Left, Right & Centre

Did India shoot down an F-16 in the dogfight with Pakistan a day after the Balakot airstrike? India has consistently maintained it has, and even shared evidence with the United States. But now, a well-known US magazine Foreign Policy has claimed that US officials have counted all the Pakistani F-16s and they are all accounted for. Does this raise doubts over India's version about what happened? Does the United States need to place the information in public domain? From the controversy over how many terrorists were killed in Balakot to this, India's version of how things went down have been called into question by some, but are those questions legitimate?

Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh is in trouble, with the President asking the government to take "necessary action" after he was on camera campaigning for Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of the national election. President Ram Nath Kovind has forwarded to the home ministry a letter from the Election Commission, which has said Kalyan Singh is guilty of violating the rules of his constitutional post. President Kovind acted after returning from an international visit this morning. This could be a big test of neutrality for the President just before the Lok Sabha election. The Election Commission's letter to the President is a serious and rare indictment of a constitutional authority.

After being denied a ticket from the party, BJP's Shaina NC says time has come for women to speak up. Women should demand tickets to fight polls, as even Pakistan is way ahead of India.

Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi were welcomed by unprecedented crowds in Wayanad as Rahul Gandhi filed his nomination. The Congress has chosen this seat hoping it will give them more traction in the south. Rahul Gandhi also conducted a massive roadshow with his sister. All the way across in Rahul Gandhi's other constituency - Amethi - was the BJP's Smriti Irani, who told locals that he was running away from them. Rahul Gandhi is a three-time MP from Amethi.

Stinging criticism of the BJP from none other than its original idealogue LK Advani. Denied a seat from Gandhinagar, the 91-year-old leader hit out at the party today saying the BJP used to have adversaries, not enemies. And that no one was referred to as being anti-national.

Is our general election being largely driven by black money? Over 1,500 crores of cash and gold are seized, and murky donations through electoral bonds hit a new high. How can we clean up election funding?

As the PM kicks off the BJP's Bengal campaign and Mamata Banerjee hits back, we look at why Bengal is so important to the BJP's Lok Sabha calculations, and whether they can make a serious dent in Mamata Banerjee's bastion.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is running a fear campaign ahead of the general elections, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram told NDTV. He said the PM is running away from a real debate on jobs and rural distress and that the average middle class won't be taxed to raise money for the Congress's flagship minimum income guarantee scheme NYAY.

On a day the Congress released its manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections, giving heavy weightage to job creation and helping farmers who are in distress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked for more time from voters to develop the country, saying the Congress has been in power for a long time but has not done anything much for the country. Former finance minister P Chidambaram says the party's manifesto promises equitable development for all.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's comments that Congress chief Rahul Gandhi is fighting the national elections from Kerala's Wayanad as a second seat because the party had insulted Hindus was criticized by the opposition as a polarising move. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath also gave a controversial comment at a rally last week that the Army was "Modi ji ki sena". The Election Commission has asked the Ghaziabad district magistrate to file a report on Mr Adityanath's comments. Concerns have been raised over such comments, and whether they violated the election code.