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The voter turnout in the first phase of the Bihar Assembly elections was 60.1% till 5 pm, according to the Election Commission. The provisional turnout for the day was awaited.

Polling was taking place in 121 of the 243 constituencies. The final phase of polling will take place on Tuesday before the votes are counted on November 14.

Tejashwi Yadav, the Opposition’s chief ministerial candidate, alleged that the local administration was deliberately slowing down voting at several booths in constituencies considered strongholds of his Rashtriya Janata Dal and its allies.

The Election Commission said that the allegation was “baseless and misleading”.

The RJD claimed that the administration in Vaishali district had “systematically” halted vehicles heading to Raghopur through a bridge and boats from Kachchi Dargah. The Opposition party also claimed that the administration in the Danapur constituency had stopped boats from operating. This has deprived hundreds of voters of their voting rights, the party alleged.

The poll panel has not yet commented on the allegations. Read on.

Follow Scroll’s coverage of the Bihar Assembly elections here.

The Karnataka High Court refused to lift a stay on a state government order that barred the unauthorised assembly of more than 10 persons in public spaces such as roads, parks and playgrounds. The court told the state’s Congress government that if it wanted the stay to be withdrawn, it should approach the single-judge bench that had passed the order.

The October 18 government order was issued ahead of proposed marches by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh to mark its centenary. The order was challenged by two organisations and two individuals who argued that it violated their right to peaceful assembly. Read on.

The Gujarat High Court suspended the life imprisonment sentence given to religious leader Asumal Harpalani, better known as Asaram Bapu, for six months in a 2013 rape case. The court verbally observed that it would suspend the sentence on similar lines as the Rajasthan High Court, which had in October done so on medical grounds and granted the 84-year-old interim bail.

The Rajasthan High Court had said that Asaram was in a “vegetative condition” and that the necessary medical facilities were not available in jail. Read on.

A group of women in Uttar Pradesh’s Fatehpur district clashed with the police while trying to perform Hindu rituals at a mausoleum on Wednesday. The 500-year-old mausoleum in the Abu Nagar area is of Nawab Abdul Samad Khan, an official who worked for Mughal emperor Aurangzeb.

Hindutva groups have claimed that the structure was constructed after razing a Hindu temple.

The police said that about 20 Hindu women, with earthen lamps and prayer material, approached the barricades around the mausoleum. Some of them allegedly tried to remove or climb over the barriers, after which the police tried to restrain them. They eventually performed Hindu prayers from a nearby lane in front of the structure. Read on.

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