Changes to the election law to allow the linking of the Aadhaar card to the voter I-card were passed in the Lok Sabha today amid massive opposition protests against the "Election Laws (Amendment) Bill"; India has reported 161 cases of the new coronavirus variant Omicron, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Monday. "As of now, India has 161 Omicron cases... We are monitoring the situation daily with experts," the minister told Rajya Sabha while replying to a debate on the COVID-19 situation; hours after a man was beaten to death in the presence of policemen in Punjab's Kapurthala, police officers ruled out a sacrilege link and even backtracked on their own statement after a phone call in the middle of a press conference and other top stories.