none of the members voted for the neutral category as well,” Timilsina said.

Now the bill will be sent to President Bidya Devi Bhandari for authentication after which it will be incorporated in the Constitution. After that, the new map will be used in all official documents, including the coat of arms.

The Cabinet had endorsed the new political map on May 18.

On Saturday, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Anurag Srivastava, replying to the queries on the passing of the bill by the lower house, said: We have noted that the House of Representatives of Nepal has passed a Constitution amendment bill for changing the map of Nepal to include parts of Indian territory. We have already made our position clear on this matter.

This artificial enlargement of claims is not based on historical fact or evidence and is not tenable. It is also violative of our current understanding to hold talks on outstanding boundary issues.”

The India-Nepal bilateral ties came under strain after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated an 80-km-long strategically crucial road connecting the Lipulekh pass with Dharchula in Uttarakhand on May 8.

Nepal reacted sharply to the inauguration of the road claiming that it passed through Nepalese territory. India rejected the claim asserting that the road lies completely within its territory.

India has sternly asked Nepal not to resort to any “artificial enlargement” of territorial claims.

Nepalese Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli has been asserting that Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura belong to Nepal and vowed to “reclaim” them from India.

Not just three BJP MLAs, four from its alliance partner, the National People’s Party, one independant and the lone TMC legislator have also joined the Congress.