Amid sporadic violence that left a 16-year-old boy dead and around 10 injured, nearly 77 per cent of 1.76 crore voters on Monday exercised their franchise under tight security to elect 117 members to the Punjab assembly.
The Aam Aadmi Party has fielded Karamjit Anmol, while the BJP has named North West Delhi MP Hans Raj Hans from Faridkot, a reserved parliamentary constituency.
'They are completely corrupt and have introduced a mafia culture which has seen one family control the entire resources of the state.'
The Opposition on Monday targeted Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, alleging that he was deplaned from a Delhi-bound flight at the Frankfurt airport as he was 'drunk', a charge denied by the ruling AAP as baseless.
'Let the Congress high command decide who will replace Captain Amarinder because they are far wiser than I am.'
Navjot Singh Sidhu was not part of the Channi-led 'jatha' (group) which went to pay obeisance at the gurdwara.
The Punjab cabinet has approved the summoning of a special session of the assembly on September 22 to bring a confidence motion.
The game intensified after Congress fielded Channi from a second seat and Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia chose to take on Sidhu from the Amritsar East seat.
Pargat Singh, Raj Kumar Verka, Gurkirat Singh Kotli, Sangat Singh Gilzian, Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, Kuljit Nagra and Rana Gurjit Singh are likely to be included in the cabinet, according to the sources.
If everything goes according to plan, a resuscitated SAD could emerge as a central player in Punjab in three years, notes Aditi Phadnis.
Counting for assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur was held on Thursday. Here's how the big names fared.
Nothing exemplifies this Sikh khundak (revenge) better than the fact that all the tallest names in the state lost their election to novices fielded by AAP.
The high-voltage campaign for the February 4 assembly elections in Punjab came to an end on Thursday evening following hectic campaigning by various political parties.
The going for Badal, however, may not be smooth as the Akalis will be dependent on the BJP for the survival of the government.
There is anti-incumbency in urban areas. Rural Punjab, the Akali base, will hold the key.
The 79-year-old widely respected and popular leader steered the Congress in 2017 to a landslide victory in the 117-member assembly to occupy the chief minister's post for the second time.
The assembly polls are seen as a test of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity, especially in the wake of demonetisation.
Mann, 48, is a two-time MP from Sangrur and is the party's state unit chief.
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.
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.
Sidhu said there would be no need for Amarinder to go for power cuts or to regulate the office timings if the state acts "in the right direction".
The Punjab police arrested Jasvir Singh after the incident and booked him for hurting religious sentiments and attempt to murder.
A beaming Amarinder Singh thanked the people of the state for their overwhelming support, saying he was committed to good governance and tackling the drug menace.
Two persons were injured in a clash which took place between AAP and Congress workers at Sultanpur village in Sangrur district.
Terming the reshuffle in the Union Council of Ministers as a "face saving" exercise, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Sunday said it is the "same old wine in a new bottle" and the exercise would in no way improve the Congress' image.
Before his legislative assembly debut this time, he has been elected twice as a Member of Parliament from Sangrur.
'Why don't you resign from the Lok Sabha? Why does the Akali Dal party not withdraw support from the Modi government?'
Here are some day's snippets of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections:
'This is evidently pure vendetta politics and may even end up helping the Akalis in the elections'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Punjab visit was cut short on Wednesday after a "major security lapse" as he was stranded on a flyover for 20 minutes due to a blockade by protesters, prompting the Union Home Ministry to seek an immediate report from the state government and strict action against those responsible.
Modi also attacked the Congress for charging him with corruption in the Rafale deal.
"Akali Dal is a part of the NDA but it is a separate political outfit. They have taken this decision because of some political reasons. We have an alliance (SAD-BJP) but both are different political outfits. They (SAD) have taken a political decision," said Sharma.
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and state Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu on Friday agreed to set up a 10-member strategic policy group to ensure better coordination between the party and the state government and expedite implementation of various government programmes.
The state police have been looking for the Shiromani Akali Dal leader to arrest him.
Sidhu said that in the next 15-20 days he will come out with the front's future plan.
Punjab Health Minister Chetan Singh Jouramajra has come under fire from several quarters after he was seen forcing the Vice Chancellor of Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS) to lie on a dirty mattress at a hospital.
Aam Aadmi Party calls Bhagwant Mann its people's choice for CM candidate in Punjab. Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com traces what makes Mann so indispensable for his party.
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.
Prominent among these include former sports minister and sitting MLA Gurmit Singh Sodhi, MLA Fatehjang Singh Bajwa and former minister Anil Joshi.
The Opposition targeted Mann on Monday, alleging that he was deplaned from a Delhi-bound aircraft at the Frankfurt airport as he was drunk, a charge dismissed by the ruling Aam Aadmi Party as baseless.
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