Morning Digest: TVK president Vijay declares his party will fight against sectarian forces; MVA names 259 candidates, Mahayuti 235 for Maharashtra Assembly elections, and more

The Hindu Morning Digest gives a select list of stories to start the day. Read the top news today on October 28, 2024

Setting his path clear in politics, actor and Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) president Vijay, on Sunday (October 27, 2024), declared that his party will fight against sectarian forces “ideologically” and ‘Dravida model’-invoking corrupt forces “politically”. He also declared the party is open to sharing power with parties, which approach the TVK in the 2026 Assembly polls in Tamil Nadu.

The Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) and Congress on Sunday (October 27, 2024) released candidate lists featuring nine and 12 names respectively for the November 20 Maharashtra Assembly election. With this, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance has so far announced 259 candidates. The ruling Mahayuti alliance has so far named 235 candidates, with 20 more candidates from Shiv Sena and four more from Ajit Pawar-led NCP being the latest addition. The State Assembly has 288 seats.

A stampede on an overcrowded platform at Bandra railway station in Mumbai left at least 10 persons injured in the early hours of Sunday (October 27, 2024), officials said. Two of them were in a critical condition.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday (October 27, 2024) said the next big target for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was to form a government in West Bengal. The BJP leader, who was on a two-day visit to the State, launched his party membership drive.

Russian forces thwarted an attempt at another cross-border incursion by Ukraine into southwestern Russia, a local official reported Sunday (October 27, 2024), months after Kyiv staged a bold assault on its nuclear-armed enemy that Moscow is still struggling to halt.

India is looking to procure 15 additional C-295 transport aircraft from Airbus, beyond the 56 already contracted, of which 12 would be manufactured in India by Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL), while three would come in fly-away condition, according to official sources.

A new report from the World Association of News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) flags the growing trend of governments resorting to false charges of financial crimes to silence the press. The report, titled ‘Misuse of economic charges to silence, threaten and attack the press: Review of case studies’ documents eight different cases of media under attack for their independent journalism, including that of NewsClick from India.