Pakistan's Opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday nominated himself for the post of prime minister, while Imran Khan's party threatened to withdraw its lawmakers from Parliament if the former Punjab chief minister was allowed to contest the election for the top post on Monday.
5 states that contribute just under a fifth of the Lok Sabha's seats will go to the polls early this year.
International oil prices jumped to the highest level since 2014, topping $87 a barrel but domestic petrol and diesel prices remained unchanged for the 74th day in a row - a freeze that may be linked to ensuing assembly elections in states like Uttar Pradesh and Punjab. Brent - the key global oil benchmark - soared to $87.7 per barrel mostly due to rising geopolitical tensions and supply-side disturbances due to Yemen's Houthi group's attack on oil facilities in the United Arab Emirates. Also, global inventories are waning. The attack, some analysts believe, may lead to more hostile behaviour between the two power centres in the Middle East - Iran and Saudi Arabia.
Exigencies of electoral politics and individual ambitions often stoke family feuds and sibling rivalries.
Bilawal has said the reality is that his party does not have a mandate to form a federal government.
Sonia would address political rallies in Jandiala or Beas, Tarn Taran or Amritsar, Phagwara, Sarhind and at some place in western Malwa
This is not an election Budget in the sense that I might target the voter in the coming elections. But if you look beyond this round of state elections, and tilt the periscope to graze at the more distant horizon, see how the Narendra Modi government wishes things looking by the summer of 2024, observes Shekhar Gupta.
Months after exiting the decades-long association with the Congress party, Azad said that he was not against its policy of secularism, but its weak party system.
Amarinder Singh on Monday held the Gandhis totally responsible for the rout of the Congress in the assembly polls, claiming that the party was "comfortably placed" in Punjab before he was unseated as chief minister.
A handsome victory for the BJP in UP would act as confirmation of its recent political choices. The UP chief minister would be cemented in the popular mind as Mr Modi's chosen heir within the Hindutva fold, and presumably as his successor in New Delhi, observes Mihir S Sharma.
In his resignation letter to Sonia Gandhi he said that despite knowing him "for the better part of his 52 years in public life" and "that too at a deeply personal level", she never "understood" him or his "character".
Chouhan and Raje were overlooked by the BJP for the chief minister posts in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan respectively despite ensuring the party's return to power in the assembly polls held recently.
Replying to a question on the Enforcement Directorate raids at many places including at the premises of Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi's nephew, Sidhu slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Centre over the raids and said the ED took action after nearly four years of the registration of the case.
A court in Varanasi on Monday convicted gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari in the murder of Congress leader Awadhesh Rai more than 30 years ago.
In a relief toD leader Bikram Singh Majithia, the Supreme Court Monday directed the Punjab police not to arrest him till February 23 in a drugs case so he can undertake electioneering
Electioneering ended in Madhya Pradesh at 6 pm except in Naxalites-hit districts of Balaghat, Mandla and Dindori, where campaigning drew to a close early at 3 pm.
Poonam held Arun Jaitley responsible for her quitting the BJP.
Congress leader Sukhjinder Randhawa and Brahm Mohindra will be two deputies to Punjab's Chief Minister-designate Charanjit Singh Channi, said party leader Pawan Kumar Bansal.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president Sharif, 70, and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) vice-chairman and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Sunday filed their nomination papers for the post.
Aam Aadmi Party national convener Arvind Kejriwal will announce on Friday the name of the party's chief ministerial candidate for the next month's Gujarat Assembly elections, party office-bearers said.
'Priyanka did draw huge crowds and eventually all of those ended up voting for the Samajwadi Party.' 'The voters today are smart enough to vote for the party which they know is going to win or they know this party will come second, but no way will they vote for a party which will come third or fourth.'
Questioning why people from UP should have to look at Delhi for health services and education, he said Mohalla clinics, free electricity, water, good education and health facilities can also be provided in the state.
In a surprise development, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz on Tuesday nominated its president Shehbaz Sharif as the prime ministerial candidate of Pakistan instead of the party supremo and three-time former premier Nawaz Sharif.
'The BJP has started a war-like situation against farmers and the Jat community.'
Amanjot Kaur Ramoowalia, a former member of Akali Dal's women wing and daughter of former Union minister Balwant Singh Ramoowalia, Gurpreet Singh Shahpur, Chand Singh Chatha and Baljinder Singh Dakoha, all associated with the former BJP ally, joined the saffron party in presence of a number its leaders, including cabinet minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.
'People of my constituency told me they will continue loving me, but will not vote for me if I am with the BJP.'
Rahul Gandhi succeeds his mother Sonia Gandhi, who remained in the post for 19 years.
Shehbaz, the 70-year-old younger brother of former three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif, has served as chief minister of the country's most populous and politically crucial Punjab province thrice.
With the Sharif family set to return to power in Pakistan amid the fast-deteriorating economic situations and political instability, it is to be seen if Shehbaz Sharif infuses fresh energy into the system, or the much-tainted family continues to resort to its old ways.
The Congress naming Channi, a Dalit face who comes from the Rupnagar district in the state's Malwa belt, assumes significance as Punjab has a population of nearly 32 per cent from the community.
Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and chief ministers of Congress-ruled states of Rajasthan, Punjab and Chhattisgarh are among those named by the party as its star campaigners in Uttar Pradesh.
Accompanied by some relatives, Moosewala's father received his son's body from Mansa Civil hospital, where it was kept for post-mortem, around 8.15 am.
The crucial meetings come amid talks of the Congress leadership making efforts to bring all leaders together ahead of next year's Punjab Assembly polls and present a united face of the party.
As the Kejriwal empire spreads, will he be able to keep the momentum going? And will it be at the cost of greater centralisation of authority in the party, asks Aditi Phadnis.
In the last five years, 480 candidates with declared cases related to hate speech have contested elections to state assemblies, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, the ADR said.
From a comedian to Punjab chief minister, Bhagwant Mann has seen a phenomenal rise in a political career of just over a decade.
However, it was BJP, which put up an unexpectedly impressive performance bagging 19 of the 23 seats it contested.
Gearing up for the upcoming state assembly polls, the Bharatiya Janata Partyon Wednesday named its organisational spearheads for the elections, putting Union ministers Dharmendra Pradhan, Pralhad Joshi, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Bhupender Yadav in charge for the contest in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Manipur respectively.
Farmer leader Rakesh Tikait on Sunday said Samyukt Kisan Morcha is not contesting any election and he was not going to join politics.
In his absence, the party stares at uncertainty as many of its other senior leaders are either in jail or in political obscurity.
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