The marathon polling process to elect the 18th Lok Sabha ended on Saturday with the seventh phase of elections witnessing an approximate voter turnout of 62.36 per cent, amid clashes between Trinamool Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party supporters in Sandeshkhali and some other parts of West Bengal.
The SIM card of the deceased is believed to have helped identify him.
Kumar has denied arranging any meeting between former deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and the Dera Sacha Sauda sect head.
She praised the chief minister for leading the party to "many victories" and taking Punjab on a "road to progress".
The rebel leaders met in Jalandhar when SAD chief Badal was holding a meeting with the district presidents and other leaders in Chandigarh to review the party's performance in the Lok Sabha polls.
From a comedian to Punjab chief minister, Bhagwant Mann has seen a phenomenal rise in a political career of just over a decade.
The explosion took place in the wash room of the second floor of the court complex, said police.
A special session of the Kerala Assembly is being convened on Wednesday to discuss the three contentious central farm laws and pass a resolution against the acts, whose repeal is being insisted by farmers agitating at the borders of Delhi for nearly a month.
Speaking to the media persons in Delhi on Sunday, the Rajya Sabha member said: "I have declined the offer to be the next Punjab CM. I believe Punjab CM face should be a Sikh."
Senior Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Sunday said the former chief minister Amarinder Singh-led Punjab government had to be replaced as it was being run by the BJP from Delhi.
Sources in the PML-N told the Press Trust of India in Lahore that Nawaz Sharif decided to withdraw himself from the race for the prime minister's office for his daughter and political heir, Maryam Nawaz, 50.
The latest blast occurred on Wednesday midnight behind the Guru Ramdas Niwas building, police said.
If everything goes according to plan, a resuscitated SAD could emerge as a central player in Punjab in three years, notes Aditi Phadnis.
Amritpal Singh, the chief of the 'Waris Punjab De' outfit, who is lodged in Assam's Dibrugarh jail under the National Security Act, has thrown his hat into the ring as an Independent.
Expressing concerns over another round of crisis in the Punjab unit of Congress, Anandpur Sahib MP Manish Tewari said that he is 'extremely distressed' after Navjot Singh Sidhu's resignation as party's state unit chief and claimed that the only people who are happy with what is going on in the border state is the 'deep state of Pakistan.'
The government on Friday scrapped a minimum price threshold that it had set previously for exports of onion as it looked to pass on the benefit of international glut to Indian farmers. The government had previously fixed a $550 per tonne as the minimum export price (MEP), which essentially meant farmers could not sell their produce overseas at lower than this rate.
With Charanjit Channi's selection as Punjab CM, the Congress has got its opponents thinking seriously about their next move, notes Sanjeev Nayyar.
Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi had convened an emergency meeting of newly reconstituted Council of Ministers in view of the 'Bharat Bandh' call given by the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) to protest against the three agri laws, an official statement said after the cabinet meeting.
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.
On January 18, the agency had raided his premises and claimed to have seized about Rs 8 crore cash.
The Commission, under Justice (retd) Ritu Raj Awasthi, would recommend an amendment to the Constitution to add the "new chapter or part" on simultaneous elections, the sources said.
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".
Addressing public rallies at Barnala chowk and Bhawanigarh in Sangrur, the chief minister vowed to do whatever it takes to protect the farmers and the state from the 'devastating' effects of the 'black laws'.
Nadda enjoys warm relations with Modi, who was for a long time in charge of the party's affairs in Himachal Pradesh.
According to a report in the Dawn newspaper, 22 constituencies with a greater number of rejected votes than the margin of victory fell in Punjab, with one each in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh province.
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.
If Meena resigns, it is likely to put pressure on other ministers whose areas also saw poor performance in the general elections.
A senior party leader, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that there is a possibility of a reshuffle in the Punjab cabinet 'to reduce the impact of anti-incumbency'.
Some media reports claimed he may meet some Bharatiya Janata Party leaders in Delhi after which Amarinder Singh's media advisor Raveen Thukral sought to clarify the reason for his visit.
He said, Kejriwal was dreaming of becoming the CM of every state he visits.
The Punjab and Haryana high court Tuesday issued notices to the Centre, and the states of Haryana and Punjab, on two separate petitions filed pertaining to the farmers' Delhi Chalo march.
There are reports that the government may try to physically prevent opposition members and nearly two dozen PTI dissidents from reaching the Parliament House through protestors.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced on Sunday that he would resign after two days and sought early polls in the national capital while vowing not to sit in the chief minister's chair till people give him a 'certificate of honesty'.
The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance released its manifesto for the February 20 Punjab polls on Saturday, promising a slew of sops for various sections, including 75 per cent reservation in all government jobs for youngsters from the state, an unemployment allowance, 35 per cent reservation for women in government jobs and massive infrastructure development.
If the party is unable to do well in Gujarat and Karnataka polls, it could lose this status in the subsequent binneial elections to the upper House.
Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and state Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu, who have not been on the same page over certain appointments, Tuesday said they will work with each other and fight the upcoming polls together, according to party MLAs.
The decision to expel Dayma was announced by Onkar Singh Lakhawat, the chairman of the Rajasthan BJP's disciplinary committee.
Navjot Singh Sidhu quit as the Punjab PCC chief, triggering other resignations and plunging the party into a fresh crisis just months ahead of the assembly elections.
Uttar Pradesh and Bihar appear to have got the maximum representation in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's new council of ministers, while assembly poll-bound Maharashtra also found a significant presence.
