Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s OSD Lokesh Sharma on Saturday reached the CM House here along with several of his supporters seeking a ticket for the upcoming Assembly polls in the state.

Mr Sharma has expressed the desire to contest from the Bhilwara Assembly constituency. Earlier, he had sought a ticket from the Bikaner West constituency but the party decided to renominate sitting MLA and state minister B D Kalla from there.

Rajasthan Assembly election will be held on November 23. The result for the 200-member House will be declared on December 3.

In a video circulating on social media, Mr Sharma, who is Mr Gehlot’s Officer On Special Duty (OSD), and his supporters can be seen gathered outside Mr Gehlot’s residence in the Civil Lines area here.

Some of them were heard raising slogans demanding a ticket for Mr Sharma from Bhilwara.

Later, Mr Sharma claimed that Mr Gehlot called him inside his residence and assured him that his candidature would be considered.

The Congress screening Committee meeting, which will be attended by Mr Gehlot, is scheduled to be held in the national capital on Sunday.

The Congress has so far announced the names of 95 candidates for the Assembly polls.

Gaza today said that more than 8,000 had been killed in the Palestinian territory since the start of the Israel-Hamas war on October 7.

“The death count linked to the Israeli aggression is past 8,000, half of whom are children,” the health ministry told the news agency AFP. 

Israel has been bombarding Gaza and has now been waging ground operations after Hamas’ surprise attack killed at least 1,400 Israelis. 

“This is the second stage of the war whose goals are clear – to destroy Hamas’ governing and military capabilities and to bring the hostages home,” Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters late on Saturday.

Here are the live updates on the Israel-Hamas war:

US fighter jets on Saturday “scrambled” after a civilian aircraft violated restricted airspace in Delaware. At the time, US President Joe Biden was present at his home in Wilmington, Fox News reported citing Anthony Guglielmi, chief of communications for the United States Secret Service.

The civilian aircraft entered restricted airspace north of Wilmington shortly after 2 pm (local time), Mr Guglielmi said. He said the fighter jets were scrambled “as a precaution” and the plane landed safely at a nearby airport.

“Shortly after 2 pm, a civilian aircraft violated restricted airspace north of Wilmington, Delaware,” Guglielmi said, according to a Fox News report.

He said that the movement of the US President was not affected. Agents from the Secret Service and the Federal Aviation Administration have started an investigation into the incident, Fox News reported.