Morning Digest: Gyanesh Kumar named Chief Election Commissioner; Delta plane flips on landing at Toronto airport injuring 19, and more

The Hindu Morning Digest gives a select list of stories to start the day. Read the top news today on February 18, 2025

Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar has been appointed Chief Election Commissioner after a meeting of a three-member committee headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Monday (February 17, 2025). He will assume office on Wednesday (February 19, 2025), when the Supreme Court will hear the challenge to a new law under which the selection has been made.

A Delta Airlines plane flipped upon arrival at Toronto’s Pearson Airport and ended up on its roof Monday, injuring 19 people including three who are in critical condition.

After the President’s Rule was imposed in Manipur, several of the State’s legislators received calls from a person who allegedly identified himself as Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s son Jay Shah and offered them ministerial positions for a sum of ₹4 crore, police officials said on Monday (February 17, 2025).

High levels of faecal coliform (microbes from human and animal excreta) were found in river water in which people took holy dip during Maha Kumbh in Prayagraj of Uttar Pradesh, according to a report submitted to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

Experts are intrigued by the new Income Tax Bill, 2025 retaining provisions related to electoral bonds, which were rendered unconstitutional by the Supreme Court last year, saying it could be because of legislative oversight or the government’s intention to bring it back in some other form.

A high-level delegation of the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) reached New Delhi on Monday (February 17, 2025) for the bi-annual Director General level talks with the Border Security Force (BSF).

Foreign Institutional Investment (FII) outflows from India’s equity markets show that investors are booking profits, indicating investments in India are yielding good returns, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharman said at a post-Budget media briefing in Mumbai on Monday (February 17, 2025).