Six Lok Sabha MPs of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) switched to the rival faction led by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. The defections have reduced the Uddhav Sena’s strength in the Lok Sabha to three MPs and increased the Shinde faction’s tally to 13.The MPs who have switched sides are Hingoli MP Nagesh Patil Ashtikar, Omprakash Nimbalkar from Osmanabad, Mumbai North-East MP Sanjay Dina Patil, Sanjay Deshmukh from Yavatmal-Washim, Sanjay Jadhav from Parbhani and Bhausaheb Wakchaure from Shirdi.Before they formally joined the Shinde Sena, Uddhav Thackeray held a meeting with leaders of his faction in Mumbai to discuss “upcoming political developments, organisational matters and the legislature’s strategy”. Read on. Fourteen students died after a fire broke out in a three-story building from which a coaching centre operates in the Aliganj area of Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow. Four others were injured and admitted to hospital, he added.Videos shared on social media showed persons jumping from the first floor of the building to escape the blaze. Read on.Odisha Assembly Speaker Surama Padhy has dismissed the Biju Janata Dal’s petition seeking the disqualification of eight of its MLAs for allegedly cross-voting during the Rajya Sabha elections in March. The petition was “cryptic, vague, unsubstantiated” and did not fulfil the statutory requirements to go into its merits, said the speaker. The Biju Janata Dal had on March 16 alleged that the eight MLAs voted in favour of independent candidate Dilip Ray, who was supported by the Bharatiya Janata Party. BJD chief Naveen Patnaik had accused the BJP of “horse-trading”. Read on. After at least 14 mosques and dargahs were demolished in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, Opposition leaders have alleged that Muslim places of worship were being targeted. Notices have been issued to hundreds of other religious structures, including the 250-year-old shrine of Hazrat Mahmood Shah Jilani in Jaisalmer, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi has claimed.He claimed that so far, four mosques in Bikaner have been bulldozed. Nine mosques and dargahs in Phalodi, Jaisalmer and Barmer have also been targeted, claimed Owaisi. These districts are close to the India Pakistan border. The demolitions are being “justified on national security grounds”, the Hyderabad MP said.Since May, at least 23 Muslim religious structures have been demolished in Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, according to the Muslim Mirror. Read on.If you haven’t already, sign up for our Daily Brief newsletter.