The commission said enforcement authorities have seized Rs 4,650 crore even before polling begins for the Lok Sabha elections and it is the "higher than total seizures" made in the 2019 polls
Modi said the state election results "give a glimpse" of the outcome of the general elections of 2024.
Punjab has around 19.7 million voters, of whom 53% are below the age of 40 years.
Sushil Chandra will conduct the UP, Punjab, Goa, Manipur, Uttarakhand elections before he retires in May 2022.
Announcing the decision, Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh welcomed them in the party fold, saying Congress will be further strengthened ahead of the Punjab assembly elections with the joining of like-minded people.
He said the people of Gujarat do not love him, state AAP president Gopal Italia or chief ministerial face Isudan Gadhvi but extending support because they feel AAP can resolve their issues
'This individual's constant endeavour at self-glorification, even at the cost of both the government and the party, has the potential to subvert whatever genuine efforts that Channi has been making since he became CM.'
A total 2.51 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise for the second phase of elections, including 1.29 crore men and 1.22 crore women.
"Didi has already said in Delhi that if Akhilesh Yadav needs our help, we are ready to extend help. The gesture of senior SP leader Jaya Bachchan seeking votes for the TMC during the West Bengal Assembly elections will be reciprocated in Uttar Pradesh," said Laliteshpati Tripathi, who recently joined the TMC.
A senior cabinet minister in the Punjab government and his delegation came under attack in New York as hundreds of Sikhs protesting his visit allegedly threw stones and hurled a shoe at the leaders, following which the police took two youths into custody.
'The chief minister has said on the floor of the House that he knows everything (about the criminal-politician mafia).' 'If you know about this nexus, why aren't you acting against them?' 'Ask him why is he so helpless.'
According to the poll panel, election campaign can now be conducted between 6 am and 10 pm instead of earlier 8 am to 8 pm.
The Union government had recently amended the BSF Act to authorise the border guarding force to undertake search, seizure and arrest within a 50 km stretch, up from the existing 15 km, from the international border in Punjab, West Bengal and Assam.
Prashant Kishor expressed the view that the recent 'chintan shivir' could not achieve "anything meaningful".
"..I m resigning as a president of AAP Punjab...but my fight against drug mafia and all kind of corruption in Punjab will continue as an "Aam Aadmi" of Punjab (sic)," Bhagwant Mann said in a tweet.
Addressing the party's national executive, Nadda also reached out to Sikhs, who are in majority in poll-bound Punjab, by listing a number of measures the Modi government has taken for the community, including expediting action against 1984 riots accused, facilitating foreign grants to gurudwaras and keeping langars outside the review of the Goods and Services Tax.
Despite the ongoing rift in the Punjab Congress, party leader Harish Rawat on Tuesday said that all is well in the state and expressed confidence in its victory in the forthcoming assembly polls.
Amid cross-voting, BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan on Tuesday won the lone Rajya Sabha seat from Himachal Pradesh, defeating ruling Congress' Abhishek Manu Singhvi, officials said.
Top state leaders--Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, Congress' Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar and Janata Dal-Secular leader HD Kumaraswamy are contesting from different seats.
A case was registered against Sood under section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of the Indian Penal Code on Sunday in Moga district, according to an FIR.
Announcing the election schedule with a strong focus on digital and virtual modes of campaigning, Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra said the ban on rallies, roadshows, nukkad sabhas, padayatras and vehicle rallies will be reviewed on January 15.
Over 65 Union ministers are likely to take oath, going by the visual of the meeting Modi held with his likely council of ministers.
Concealed beneath the feat, which testifies to his political acumen and survival instincts, is the fact that the 72-year-old leader could never remain at peace with his allies which also made him change partners frequently.
The Sikhs love a good fight, and that's what the Modi government has given them.
The development has come amid a power tussle that polarised the ruling party in the state headed for elections in just about four months.
Political parties fielding candidates with criminal cases will have to mandatorily upload on their website details of such persons as also reasons for selecting them to contest the polls, the Election Commission said on Saturday.
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.
Petrol and diesel prices were hiked by 80 paise a litre each on Saturday, the fourth increase in five days as oil firms passed on to consumers the spike in cost of raw material. Petrol in Delhi will now cost Rs 98.61 per litre as against Rs 97.81 previously while diesel rates have gone up from Rs 89.07 per litre to Rs 89.87, according to a price notification of state fuel retailers. All the four increases since the ending of a four-and-half-month long hiatus in rate revision on March 22, have been of 80 paise a litre.
Sidhu made the sharp retort amid speculation that the former cricketer is himself eyeing the top post if the Congress wins next month's assembly polls.
Several legislators in states on Monday said they have cross-voted in favour of National Democratic Alliance nominee Droupadi Murmu by not following their respective party lines in the presidential election.
Chief ministers and other senior leaders made last-minute appeals to voters for their support in Mokama and Gopalganj of Bihar, Adampur of Haryana, Manugoda of Telangana, Gola Gorakhnath of Uttar Pradesh and Dhamnagar of Odisha.
Navjot Singh Sidhu forms a new party called the 'Awaaz-e-Punjab' and ties up with the Pargat, Bains brothers.
The SAD MP from Bathinda said the alliance will be voted back because it had worked hard for the future of the state on an agenda of "development, development and yet more development".
A large number of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf candidates had contested as independents after the ECP had snatched the former prime minister Imran Khan-led party of its iconic cricket bat symbol.
Petrol and diesel prices on Wednesday were hiked by 80 paise a litre each for the second day in a row since the ending of an over four-and-half month hiatus in rate revision. Petrol in Delhi will now cost Rs 97.01 per litre as against Rs 96.21 previously while diesel rate has gone up from Rs 87.47 per litre to Rs 88.27, according to a price notification of state fuel retailers.
The strategist is expected to visit Punjab for 2-3 days in mid-February for an early assessment.
The Punjab and Haryana high court on Wednesday quashed two separate FIRs registered against former AAP leader Kumar Vishwas and BJP's Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga by the Punjab police over their statements against AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal.
The three-member panel, set up by Congress president Sonia Gandhi to end factionalism in the party's Punjab unit, submitted its report to her on Thursday and is learnt to have recommended suitable accommodation of former minister Navjot Singh Sidhu, setting up of coordination committee and filling vacant posts in the organisation.
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.
'BJP leaders are trying to save their lives in Punjab.'
