Delhi

New Delhi, May 23 (PTI) Indian Olympic Association president Narinder Batra is all set to become a member of the International Olympic Committee after his name was proposed for the prestigious seat by the executive board of the world sport's apex body.

The proposal to elect Batra and 9 other new members was submitted on Wednesday by the Executive Board of the IOC to IOC Session that will meet in June in Lausanne, a statement from the world body said.

New Delhi, May 24 (PTI) After a humiliating defeat in the Lok Sabha polls, top Congress leaders will deliberate on party losses at a meeting of the working committee slated on Saturday where party chief Rahul Gandhi is likely to offer his resignation.

According to sources, the party has convened a meeting of the Congress Working Committee, the highest decision making body of the party at 11 AM tomorrow.

New Delhi, May 22; PTI/GANASHAKTI: CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Wednesday said the Election Commission's rejection of the Opposition demand to first count the VVPAT slips went against the "spirit" of a Supreme Court order on the devices.

Yechury's reaction comes after the commission is learnt to have stuck to its plan to count the voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) slips in the end and not in the beginning as demanded by the Opposition.

New Delhi, May 22; GANASHAKTI: The Election Commission is learnt to have stuck to its plan of counting the paper trail machines slips at the end of counts and not in the beginning as demanded by opposition parties.

The Commission is also learnt to have decided to count postal ballots simultaneously with Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) count due to the "sheer size" of the ballots received this time from service voters.

Till now, the postal ballots were counted in the beginning followed by votes polled in voting machines.

New Delhi, May 22 (PTI) Decisions taken by Rahul Gandhi led to divisions within the opposition, CPI national secretary Atul Kumar Anjaan said Thursday and asserted that the policies of the Congress scion opened the doors for Narendra Modi's victory.

Riding on a massive Modi wave sweeping through most parts of India, the BJP was set to return to power Thursday as it led in 292 seats while the Congress trailed far behind with 50, according to trends released by the Election Commission for all 542 seats that went to polls.

New Delhi, May 21 (PTI) Robert Vadra, who is an accused in a money laundering case, Tuesday moved a Delhi court seeking permission to travel abroad.

The counsel for Vadra requested Special judge Arvind Kumar to ensure details of his itinerary are not shared with a third party as it was a matter of his security.

The counsel also requested the plea be taken up on May 24 as the lead counsel was not available for arguments today.

New Delhi, May 22 (PTI) The Supreme Court Wednesday took note of violence during Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal and agreed to hear the plea of BJP candidate from Barrackpore seat seeking protection from arrest in several cases lodged against him by state police.

A vacation bench comprising Arun Mishra and M R Shah took note of the submissions of BJP leader Arjun Singh that he be granted protection from arrest as he wanted to be present during counting of votes for Lok Sabha elections tomorrow at Barrackpore in West Bengal.

New Delhi, May 21 (PTI) A group of activists on Tuesday demanded the reversal of an Election Commission order about tallying the VVPAT slips after the counting of the EVMs.

In a letter to Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora, the civil society members stated that the counting of the electronic voting machines should commence only when the tallying of the verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) slips for the five sampled booths in each constituency are completed.

New Delhi, May 21 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday night held a meeting with top bureaucrats from key ministries, sources said.

There was no official word about the agenda of the meeting, which comes ahead of the Lok Sabha election results on May 23.

Sources said the Prime Minister is believed to have taken feedback on various issues, including about the state of the economy, from the bureaucrats.

New Delhi, May 21; PTI/GANASHAKTI: Top opposition leaders met here on Tuesday, ahead of the Lok Sabha poll results on May 23, to discuss the possibility of a non-NDA alliance staking claim to government formation.

They will also move the Election Commission (EC) to press for their demand of tallying the paper trail of votes (VVPATs) with the electronic voting machine (EVM) figures.