Residents of around twelve villages in Tamil Nadu expressed their discontent with the ruling DMK government by abstaining from participating in the Lok Sabha elections on Friday. In Ekanapuram village, Kanchipuram district, most locals refrained from voting, continuing their protest against the state's plan to construct a second airport in Parandur. “Out of the 1,400 votes in Ekanapuram, only 21 people – who are government staff – voted. No resident and no farmer voted in this election,” said RL Elango leading the protests. “The government has turned a deaf ear against our concerns for more than 600 days. Soon after election dates were announced, we decided to boycott the elections. Even the 18 people (senior citizens and people with disabilities) who had chosen postal votes refused to vote,” he said.

The Supreme Court on Friday said that women officers on the panel should receive command positions corresponding to their entitlements. However, the Court declined to instruct the Indian Army to provide them with a fixed tenure of nearly two years in these roles, citing operational needs. The order was issued by a bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud during the hearing of an application filed by four women Colonels alleging discrimination. They claimed that male officers were assigned regular billets, while women officers were given upgraded ones usually held by junior officers. The Indian Army, in a status report, refuted the accusation, stating that three of the applicants were assigned regular command positions, while the fourth would be assigned one from May 1.

Source: hindustantimes