NewsBytes

In a bid to prevent the possibility of any manipulation, the Election Commission has streamlined the process of counting of postal ballots in Lok Sabha and Assembly polls. The new practice will be first implemented in Bihar where assembly polls are due in November. Till now, on the day of counting, postal ballot counting starts at 8 am and EVM counting at 8:30 am. According to the earlier instructions, EVM counting could theoretically go on irrespective of the stage of postal ballot counting and chances of it getting completed before the completion of postal ballot counting cannot be ruled out.  Although, counting of postal ballots generally gets completed before the counting of EVMs, to ensure uniformity and utmost clarity in the counting process, the Election Commission has now decided that the penultimate (second last) round of EVM counting will be taken up only after the counting of postal ballots is completed at the counting centre where postal ballot counting is being done. The Commission also directed that in cases where there are a large number of postal ballots, the returning officers are to ensure that sufficient number of tables and counting staff are in place so that there is no delay and the counting process is further streamlined. Counting of postal ballots have come under question on multiple occasions when the winning margins are slender. In view of the recent initiatives taken by the Commission for home voting for persons with disabilities and senior citizens above 85 years, the number of postal ballots has increased substantially.

Global agricultural company Syngenta on Thursday announced AI-driven solutions to solve local agricultural challenges in the country. The new innovations were launched at the flagship developer conference, DevCon 2025, held in Pune and simultaneously across global platforms. According to the company, Syngenta's AI initiatives are focused on precision agriculture through satellite imagery analysis, predictive modelling for crop diseases and pest management, and intelligent irrigation systems that optimise water use. "These innovations are being tailored to the Indian context, where agriculture faces diverse regional challenges," the statement said. In India, Syngenta is deploying AI-powered advisory platforms in regional languages to make farming knowledge accessible to smallholder growers.

The Palestinian president, speaking over video after the United States revoked his visa, told world leaders on Thursday that his people “reject” the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel and pledged that the militant group would have no role in governing Gaza after war ends and must hand over its weapons.  Mahmoud Abbas told the UN General Assembly that Palestinians in Gaza “have been facing a war of genocide, destruction, starvation and displacement” by Israel. His speech came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu heads to New York to give his own address in person on Friday. Despite laying out in gruesome detail the death and destruction in Gaza, Abbas said Palestinian authorities “reject” the action Hamas carried out on October 7 and that it does not represent their people. He also laid out his vision for what government would look like in territories once the war is over, saying that the Palestinian Authority is “ready to bear full responsibility for governance and security. He added that “Hamas will have no role to play in governance,” and will have to hand over their weapons to the Palestinian authorities.