The fate of 724 women candidates in the just-concluded Lok Sabha polls will be decided on Thursday when the results are announced. A total of 7,928 candidates were in the fray in the parliamentary polls.

A Delhi court Wednesday reserved for June 7 order on a complaint seeking lodging of an FIR against Rahul Gandhi for his alleged 'Khoon ki Dalali' remark against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Two militants were killed Wednesday in an encounter with security forces in Kulgam district of Jammu and Kashmir, police said.

Acting on a credible input about presence of ultras in Gopalpora area of Kulgam, security forces launched a cordon and search operation, a police spokesman said.

Counting of votes for the Lok Sabha elections, in which over 8,000 candidates were in the fray for 542 seats, will begin at 8.00 am Thursday and results are expected only by late evening due to tallying of voter verified paper audit trail slips with EVM count for the first time.

A day before the counting of the votes polled in the Lok Sabha election, the Congress on Wednesday termed as "constitutional travesty" the EC's rejection of Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa's demand that dissent notes should be recorded and alleged that the poll watchdog wanted to set a new precedent of "dark secrets" and "secluded chambers" in performing its duties.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday expressed concern over the "needless controversy" created by the Opposition over EVMs at a meeting of NDA leaders, even as the ruling alliance laid out its agenda for the next five years if it is elected to power again.

A medium intensity earthquake of magnitude 5.8 hit the Andaman and Nicobar islands on Wednesday morning. The quake, which had its epicentre in the Andaman islands, occurred at 6:09 am, the National Centre for Seismology said.

In a pre-dawn launch on Wednesday, Indian space agency ISRO scripted history by successfully launching earth observation satellite RISAT-2B that would enhance the country's surveillance capabilities among others.