Hyderabad: The Election Commission has announced notification for by-elections to 7  Assembly seats on Wednesday. As per the notification, by-polls would be held for 6 seats in Telangana and one in Seemandhra.

Nominations would be accepted till February 29. Scrutiny would be on March 1. Polling would be held on March 18 and counting on March 21. Results are likely to be announced on the same day, as polling would be through Electronic Voting Machines.

Elections would be held to Mahabubnagar, Nagar Kurnool, Kollapur (Mahabubnagar district), Station Ghanapur (Warangal district), Adilabad and Kama Reddy (Nizamabad district) in Telangana and Kovuru (Nellore district) in Seemandhra.

Mumbai: A case of assault under section 325 IPC  has been registered against actor Saif Ali Khan in Mumbai.

The ‘Love Aaj Kal’ star was involved in a scuffle on Tuesday night at the Taj Palace in Colaba in Mumbai.

The actor got into an argument with a businessman called Iqbal Sharma and later assaulted him, Sharma alleged.

According to sources, Saif and his girlfriend Kareena were with a group of friends at the restaurant.

On Wednesday morning, Iqbal went and lodged a complaint against the actor and two others at the Colaba police station.

Saif has been booked under section 325.However till now there is only the businessman’s version of the story. Saif is expected to report to the police station and clear his stand on the issue.

Saif’s home production ‘Agent Vinod’ is all set for release this March. The film stars Saif and Kareena in the lead roles. Although the film is already garnering much attention, a case of assault on the leading hero may just notch up the curiosity level on the film higher.

Hyderabad: Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy now appears to be sure that he may be arrested any time now.

According to information,in a meeting he said his party MLAs,MLCs and other functionaries on Tuesday to support his mother Vijayamma and work under her leadership, incase he was accused by CBI.

CBI which has been investigating Jagan’s illegal assets case and already arrested his company Jagati Publications’ Vice Chairman Vijaya Sai Reddy. However, Jagan who is No. 1 accused in the case, was so far not arrested.

Reasons for the delay in his arrest are clearly political. The first reason is he is an MP with special privileges. CBI has to check the facts before arresting him. Second  is sympathy wave that may effect the preset polls.

It is now being debated if Jagan would be arrested immediately, as there is only one seat where the sympathy factor might work, or would the government wait until March 18, when elections would be held to all the seven seats.

New Delhi: The 24-hour deadline set by aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), for Kingfisher Airlines to come up with a realistic flight schedule ends today.

DGCA chief E K Bharat Bhushan told reporters after the regulator quizzed Kingfisher CEO Sanjay Aggarwal and top officials on how they plan to get the crisis-ridden airlines back on track."The airlines will have to file a new schedule instead of a truncated one in the next 24 hours".

The cash-strapped carrier, facing the wrath of Income Tax authorities which have frozen its bank accounts, was operating only 28 of its 64 planes, leading to large-scale disruption of its schedule for the fifth consecutive day.

The airline was also given time till Wednesday to come up with a "realistic" flight schedule for its operating aircraft. "The airlines will have to file a new schedule instead of a truncated one in the next 24 hours," Mr Bhushan said.

"To be on the safer side, we have decided to go for safety surveillance of all of their operating aircraft," said Bhushan.

Asked whether DGCA was contemplating cracking the whip on Kingfisher, he said, “let us not talk of punitive action at the moment. We are more interested to see the airline back on its feet. Our priority is not to punish ... because of the immediate difficulties the travelling public will have to face."

A day after he ruled out any Government bailout for Kingfisher, Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh said Government will have to hear them out.

"We have to hear them out. We don't know what their plans are, how they are going to restore normalcy. Then there are safety issues which they have to answer," he said.

Under Rule 140(A) of the Aircraft Rules, 1937, airlines need prior approval of DGCA to curtail their flight schedules. Any violation can amount to cancellation of the flight permit of an airline, as an extreme measure.

Out of Kingfisher's 64 aircraft, 28 are operational. Yesterday, at least 34 Kingfisher flights - six from Delhi, five from Mumbai, 18 from Bangalore and five from Hyderabad - were cancelled. On Monday, the airline cancelled 30 flights; half of its flights from major metros were cancelled or delayed on Sunday. Internationally, flight operations to Bangkok, Dhaka and Kathmandu have been shut. Colombo, sources say, will be shut down shortly. Of all Kingfisher Airlines international services, only the London flight is presently operating.

After the two-hour meeting with Aggarwal and the airlines executive vice president Hitesh Patel, Bhushan said the DGCA, which had summoned them to explain the large-scale disruption in operations and the reasons for it, also wanted know why payment of salaries has been delayed.