New Delhi, Sept 26 : Senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Vijay Kumar Malhotra will be the party''s chief ministerial candidate in the upcoming elections for Delhi.

The party announced this in New Delhi today after hours long meeting.

“The election of Delhi state Assembly is round the corner. After consulting the party workers and the leadership it has been decided to field Doctor Vijay Kumar Malhotra as the chief ministerial candidate and he will lead the party in the elections,” told senior party leader Arun Jaitley, in a news conference.

New Delhi, Sept 26 : The National Human Rights Commission has sent its investigation team to look into the issue of the alleged attacks on the Christians in Kandhamal District of Orissa.

The fact finding team is headed by a Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP). The action was taken on the petition filed by Catholic Bishop Conference of India on September 16 seeking protection from violence at the hands of fundamentalists.

The Commission also issued a notice to the Chief Secretary and the Director General of Police of Orissa on the same day to submit a report within two weeks on the issue.

New Delhi, Sept 26 : Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil chaired a meeting in New Delhi today to review implementation of the decisions taken recently for strengthening of Intelligence Bureau and special branches in the States.

The meeting also discussed further action which may be necessary in this context. It lasted over one and a half hours.

The meeting was attended by the Union Home Secretary, Director of Intelligence Bureau and Special Secretary (Internal Security), Ministry of Home Affairs.

The meeting gain importance as it has taken place in the wake of recent serial blasts across the country.

New Delhi, Sept 26 : Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) today celebrated its 66th Foundation Day with great enthusiasm.

Union Minister for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences Kapil Sibal gave away the CSIR Young Scientist Awards 2008 and the CSIR Technology Awards 2008 at a function organized in New Delhi today to mark the occasion.

In his address, the Minister called upon the scientific community to bring science out of laboratories in the form of solutions to the day-to-day problems of the people.

New Delhi - Uncertainty over the US 700-billion-dollar bailout plan pulled down Indian shares Friday with the two main stock market indices showing a drop of more than 2 per cent.

New Delhi - Seven suspected militants were killed in a gunbattle with Indian Army soldiers in India's north-eastern Assam state on Friday, an army spokesman said.

The soldiers had laid an ambush after intelligence reports indicated movement of militants in Dhubri district of Assam, about 300 kilometres west of the state's main city Guwahati, defence spokesperson Rajesh Kalia said by telephone from Guwahati.

"When the militants fired, our troopers returned fire and seven of the militants were killed," Kalia said. He said the identity of the terrorists was not yet clear.

Revolvers, explosive RDX, grenades, gelatine sticks and wireless sets were found on the dead militants.