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Election Commission on Wednesday asked state governments to take down all unauthorised political advertisements from government, public and private properties and send a compliance report in the next 24 hours. In a letter to the Union Cabinet Secretary and chief secretaries of all states and union territories, the EC said that despite its letter issued on March 16 when the model code of conduct for the Lok Sabha elections came into force, it has received complaints that such defacements have not been removed. The Congress had recently raised the issue with the poll panel. «All unauthorised political advertisements, in the form of wall writings, posters, papers or defacement in any other form, cutouts, hoardings, banner flags were ordered to be removed in a time bound manner from public spaces like railway stations, bus stands, airports, railway bridges, roadways, government buses, electric/telephone poles, municipal/local bodies' building and a strict compliance in this was to be ensured,» it reminded the governments.

Aminul Haque Laskar has resigned from the BJP's primary membership. Laskar joined Congress on Wednesday. Laskar was former Deputy speaker of the Assam Legislative Assembly. He alleged that the party has lost its political ideology. He was the only MLA from Muslim minority community between 2016-2021. In 2021 he lost to AIUDF’s Karim Uddin Barbhuiya. Laskar, who is currently the chairperson of the Assam State Commission for Minorities, said, «Back in 2011, when we joined the BJP, it had a certain ideology, but today it is playing communal cards much like the AIUDF. Today we see legislators from the AIUDF campaign for the BJP's Silchar Lok Sabha seat candidate, which is unacceptable.»

transactions, all agency banks will remain open to the public on Sunday, March 31, 2024, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) sent a press release on Wednesday announcing the same. «The government of India has made a request to keep all branches of the banks dealing with government receipts and payments open for transactions on March 31, 2024 (Sunday) so as to account for all the government transactions relating to receipts and payments in the FY 2023-24 itself,» the central bank said in a release. Accordingly, agency banks are advised to keep all their branches dealing with government business open on March 31, 2024, Sunday, the release added further.

Shares of Aurobindo Pharma Ltd.(up 2.72 per cent), GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals Ltd.(up 2.38 per cent), Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd.(up 2.25 per cent), Ipca Laboratories Ltd.(up 1.47 per cent) and Torrent Pharmaceuticals Ltd.(up 0.7 per cent) ended the day as top gainers in the pack.

The rupee closed at 83.1575 against the U.S. dollar, weaker by 0.15%, compared with its previous close at 83.0350. The rupee touched an intraday low of 83.17, its weakest level since January 18.

The NSE Nifty index ended the session 21.65 points up at 21839.1, while BSE Sensex rose 89.64 points to 72101.69.

Begusarai as the world's most polluted city reflected "Western bias", the Bihar State Pollution Control Board (BSPCB) said on Wednesday and questioned the methodology used in the entire exercise. Speaking to PTI, BSPCB Chairman Devendra Kumar Shukla questioned why only one pollutant, PM 2.5, was taken into consideration for analysing the air quality of Begusarai and other cities in India. «When we talk about air quality, it should be a comprehensive analysis, taking into account all pollutants — PM 2.5, PM 10 (particulate matter less than 10 microns), nitrogen oxide, sulphur dioxide, ozone, carbon monoxide, ammonia and lead,» he said. «I will not call it a comprehensive analysis of air quality at all. There is a Western bias in the report,» he added.

NRI voters to cast their votes in the coming Lok Sabha polls that will be held in seven phases starting from April 19. The results will be announced on June 4. Calling all NRI voters to cast their vote this Lok Sabha Elections, said Press Information Bureau in a post on X. ALSO READ: Homecoming: Why NRIs are choosing India as their retirement destination

Shares of State Bank of India(up 1.73 per cent), Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd.(up 0.91 per cent), IndusInd Bank Ltd.(up 0.52 per cent), Bank of Baroda(up 0.31 per cent) and Punjab National Bank(up 0.09 per cent) ended the day as top gainers in the pack.

Shares of Eicher Motors Ltd.(up 4.22 per cent), Maruti Suzuki India Ltd.(up 2.97 per cent), Tube Investments of India Ltd.(up 1.44 per cent), Samvardhana Motherson International Ltd.(up 0.86 per cent) and Bosch Ltd.(up 0.42 per cent) ended the day as top gainers in the pack.

Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to list for hearing on March 21 a PIL against the practice of political parties promising freebies during elections. «This is important. We will keep this on board tomorrow,» said a bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra after petitioner's lawyer in the case mentioned the matter for early hearing. The plea said there should be a total ban on populist measures to gain undue political favour from voters as they violate the Constitution, and the Election Commission should take suitable deterrent measures.

₹28,000 crore, reported CNBC-TV18 citing its sources. Bharti Hexacoms IPO size is expected to be about ₹4,300 crore, according CNBC-TV18 report.

ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company Ltd. traded 0.87 per cent down at Rs 1642.6 at 01:19PM (IST) on Wednesday, even as BSE benchmark Sensex gained 302.2 points to 72314.25. The scrip had closed at Rs 1657.15 in the previous session. The stock quoted a 52-week high price of Rs 1739.95 and 52-week low of Rs 1056.0, respectively. As per BSE data, total traded volume on the counter till 01:19PM (IST) stood at 4805 shares with a turnover of Rs 0.79 crore.

Havells India Ltd. gained 0.22 per cent to Rs 1460.0 at 01:24PM (IST) in Wednesday's trade. The counter has hit a high of Rs 1471.05 and low of Rs 1435.05 so far during the session. The stock had closed at Rs 1456.65 in the previous session. The counter has had a total traded volume of 10055 shares so far with a value of Rs 1.45 crore on the NSE. It traded at a price-to-earnings multiple of 77.06 and a price-to-book ratio of 11.24.

₹100 to ₹106 per equity share of face value of ₹10 each. TAC Infosec IPO will open for subscription on Wednesday, March 27, and close on Tuesday, April 2.

DLF Ltd. traded 0.36 per cent up at Rs 820.4 at around 12:59PM (IST) on Wednesday. The stock had closed at Rs 823.4 in the previous session. Equity benchmark Sensex traded 193.77 points higher at 72205.82 around the same time.

JSW MG Motor India Pvt Ltd — the newly formed entity owned by Sajjan Jindal owned JSW Group and SAIC's MG Motor India — plans to sell a million units of the new energy vehicles (NEVs) by 2030, said Sajjan Jindal, chairman JSW Group. «With MG we can create a new energy Maruti moment, Jindal said in Mumbai at an event to announce the road ahead for the new entity. »At JSW we will not only produce the EVs with MG, we will address the entire ecosystem," said Jindal.

Shree Cements Ltd. traded 0.33 per cent down in Wednesday's trade at 11:37AM (IST). Around 303 shares changed hands on the counter. The scrip opened at Rs 25124.75 and touched an intraday high and low of Rs 25124.75 and Rs 24898.45, respectively, in the session so far. Shares of the company of Shree Cements Ltd. quoted a 52-week high of Rs 30710.15 and a 52-week low of Rs 22601.3.

SBI Cards and Payment Services Ltd. traded at Rs 692.75 on BSE at 11:42AM (IST) on Wednesday, down 0.63 per cent. The stock quoted a 52-week low price of Rs 678.8 and a high of Rs 932.35. Earlier in the day, the stock saw a gap down opening.

MphasiS Ltd. traded 0.24 per cent lower in Wednesday's session at 11:16AM (IST). The stock opened at Rs 2365.65 and has touched an intraday high and low of Rs 2424.75 and Rs 2365.65, respectively, during the session so far. The stock quoted a 52-week high of Rs 2835.0 and a 52-week low of 1660.65. About 3,495 shares changed hands on the counter so far.

The NSE Nifty index was trading 24.61 points down at 21792.85, while BSE Sensex was down 73.81 points at 71938.24 at the time of writing this report.