The New Indian Express News

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The coastal belt of Thiruvananthapuram City Corporation saw chaotic and uneven voting on Tuesday as thousands of residents turned out for the local body polls. Many voters struggled to find their assigned polling booths, while others discovered their names were missing from the voters list, forcing them to return home without casting their votes. Local activists estimated that 60 to 100 voters were absent from each polling booth in the coastal wards. Vishnu M, 31, who arrived

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Election fervour gripped the city on polling day, and Technopark, home to nearly 80,000 employees across more than 450 companies, was no exception. The usually bustling IT campus ran with minimal staff as many professionals left their desks to cast their votes. Most companies followed employee-friendly policies in line with Election Commission directives, offering leave, work-from-home options, or flexible hours. Client support teams were allowed to adjust schedules without w

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Tribespeople of Thodumala ward in Thiruvananthapuram's Amboori grama panchayat are grateful to the government for the Kumbichal bridge. The newly-opened, but yet-to-be-inaugurated bridge has significantly cut down the travel time of the residents of the ward's 11 tribal settlements and also reduced their dependency on boats their lone mode of transport until now. However, as the capital's tribal belts cast their votes in the local body elections on Tuesday, one question ling

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In a major relief for Rahul Mamkootathil- MLA, the additional district and sessions court has granted him anticipatory bail in a second rape case registered against him on the complainant of a 23-year-old woman. Rahul's counsel had swiftly moved the pre-arrest bail after the High Court granted him protection from arrest in the first rape case till a verdict is given on his anticipatory bail plea, which is scheduled to be heard on December 15. The pre-arrest bail plea was move

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday categorically stated that he would not accept an award named after VD Savarkar, nor attend a related event, even as a senior party colleague wanted the Congress MP to not accept any honour named after the ideologue whom he claimed owed before the British. Tharoor said that he will not accept the Veer Savarkar Award and also won't attend the event where it will be presented in the absence of clarifications about its nature or the organisation prese

Pantones Colour of the Year is usually a global signal, a preview of what shades people may gravitate toward. But 2026s pick, a billowy, balanced white called Cloud Dancer, feels unusually intimate. It arrives at a moment suspended between overstimulation and exhaustion, a shade that feels like a welcoming, clean canvas amid complex times marked by grim, jarring notes. Yet, choosing white has triggered one of the most polarised reactions Pantone has seen in years. Recent selections carried mood

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: For a city long shadowed by its reputation for lacklustre polling, Thiruvananthapuram seemed to slip deeper into that pattern on election day. In the citys upscale neighbourhoods, where voter apathy has become almost ritual, the silence was unmistakable. By noon, turnout still hovered stubbornly below 30%, a telling sign of the indifference that had marked the morning. At the Kowdiar LP School, nestled in one of the citys quietest upscale pockets, the polling station wore a u

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The first phase of local body elections began on Monday amidst crises and uncertainties across the capital district. In a critical incident, election ink applied to voters forefingers at the Sasthamangalam ward of the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation faded within minutes. Sources from Booth 2 of the Raja Kesavadas NSS Higher Secondary School polling station reported that the ink was diluted, causing it to disappear quickly. In the same ward, a female voter was not permitted to

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Election to local self-government institutions in the district was largely peaceful. An exception was a clash between CPM and BJP workers at Vanchiyoor. Police intervention helped in preventing untoward incidents at Vanchiyoor where BJP accused CPM of bringing bogus voters. In the morning, polling booths in rural areas were busier than those in urban areas. The districts polling percentage was 67.42 as per the data released by the State Election Commission around 7.50pm. 19.6

KOCHI: A swift pushback is emerging in the Mollywood against the urgency shown by major industry bodies to reinduct actor Dileep, who was acquitted in the 2017 actress abduction and assault case on Monday. Several from the industry, particularly women, have criticised the haste with which organisations signalled their willingness to reinstate the actor, terming it a betrayal of the survivor and a continuation of an unsafe culture within Malayalam cinema. Senior dubbing artist Bhagyalakshmi was a

KOCHI: The trial court has acquitted actor Dileep in the actor abduction-assault case on the ground that the conspiracy charge against him could not be established. However, the fact that the conspiracy angle was not proved doesnt mean there was no conspiracy in the attack. The verdict, that convicted six persons and acquitted Dileep and three others, has left many questions unanswered. Hopefully, there will be more clarity when the court pronounces the sentence for those convicted and the detai

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Cantonment police will record the statement of the woman, who had filed a complaint against noted film-maker and two-time MLA P T Kunju Muhammed accusing him of sexual harassment. The police had on Monday registered a case against the director, who was the chairman of the committee to select films for the Malayalam Cinema Today section of the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK), for sexual harassment and outraging the modesty of a woman, which are non-bailable of

KANNUR: Chokli police have located Aruva T P, 29, the Muslim League candidate from Kanhirathin Keezhil, the 9th ward of Chokli panchayat, after her mother filed a complaint that she was missing. Aruva had gone missing from her house in Olavilam on December 6, just days before the local body elections. It later emerged that she had eloped with a resident of Chokli. She was produced before the magistrate. Following her mothers complaint, the police registered a missing case under Section 57 of the

KOZHIKODE: High above the clouds, somewhere between Tashkent and Delhi, a young Kerala doctor-in-training found himself in the kind of life-or-death moment most people only read about. The cabin lights were dim, passengers were settling into the long flight, and suddenly, a frantic announcement cut through the silence: If there is a doctor or medical staff on board, please inform the crew immediately. It was a 24-year-old medical intern from Tirur, Malappuram -- Dr Anees Mohamed -- who stood up.

KOCHI: Raising serious concerns about judicial confidentiality in the 2017 actor abduction and sexual assault case, a top advocates body on Tuesday confirmed it had received an anonymous letter detailing the crucial content of the verdict in the case, a week before it was pronounced. Dated December 2, the letter, sent by an Indian citizen, claimed that the upcoming verdict scheduled for December 8, 2025, in the high-profile case would exclude seventh accused Charly Thomas, eighth accused Gopalak

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Major constituents in the Opposition UDF want the Congress leadership to restrict UDF convener Adoor Prakash, whom they feel, has been getting the front into back-to-back crises. The latest in the series was his open support for actor Dileep in the actor assault case on the poll day morning. Hours after the first phase voting for local body election began in the state, opposition UDF received a body blow with Adoor Prakash voicing his support for actor Dileep in the actor ass

PATHANAMTHITTA: As many as 30 people, including Ayyappa devotees and others, were injured when two KSRTC buses collided near the Chakkupalam curve on the Pampa-Nilakkal route on Tuesday. Traffic along the busy pilgrim corridor remained disrupted for over an hour in the afternoon following the accident. Fire and rescue services personnel reached the spot immediately, removed the damaged buses, and shifted the injured to hospitals, including Kottayam Medical College. A 10-year-old girl, Mangalam,

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Davies Kollannur, who courageously altered the course of his life three times, has now sailed beyond the horizon for the final time. Davies who survived three life threatening ordeals- two kidney transplants and a battle with leukemia disease- stood as asymbol of resilience and hopefor thousands oftransplantpatients in Kerala. The man who lived with extraordinary courage, quietly slipped away on Monday night in Thrissur, following a sudden respiratory distress at 57. He left

KOZHIKODE: A year-old, trivial disagreement over school dress code has culminated in violence, as a gang of six Class 10 students lured and assaulted a Class 9 student recently inside Vattoli National Higher Secondary School, leaving him hospitalised with serious head injuries. The victim, 15-year-old K V Sharon, was rushed to Nadapuram Government Hospital after the attack, where doctors immediately treated multiple wounds, requiring stitches to his head. The assault, which occurred around 1 pm

KOZHIKODE: Muslim League state secretary K M Shaji has clarified the partys ideological differences with Jamaat-e-Islami, asserting that the two organisations can never walk together. Speaking to mediapersons in Kozhikode, Shaji stressed that the disagreement between the Muslim League and Jamaat-e-Islami is global and ideological, not something limited to Keralas political landscape. Shaji dismissed political speculation about electoral cooperation with the Welfare Party, associated to Jamaat-e-

KOCHI: In a verdict that has stirred up feelings of disbelief, agony and pain among large sections of people who had rooted for the survivor, the Ernakulam District and Principal Sessions Court on Monday acquitted actor Dileep in the 2017 actor abduction and sexual assault case, after concluding that the prosecution failed to establish the conspiracy charge against him. Soon after the acquittal, the state government said it would appeal the verdict. Judge Honey M Varghese held that the evidence

KOCHI: keralas local body elections have traditionally centered on the basics roads, drains, streetlights and waste management. But this time, the three major fronts the CPM-led LDF, Congress-led UDF and BJP-led NDA have released manifestos that read less like routine civic checklists and more like ambitious blueprints for parallel futures. If polls were a contest for imagining the most expansive version of Keralas cities, this election would easily qualify as the masterclass in political ima

KOCHI: While Ernakulam district celebrated democracy on Tuesday, Malayalam actor Mammootty missed out as his name was not found in the electoral rolls. The actor, who now resides in Vyttila under the Ponnurunni division of the Kochi corporation, was unable to vote in the 2020 local body elections owing to similar reasons. He (Mammootty) cast his vote in the previous assembly and Lok Sabha elections, but not in the 2020 corporation polls. When we realised his name was missing from the electoral r

IDUKKI: As the hills of Chinnakkanal went to the polls on Tuesday, an unusual silence marked ward 10, Sinkukandam -- a silence shaped not by apathy but by absence. Once home to over 1,000 voters, the ward now has only 430 on the electoral rolls, the steep drop reflecting years of wild elephant raids that forced dozens of families to abandon the 301 Colony and its surrounding hamlets. In the previous local body elections, the 301 Colony alone contributed around 100 voters; this year, barely 25 re

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Conventional politicking and canvassing have largely given way to tech-driven exercises, mostly carried out by youths. However, one thing has largely remained unchanged. On the D-day, it is the senior party workers who turn out to be the most indispensable players. With their decades-long experience and grassroots connections, they scan through the voters list, mark each votes polled, and check if any of the names that they deem as sure votes are yet to be polled. If thats th

As fast fashion and easy-to-replace gadgets take over our lives, something unexpected is happening inside Kochis smallest shop fronts. Repairers say they are now seeing more young faces teenagers and people in their early twenties coming in with watches that have stories behind them. Instead of throwing an old piece away, they want it repaired and given a second life. Its a small but telling shift back to valuing things that last. Ambika P R, who runs Nice Watch and Services near Shastri Nagar

ALAPPUZHA: Veteran communist leader and former minister G Sudhakaran, who had been ill for the past few weeks and remained almost bedridden after suffering multiple fractures in his leg, still made it a point to vote in the local body elections. Sudhakaran arrived at the polling booth in Paravoor Government Higher Secondary School in a car, accompanied by his wife, Jubilee Navaprabha. He stepped out of the vehicle and slowly walked to the booth with the help of a walker. The vote is the power of

ALAPPUZHA: For the first time in the electoral history of the state, a poll is being held without the presence of veteran Communist leader and former chief minister V S Achuthanandan. His wife Vasumathi and son V A Arun Kumar cast their votes at the Buds School polling station in Punnapra South, Alappuzha. In the 2020 local body elections, Achuthanandan could not cast his vote as he was bedridden following a stroke and was under treatment at a hospital in Thiruvananthapuram. Before heading to th

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Malayalam dubbing artist Bhagyalakshmi on Tuesday said she would resign from the FEFKA in protest against what she called the organisation's ushed move to take back actor Dileep following his acquittal in the 2017 actor assault case. Bhagyalakshmi, who has previously held several positions in the Film Employees Federation of Kerala, told reporters that she could not adopt double standards on the case and would stand firmly with the survivor. She said the trial court's verdic

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Malayalam dubbing artist Bhagyalakshmi on Tuesday said she would resign from the FEFKA in protest against what she called the organisation's ushed move to take back actor Dileep following his acquittal in the 2017 actor assault case. Bhagyalakshmi, who has previously held several positions in the Film Employees Federation of Kerala, told reporters that she could not accept double standards in the case and would stand firmly with the survivor. She said the trial court's verdi

PALAKKAD: Election campaign mornings rarely begin with the patter of running shoes. On Saturday, Nagalassery grama panchayat in Palakkad district woke up not to blaring announcements, but to the sight of candidates pacing through Koottanad -- an uplifting spectacle in the thick of an election. In a first-of-its-kind initiative in the state, a vibrant community of runners from Peringode under the Thrithala constituency -- who go by the name Runners Peringode -- brought together candidates from ac

Kochis engagement with organised civic governance began long before India became independent. The Dutch established the Fort Kochi municipality as early as 1664, marking one of the oldest experiments in municipal administration in the subcontinent. By 1866, Fort Kochi had become the first modern municipality in the state, during a period when the British residents took over the charge and served as the chairmen. As administrative systems evolved, voting rights were gradually extended to tax-payi

IDUKKI: Malayalam actor Asif Ali on Tuesday said he firmly stands with the survivor in the actress sexual assault incident but respects the judgement delivered by the court in the case. Ali said his consistent stand has been that the survivor should receive justice, rather than insisting that any particular individual must be punished. The Rekhachitram actor's remarks came a day after the Ernakulam Principal Sessions Court acquitted actor Dileep and three others in the sensational case. The cour

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A voter turnout of 32.04% was recorded in the first five hours of polling in the first phase of the local body polls in seven districts of the state. Electors are choosing representatives to the three-tier panchayats in rural areas and municipalities and corporations in urban areas. Voting is being held in 15,422 polling stations from 7 am to 6 pm. Union Minister of State Suresh Gopi and the states Leader of the Opposition VD Satheesan were among the prominent voters who queu

KOLLAM: Polling for the local body elections commenced in the district on Monday, with a turnout of 15.65% recorded by 10 am, according to data released by the Election Commission. Officials noted that voting picked up steadily during the early hours, with more voters arriving after 9 am. Kollam Corporation reported a relatively lower turnout of 12.49%, while municipal areas recorded moderate participation. Among the municipalities, Paravur registered the highest turnout at 15.66%, followed clos

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The CPM and Congress are allying with Jamaat-e-Islami, which works towards establishing an Islamic state, BJP state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar said on Monday. He said the outfit had extended political support to both the fronts as revealed by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan during a meet the press. He accused the LDF and UDF of locking on to political goals without considering the cons of its maneuvers and urged the public to vote for NDA to put an end to this. He also al

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Highlighting the enduring role of the State Bank of India in Keralas socioeconomic development, SBI chairman C S Shetty commented that the bank remains committed to a future roadmap focusing on the superior customer-centric banking experience. He was inaugurating the silver jubilee celebrations of the banks Thiruvananthapuram Circle in Ernakulam on Monday. The chairman also launched the upcoming CSR initiatives of the bank, which will have multiple institutions as its key ben

Doctors in the state have strongly opposed the entry of non-medical graduates as faculty members in pre-clinical subjects such as Anatomy, Physiology, Biochemistry, and Microbiology. They criticised the Public Service Commission for abruptly postponing its scheduled examination to recruit assistant professors in Biochemistry and Microbiology, alleging that the move was aimed at unlawfully accommodating non-medical candidates. The Indian Medical Associations (IMA) Kerala branch, the Kerala Govern

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Following the tussle between Varkala municipality and the tourism department over the implementation of the controversial Varkala Dakshin Kashi project launched at the ancient Janardhana Swamy Temple under the Swadesh Darshan 2.0 scheme the local self-government principal director on Monday convened a meeting with all stakeholders to resolve the issue. Principal director Geromic George directed the municipality secretary to grant the required approvals after legally vetting

KOCHI: The fate of actor Dileep acquitted in the actor assault case after an exhausting over five-year trial has turned out to be nothing short of an anti-climax, especially for someone once accused of conspiring in the brutal assault of a fellow actor. From a scrawny mimicry artist to an actor, and eventually a producer, distributor, and theatre owner, Gopalakrishnan Padmanabhan alias Dileeps ascent to stardom and his later slide into notoriety, before being cleared of all charges extends f

KOCHI: In 2017, when 18 women came together to stand with the survivor, they knew their lives would never be the same again. As key Mollywood insiders refused to support the survivor, the Women in Cinema Collective (WCC) was formed to speak out, for the survivor and against injustice and gender issues in the industry. The unfortunate incident was definitely a trigger. There was no platform to raise such issues earlier, members said during the collectives press conference in Kochi in 2018. The gr

KOCHI: Living the retirement life of a former police officer and helping out at her familys tiny spice unit in Aluva, P K Radhamani couldnt find comfort in the fragrance enveloping her. She was unsettled, awaiting the much-anticipated verdict in the 2017 case. It was her pen that first brought the incident to lightshe was the one who recorded the victims statement, and the first person to hear what would be repeated in the halls of the legal system. Radhamani had just taken charge as station hou

KOCHI: The Ernakulam district sessions court complex had not seen a morning like this in years. Long before sunrise had settled into the city on Monday, the premises were rumbling with tension. By 7am, camera crews, reporters and excited supporters of actor Dileep had taken over the narrow lanes leading to the court. Everyone knew they were about to witness one of Keralas biggest judicial showdowns and nobody wanted to miss a single frame. By 9.45am, the first real hint of the momentous day ahe

THIRUVANTHAPURAM: The first phase of local body elections began on Monday amidst crises and uncertainties across the capital district. In a critical incident, election ink applied to voters forefingers at the Sasthamangalam ward of the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation faded within minutes. Sources from Booth 2 of the Raja Kesavadas NSS Higher Secondary School polling station reported that the ink was diluted, causing it to disappear quickly. In the same ward, a female voter was not permitted to vo

KOCHI: Though the prosecution put forward several conspiracy theories to implicate actor Dileep, the trial court rejected them. However, the prosecution succeeded in establishing the second conspiracy, between Pulsar Suni and five other accused, to abduct and rape the survivor. The prosecutions first theory was that Pulsar Suni and Dileep conspired during a meeting at hotel Abad Plaza. As per the charges, the duo entered into a criminal conspiracy to videograph nude visuals and sexual acts of th

KOCHI: With the court acquitting Dileep in the 2017 actor assault case, film bodies including the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA) and the Film Employees Federation of Kerala (FEFKA) have initiated discussions to give membership to the former, who was suspended from the association in July 2017. FEFKA was the first film body to suspend actor Dileep from his primary membership soon after his arrest in the case. As a trade union, we suspended Dileep after his arrest. Now, he has been

KOCHI: Soon after the acquittal, Dileep came out against Manju Warrier , alleging that she hatched a conspiracy against him. He pointed out that Manju, during a gathering of film stars two days after the incident, had said the sexual assault on the woman actor was organised and should be thoroughly probed. However, the prosecution countered this by saying that if they had intended to implicate him based on Manjus remarks, they could have done so while filing the main chargesheet against Pulsar S

KOCHI: Senior advocate B Raman Pillai and his team, by his own submission, had never encountered a trial of this nature in a criminal case. Pillai, who represented Dileep in the actor assault case, said he had never argued a case where there was no evidence whatsoever against the accused. On the verdict, Pillai, who was assisted by his team comprising advocates Sujesh Menon and Philip T Varghese, said he was relieved and pleased, asserting that the case against Dileep was fabricated. He (Dileep)

KOCHI: The delivery of the long-awaited verdict in the actor abduction case has cast a renewed spotlight on the crucial role played by the investigation teams in bringing the case to its legal conclusion. With the case featuring high-profile names like Dileep in the chargesheet, the probe involved meticulous processes of framing charges, collecting evidence, and completing every procedural step with precision. We had complete freedom throughout the investigation, and the support from our senior

KOCHI: The actor assault case can indeed be imputed for splitting Malayalam cinemas recent history into two distinct phases the before and after. Few events in the states cultural sphere have shaken the collective conscience as profoundly as the 2017 abduction and sexual assault of a prominent actor. The incident not only exposed troubling power imbalances within the industry but also forced long-overdue introspection among its stakeholders. Polarisation was immediate between those who stood w