Jaipur: At least four people were killed in a road accident and four others were injured on the Kota-Udaipur highway in Rajasthan’s Bundi district early Wednesday morning, said officials

The collision occurred near the Baba Ramdev temple in the Dabi police station area of Bundi district at around 5 a.m. According to preliminary information, a dumper and a car collided head-on with significant impact.

The car, carrying eight people, was en route from Beawar to Rajsamand, reportedly arranged by contractor Hemraj.

The accident took place just 5 km before the Dhaneshwar toll plaza.

An ambulance was dispatched immediately after the highway control room alerted emergency services. Upon reaching the scene, rescue personnel found all eight car occupants injured. The victims were first rushed to the Community Health Centre (CHC) in Dabi, according to the officials here.

Tragically, one person was declared dead on arrival. The remaining injured were referred to Kota’s Medical College Hospital for further treatment.

At the hospital in Kota, three more victims, including a woman, succumbed to their injuries during treatment.

The four surviving victims continue to receive medical care, with one of them being a one-and-a-half-year-old child.

Police officials confirmed the details, stating that the accident occurred in front of the Baba Ramdev temple, not far from the Dhaneshwar toll. The officials added that the deceased’s bodies were kept in the mortuary, and post-mortem procedures would be conducted once their families arrive.

The crash caused a stir in the area, briefly disrupting traffic on the highway.

Authorities are investigating the exact cause of the collision and whether negligence or overspeeding was involved.

The tragic accident again gives lessons that travellers should be extra careful during early morning hours when visibility is low and fatigue often plays a role, said the officials.

Nawada (Bihar): Reiterating his “vote theft” allegations on Election Commission of India and Bharatiya Janata Party, Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said that the poll body and BJP are together running a “partnership”.

Rahul Gandhi was addressing the gathering during his Voter Adhikaar Yatra in Nawada and alleged that PM Narendra Modi, Union Minister Amit Shah and ECI of snatching the fundamental rights from the people.

Congress Leader Rahul Gandhi’s Statement

“There are lakhs of people in Bihar who voted and their names were deleted from the voter list. There is a partnership going on between the Election Commission and the BJP. They are together stealing votes. This is your right and the Constitution gives you this. You fight for this, work hard and Narendra Modi, Amit Shah and the Election Commission are snatching it from you. I, Tejashwi and the rest of the leaders here are standing up and telling them that we will not let you steal even a single vote of Bihar,” Rahul Gandhi said while addressing the gathering.

The Congress MP further targeted the ECI and BJP stating that they “magically” created 1 crore new voters in Maharashtra. He further said that new voters were added in Maharashtra after Lok Sabha 2024 elections which resulted in BJP’s win in the state assembly polls.

“Maharashtra, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, these are the places they have stolen from. In Maharashtra, they magically create 1 crore new voters after the Lok Sabha elections. We win the Lok Sabha and after the new voters come, BJP wins. We asked the Election Commission who these people are but they don’t answer. We asked them (ECI) to show the videography, they said we won’t show it. They changed the law and now a new way of voter theft is being done in Bihar, Sir, they are stealing in a new way in front of your and the country’s eyes. We won’t let them steal,” the Congress MP said.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday Rahul Gandhi continued his Voter Adhikar Yatra in Bihar against the Special Intensive Revision and his “vote theft” allegations on ECI.

RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav and CPI-M leader Dipankar Bhattacharya are accompanying Rahul Gandhi.

The INDIA bloc on Tuesday intensified its protest against the “vote theft” allegations on Election Commision of India and Special Intensive Revision in Bihar outside the parliament building.

The protests saw the presence of prominent leaders including Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and others. Meanwhile, on Sunday, the Election Commission of India (ECI) addressed a press conference giving it’s clarification over the “vote theft” allegations and SIR in Bihar. It also asked Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi to submit a signed affidavit with proof of his claims of election rigging.

The opposition parties have been protesting against the revision of voter lists since the commencement of the Parliament monsoon session on July 21, with the treasury benches accusing the Opposition of disrupting Parliament proceedings. Calling the ongoing exercise as ‘Silent Invisible Rigging’ of votes, INDIA bloc leaders held banners calling for the stop of ‘Vote chori.’ Notably, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju called on Congress and other opposition parties to refrain from creating disruptions in Parliament over issues related to the Election Commission. Rijiju, while speaking at a press conference, stated that any disputes between the Election Commission and political parties should be discussed directly with the EC, and not in the Parliament.

New Delhi: India is expected to clock 6.7 per cent growth in the first quarter of the current fiscal (FY26), outpacing the RBI Monetary Policy Committee’s (MPC’s) recent forecast of 6.5 per cent, credit rating agency ICRA said on Tuesday.The rating agency report projects the growth in the gross value added (GVA) to stand at 6.4 per cent in Q1 FY2026.

Improved transmission of monetary easing and the recent announcement of forthcoming GST rationalisation may help to shore up urban consumption sentiments ahead of the festive season, the report said.”ICRA estimates a double-digit growth in net indirect taxes (in nominal terms), aided by the sharp uptick in the government of India’s indirect taxes (+11.3 per cent in Q1 FY26 from -3.1 per cent in Q4 FY2025), despite the narrower contraction in its subsidy outgo,” said Aditi Nayar, Chief Economist, Head-Research and Outreach, ICRA.

“Benefitting from robust government capital as well as revenue spending, upfronted exports to some geographies and nascent signals of improved consumption, the pace of expansion in economic activity in Q1 FY2026 is estimated at 6.7 per cent,” Aditi Nayar said.The rating agency estimates the YoY growth in the services GVA to increase to an eight-quarter high of 8.3 per cent in Q1 FY26, from 7.3 per cent in Q4 FY25, supporting the overall GVA expansion in that quarter.

In particular, the combined non-interest revenue expenditure of 24 state governments reported a double-digit YoY growth of 10.7 per cent in Q1 FY26, up from 7.2 per cent in Q4 FY25.Likewise, the Central government’s non-interest revenue expenditure saw a turnaround, recording a YoY growth of 6.9 per cent against a contraction of 6.1 per cent in the previous quarter, said the report.

Rural sentiments, as reflected in the Current Situation Index (CSI) improved further in the July 2025 (100.6) round of the RBI’s Rural Consumer Confidence Survey, reflecting favourable trends in farm output in the last two cropping seasons, and the upbeat outlook for the ongoing kharif season, and a considerable cooling in the rural CPI inflation.