Kumari, who is an MLA from Dalhousie in Himachal Pradesh, was given one-year imprisonment by a Chamba court in February this year but is currently on bail.
Early morning fog and biting cold kept the turnout low, but as the day wore on and the weather improved, voters came out in large numbers.
Being part of Rampur-Bushashr princely state once ruled by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh's ancestors, poll result in Himachal Pradesh's Rohru Assembly seat was out the day he files his nomination.
The rising pitch of road shows and long rallies with hectoring pitches seem to have exhausted and numbed the audiences, rather than motivating them to vote for the party, observes Shreekant Sambrani.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's bypoll win in four of the six seats it contested has invigorated the party ahead of assembly polls in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.
The AIMIM chief claimed top leadership of the Congress has "ignored" important elections in Maharashtra and Haryana.
The chief election commissioner said that the dates for the Himachal Pradesh election would be announced soon.
Sonia will nominate at least two Congress Working Committee members each for the nine states going to the polls next year to assist the AICC general secretaries in charge of the respective state, party sources said.
On Monday, Punjab had annulled all its water sharing agreements with Haryana, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh.
The state assembly had passed the Haryana Prevention of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Bill in March this year.
BJP candidate Kedar Prasad Gupta defeated Manoj Singh Kushwaha of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal-United by 3,645 votes in Kurhani.
Jagat Prakash Nadda was elected unopposed as the Bharatiya Janata Party national president on Monday after he emerged as the only leader in the fray following the nomination process in which his candidature was endorsed by top party leaders.
The results of the assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh are also likely to play out during the start of the session.
Radha Mohan Singh appointed in-charge of politically crucial UP. Kailash Vijayvargiya will continue to be the in-charge of West Bengal and he will be assisted by BJP national secretary Arvind Menon and party national IT cell head Amit Malviya.
Any defeat for the BJP now would imply that anti-incumbency against Modi has set in, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Congress Working Committee, the party's top-decision making body, would soon meet to deliberate further on the Chintan Shivir plans, the sources said.
Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday took charge as the Congress' first non-Gandhi president in 24 years, citing Rahul Gandhi's slogan 'daro mat' to energise workers and declaring that the party will demolish the government's 'system of lies, treachery and hatred'.
He called on all sections of the society, especially SC/ST and other weaker sections to unite for safeguarding the Constitution and democracy.
Differences surfaced within the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday on the move by the telecom regulator TRAI to increase the monthly rental by 11-12 per cent for basic (landline) telephone and reduce the pulse duration for local calls.
A red carpet will be rolled out to facilitate Shyam Saran Negi to cast his vote in the Himachal assembly elections without any hassle.
Ranaut, who had said she feared Mumbai Police after the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput and likened the Maharashtra capital to Pakistan occupied Kashmir, thanked Union Home Minister Amit Shah and declared that no one could crush a patriot.
"Even Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, during a rally in Kalyan, had said the police were capable of only washing utensils, Fadnavis said.
'If he loses Gujarat, then he has a major, major, problem coming up in 2024.'
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who embarked on the 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' from Tamil Nadu's Kanyakumari on Wednesday, will be staying in a container for the next 150 days.
A tally around 150 in Gujarat can see the index hit 10,700 levels going ahead
Party leaders list three clear positive outcomes -- an activated Congress which has hit the ground running leaving the past inertia behind, an interactive top brass which is directly engaging the people, and a mobilised organisation which was dormant for many years.
The BJP registered a victory in the Rajouri Garden assembly bypoll, handing a humiliating defeat to the ruling Aam Aadmi Party, which finished a distant third and even lost its deposit.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government of being 'undemocratic', and said people will have to strongly fight against its 'dictatorship' to save democracy.
The Congress, by and large, focused on local issues in this election and its campaign also was run by state leaders initially.
With Maharashtra and Haryana assembly elections, results for 51 assembly and two Lok Sabha bypolls spread across 18 states were declared on Thursday. Here are state-wise results of the bypolls.
Elections in Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan will see the BJP and Congress in direct contest.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Information and Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat reached the poll-bound state besides Union ministers J P Nadda and Thawar Chand Gehlot, and Bihar minister Mangal Pandey, who are already camping here.
Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said Adhyayan, the son of actor Shekhar Suman, was once in a relationship with Ranaut and he had alleged that she used to take drugs.
'The Congress can exist without (someone from) the Nehru-Gandhi family being its president.'
With organisations like the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, which is a front of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, telling Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman they want OPS back, the government is in a bind, report Shiva Rajora and Aditi Phadnis.
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