AAP's Atishi, who had unsuccessfully contested last year's Lok Sabha polls from the East Delhi constituency, was fielded from Kalkaji in place of sitting MLA Avtar Singh Kalka. She won the seat by a margin of over 11,300 votes.
According to the officials, the three-storey coaching institute, surrounded by residential and commercial establishments, had permission to use the basement as a store room, but it was being used as library in violation of the rules.
As BJP leaders went all out to project the event as a moment of national pride, some leaders were directly critical of the ceremony with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, belonging to the Communist Party of India-Marxist, slamming the state's role in the Ram Temple consecration, saying the line that demarcates religion and state seems to be 'getting thinner and thinner'.
Kejriwal called a meeting of AAP MLAs amid a furore over recent actions by central probe agencies against ministers and leaders of the party.
The Aam Aadmi Party on Sunday raised questions on the genuineness of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's degrees and claimed that they would turn out to be fake if a probe is conducted.
Aam Aadmi Party on Thursday did not rule out Arvind Kejriwal contesting the Lok Sabha polls, with an AAP leader saying no decision has been taken on whether Delhi MLAs or the chief minister would be in fray.
Kejriwal charged that the BJP toppled Manipur, Bihar, Assam, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra governments.
Moderate to high turnout was recorded in 13 assembly constituencies across seven states where bypolls were held on Wednesday amid sporadic incidents of violence in Uttarakhand, Bihar and West Bengal.
With the sole motive of triggering communal violence and riots, the BJP got Rohingyas and Bangladeshis 'illegally' settled in different parts of the country in the last eight years, the AAP alleged.
Lamba claimed after the walkout, "I got a message from the CM to tender my resignation. I'm ready to do so".
Among these are Labh Singh Ugoke, who defeated former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi in the Bhadaur assembly segment by a margin of 37,558 votes, and Gurmeet Singh Khuddian, who beat Shiromani Akali Dal patriarch Parkash Singh Badal in his traditional Lambi seat by 11,396 votes.
'A first-time politician can only get such opportunities in AAP. Had I been in some other party, I wouldn't even have got a ticket to contest polls'
Party MLA Bhupat Bhayani, who had initially hinted that he may go with the BJP to 'resolve several key issues' of his constituency but later set aside all speculations, saying he was not unhappy with the AAP, was also present during the meeting.
After hectic parleys and much back and forth with the INDIA bloc allies, the Congress also ended up going into the polls with its original plan of largely going solo.
No major glitches in electronic voting machines were reported and the voting passed off peacefully with high security observed at the 3,360 critical booths in 493 locations where more than 25,000 police personnel, nearly 13,000 home guards and 100 companies of paramilitary forces were deployed, officials said.
AAP spokesperson and MLA Atishi said Sisodia was arrested because of growing popularity of the party and its leader Arvind Kejriwal.
Atishi, Raghav Chadha and Dilip Pandey are among the first-time MLAs. Atishi, who was fielded from Kalkaji, won the seat by defeating Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Dharambir Singh by a margin of 11,393 votes. Chadha, who had also registered victory from Rajinder Nagar, defeated his BJP rival Sardar R P Singh by a margin of 20,058 votes.
The rebel leader has been a vocal critic of AAP leadership since he was removed as leader of opposition in Punjab assembly in July last year.
Bajpai said he quit the AAP as he felt "suffocated" over the "misbehaviour and insult" meted out by the party and claimed that several other legislators of the ruling party in the national capital felt the same way.
Delhi environment minister Gopal Rai alleged in a press conference that Delhi police on the instruction of PMO put up banners carrying photos of PM Modi at venue of Van Mahotsav programme on Saturday night.
12 AAP MLAs went to Raj Niwas, the LG's residence, at around 11.30 am with the demands. They later claimed that Jung 'refused' to meet them, but the LG secretariat said Jung's schedule was already prepared for the day and procedures have to be followed for seeking an appointment.
The response was issued by the jail administration after statements were made by AAP MP Sanjay Singh and MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj.
An average voter turnout of 20 per cent was recorded in the first four hours of voting in the bypolls to 15 assembly seats spread across Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Kerala and Uttarakhand on Wednesday amid an incident of stone pelting in a village in UP's Meerapur and allegations of police personnel deterring voters from casting their ballot.
The Aam Aadmi Party has removed its MLA Alka Lamba as party spokesperson after she "deviated from party line" while making a statement on Transport Minister Gopal Rai being relieved of the charge.
Campaigning continues for the final three phases of the Lok Sabha election.
The Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi was left teetering on Monday after Independent MLA Rambir Shokeen withdrew his support to Arvind Kejriwal, whose party's strength has now been reduced to 35 in the 70 member house.
The Enforcement Directorate on Friday said it has attached assets worth more than Rs 52 crore of arrested AAP leader Manish Sisodia, his wife and some other accused in the Delhi excise policy-linked money laundering case.
Senior Aam Aadmi Party leader Manish Sisodia walked out of Tihar Jail after 17 months behind bars on Friday and said he got bail due to the power of the Constitution and democracy, and this same power will ensure the release of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
"I quit... I believed him... I backed Arvind for principles not horse-trading," she tweeted.
Announcing yet another pre-poll "guarantee" in Gujarat, Aam Aadmi Party convener Arvind Kejriwal on Friday said his party, if voted to power in the state, will waive farm loans and also create a mechanism to buy produce from farmers at Minimum Support Price (MSP).
In face of this confrontation, membership of 21 Aam Aadmi Party MLAs may be cancelled, dealing a huge blow to the Delhi chief minister. Rediff.com explains how things came to this pass.
The Congress and BJP are apprehensive that AAP might eat into their votes among the Patel community, Kshatriyas, a section of minorities, and Dalits, thus delivering a fatal blow in the closely-contested seats. But the local BJP is elated over the entry of AIMIM as there will be a contender for minority votes apart from the Congress in seats like Bhuj and Mandvi, which have considerable Muslim electorate.
Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, the AAP's Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha alleged that the BJP is offering two options to his party MLAs -- they should either join the saffron party or the CBI-ED will put them in jail.
Mehdi said he made a mistake by crossing over to the AAP and asserted that he is a "loyal worker" of the Congress and Rahul Gandhi
An analysis of the affidavits of all the 90 winning candidates by the Association for Democratic Reforms and Haryana Election Watch show a slight rise in the number of crorepati MLAs, from 93 percent in 2019 to 96 percent this time.
The resolution expressed "disapproval" against the controversial Gujarat-cadre officer being "forced upon Delhi" as its police commissioner.
Opposition parties on Friday alleged that Bharatiya Janata Party leaders displayed insensitivity in handing over a compensation cheque to the inconsolable mother of Captain Shubham Gupta, who was killed fighting terrorists in J-K, and lashed out at them for using the occasion as a 'photo-op'.
Aam Aadmi Party's chief ministerial face Bhagwant Mann won from Dhuri assembly seat on Thursday, whereas Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu was defeated from Amritsar East seat.
Kejriwal said that the ordinance must be defeated collectively in Parliament where it is likely to come up for voting as a law in the forthcoming session.
The ruling Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab on Wednesday filed a complaint with the state director general of police, seeking a thorough probe into allegations of an attempt by the Bharatiya Janata Party to topple its government.
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