The ruling Congress on Wednesday swept the urban body polls in Punjab, winning six municipal corporations, emerging as the largest party in the seventh and bagging most of the 109 municipal council and nagar panchayats.
Actor and activist Deep Sidhu, accused of being the key conspirator of the Red Fort violence on Republic Day last year, died in a road accident on Kundli-Manesar-Palwal highway near Kharkhoda in Haryana's Sonipat, police said.
The BJP's rediscovery of its allies, including the PM touching the feet of Parakash Singh Badal, would be interpreted as the party's efforts to keep its flock together if it falls short of the majority mark on May 23.
Counting began at 8 am under multi-tier security cover. At first, postal ballots will be counted and then EVMs opened.
The Punjab assembly on Monday "unanimously" passed the confidence motion moved by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on September 27, even as Congress members staged a walkout.
In a culture where children take up the profession of their father, her becoming a politician was seen as natural and acceptable.
The anti-drugs agency had issued the notice to Johar over a viral video allegedly showing drugs being consumed at a party hosted at his residence, the official said.
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.
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.
Singh (80) had floated the Punjab Lok Congress last year after quitting the Congress.
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.
Asserting that "the BJP first set Hindus against Muslims", Badal said the party has "become the most powerful divisive force", out to "replay its evil game in Punjab".
The three AAP councillors switching sides is set to tilt the scales in favour of the BJP whenever fresh mayoral polls are held.
Parliament's Budget session has been a washout since the beginning of its second part on March 13, with the BJP demanding an apology from Gandhi.
In the complaint, the DSGMC mentioned that Ranaut had intentionally and deliberately portrayed the farmers' protest (Kisan Morcha) as a Khalistani movement and also dubbed the Sikh community as Khalistani terrorists.
President Ram Nath Kovind said the nation will always be grateful to the security personnel who laid down their lives in the line of duty.
The Shiromani Akali Dal skipped the meeting, besides the Aam Aadmi Party, the TRS and the BJD.
The AAP bagged 20 seats in Punjab while losing all seats in Goa
He asserted that the government purchase of farm produce will remain, adding that the mechanism of minimum support price will continue in the same way it always has.
The high-level committee on 'one nation, one election' approached 62 parties out which 47 responded -- 32 in support of holding elections simultaneously, 15 against it.
After many years, intricate caste calculations will dominate politics in Punjab.
Shiromani Akali Dal lawmaker Manjinder Singh Sirsa reacting to Karan Johar's post on the celebrities at his party, said they were "flaunting their drugged state".
The Aam Aadmi Party's MP and lone Lok Sabha member Sushil Kumar Rinku joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday along with party MLA Sheetal Angural, dealing a blow to the party already facing a crisis following the arrest of its leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
Did Amritsar MP Navjot Singh Sidhu pay the price for locking horns with National Democratic Alliance partner Shiromani Akali Dal?
Opposition parties in India, including the Congress, Left parties, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, Trinamool Congress, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Shiv Sena (UBT), and NCP (SP), have unanimously hailed the armed forces' "Operation Sindoor", a retaliatory strike against terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). The operation, which involved missile and drone strikes, was conducted in response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack. Despite political differences, all parties expressed support for the government and the armed forces, stressing the importance of national unity and integrity in the face of terrorism. While emphasizing the need for diplomatic avenues to prevent further escalation, some parties also called for caution in attributing political credit for the strikes.
The suspension of 49 Lok Sabha MPs came a day after, a total of 78 -- 33 from the Lower House and 45 from the Upper House -- lawmakers were suspended from Parliament for disrupting proceedings.
'Parties like ours and others like the Lok Janshatki Party will ensure that the BJP remains on the straight and narrow path,' says Shiromani Akali Dal leader Naresh Gujral
The BJP's outreach to Paswan, son of late stalwart Dalit leader Ram Vilas Paswan, underscores its push to bring him back into the NDA's fold after he walked out of the alliance in Bihar in the 2020 state assembly polls to campaign against Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who was then the BJP's biggest ally.
The panel, chaired by Mallikarjun Kharge, has been tasked with addressing differences between Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and former minister Navjot Singh Sidhu.
Sharad Pawar on Wednesday said the Maharashtra government should hold a dialogue with local villagers who are opposing a refinery project in the coastal Ratnagiri district.
There is anti-incumbency in urban areas. Rural Punjab, the Akali base, will hold the key.
BJP sources said a meeting of the National Democratic Alliance is expected to take place soon to highlight its growing strength and to dispel the impression that the departure of some of its oldest allies such as the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, Shiromani Akali Dal and the Janata Dal-United have the left the saffron party without a major partner.
Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit administered the oath of office and secrecy to Mann in the swearing-in ceremony that took place at Khatkar Kalan, the ancestral village of legendary freedom fighter Bhagat Singh in Punjab's Shaheed Bhagat Singh (SBS) Nagar district.
Badal's mortal remains were taken to the family's farmland, around a kilometer from his residence, on a flower-decked tractor-trolley with his son Sukhbir Singh Badal and other family members standing with folded hands as the vehicle moved past the mourners on the route.
Former Union minister Yashwant Sinha will be the consensus presidential candidate of several opposition parties, including the Congress, the Trinamool Congress and the Samajwadi Party, the parties said in a joint statement on Tuesday.
The 48-year-old Mann was elected the AAP Legislature Party leader at a meeting of the party MLAs in Mohali on Friday.
Singh noted that opposition members tore rule book, threw papers at the desk of the Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh, who was in the Chair, and climbed the officials' table -- something, he added, he had never witnessed before.
After his statement, opposition leaders will speak and if required Singh may give a clarification, the sources said.
Some candidates in these two states have been provided security till the poll process ends.
The Mayawati-led BSP will fight 20 of the 117 assembly seats in Punjab, while the rest will be contested by the SAD.
