The Election Commission on Saturday deferred the Haryana assembly poll date to October 5 from October 1, saying the decision was taken keeping in mind a centuries-old festival of the Bishnoi community.
A cold wave has gripped many parts of north and east India, with Srinagar recording a minimum temperature of minus 5.3 degrees Celsius. Other areas experiencing below-freezing temperatures include Gulmarg, Pahalgam, Konibal, Qazigund, Kupwara, and Kokernag in Kashmir. Himachal Pradesh has issued an orange warning for severe cold wave conditions in several districts. Delhi recorded a minimum temperature of 5.9 degrees Celsius, while Faridkot in Punjab was the coldest in the region at 0 degrees Celsius. Extreme cold conditions also continued in parts of Rajasthan and Jharkhand. The Met office has forecast mainly dry weather until December 26, with the possibility of light snowfall in the higher reaches of Kashmir on the intervening night of December 21-22.
The BJP received 39.94 percent votes, while the Congress managed 39.09 percent in the assembly polls.
The move came days after the Supreme Court vacated the stay imposed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court on the trial in three sacrilege cases.
Industrialist and former MP Naveen Jindal quit the Congress and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday, saying he wants to contribute to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's agenda of 'Viksit Bharat'.
Bucking anti-incumbency, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party pulled off a hat-trick of wins in Haryana to retain power and halt Congress' comeback attempt in the assembly elections, results of which were announced on Tuesday.
The BJP knows how to play with people's lives and bodies, former Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi said.
The voter turnout recorded in the 2019 assembly polls was around 68 per cent.
Veteran party leader Anil Vij will seek re-election from his Ambala Cantt stronghold.
Though the police have not found their links in Siddique's murder case as of now, the accused were being further interrogated, she said.
With the fourth and fifth lists, the party has declared candidates on 88 of the 90 seats.
In case a shopkeeper does not have any change at his disposal if a customer pays Rs 100 for an item that costs Rs 70, the latter may have to make do with three plastic tokens of Rs 10 value each .
The move, a first in the country after the Supreme Court order, is intended to consolidate the BJP's Dalit outreach in Haryana.
The government which has the support of two other Independents is now two short of the majority mark in the 90-member House which has a current strength of 88.
During his temporary release period, Singh will go to the Dera ashram in Barnawa in Uttar Pradesh's Baghpat, they further said.
Sirsa MP Kumari Selja will campaign for the Congress and address a public meeting in Narwana this week, party general secretary Randeep Surjewala said on Monday after the Bharatiya Janata Party targeted the grand old party over alleged infighting amid reports that she was sulking.
Curfew-like restrictions have been imposed in the area, which is the headquarters of the Dera Sacha Sauda sect.
A land-owning class, the Jats are a powerful community and account for 28 per cent of Haryana's population. The time, they believe, has now come for them to take revenge.
In a novel initiative aimed at increasing voter turnout in Haryana, the state election commission will send an invitation letter to every family in the state urging them to exercise their franchise in the Lok Sabha polls.
Students held a protest over the deaths of the civil services aspirants, raising slogans against authorities.
Punjab Chief Electoral Officer Sibin C on Tuesday said that Congress leader Charanjit Singh Channi terming the Poonch terror attack, in which an Indian Air Force soldier was killed, a 'poll stunt' violated the model code of conduct.
Months after winning the Lok Sabha polls from Sirsa, the former Union minister and the Congress' prominent Dalit face also indicated her desire to contest the upcoming assembly elections and said she wishes to work in the state but the high command will take a final call on the matter.
Was Ram Rahim's release on parole for the 10th time since his conviction in 2017 timed to coincide with the Haryana assembly elections? It does seem so when one considers he has been released mostly when there was an election in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. Listing the times that Ram Rahim has been out on parole.
Their joining is likely to come as a big boost to the BJP in Haryana with a few months remaining for the polls.
The government said in an order that mobile internet services would be banned in Ambala, Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Jind, Hisar, Fatehabad and Sirsa districts.
The Congress sought the imposition of President's Rule followed by fresh polls in Haryana.
'The youth is stressed and students are depressed.'
Former Dera manager Ranjit Singh, who was also a follower of the sect, was shot dead in 2002.
The ornaments were hidden in a wall sometime around 1850-60, Rajesh Purohit, in-charge and curator of Shri Krishna Museum, Kurukshetra, said.\n\n
The parole comes two months after the Sirsa-headquartered sect chief had walked out of the Sunaria jail in Haryana's Rohtak district on November 21 last year after he was granted a 21-day furlough -- his third temporary release from jail in 2023.
Temperatures in 17 locations breached 45 degrees Celsius on Monday, with the punishing heat affecting health and livelihoods.
'Gurashman's death is being treated as unexpected, and while there is nothing to suggest it was suspicious, we will ensure our investigation is as thorough as possible to confirm this'
A team of three Union ministers will hold talks on Monday with a delegation of farmer leaders, who are planning to march towards Delhi to press for their demands.
'Arithmetic could decide the Haryana election given the presence of multi-cornered contests.'
Among the fatalities recorded on Friday, the maximum 17 were from Uttar Pradesh, 14 from Bihar, five from Odisha and four from Jharkhand, where officials said more than 1,300 people are hospitalised with heatstroke conditions.
The Met office has issued a "red" warning for Delhi, Haryana, Punjab and west Rajasthan, stressing the need for "extreme care for vulnerable people".
Temperatures in 17 locations breached 48 degrees Celsius on Monday, with the relentless heat affecting health and livelihoods across large parts of northwestern and central India.
He has been incarcerated since 2017 in Haryana's Sunaria jail where he is serving a 20-year term for raping two women disciples at his ashram's headquarters in Sirsa.
India's first woman elephant mahout Parbati Baruah famous as Hasti Kanya, tribal environmentalist Chami Murmu, social worker Sangthankima who runs Mizoram's largest orphanage and plastic surgeon Prema Dhanraj who treats burn victims are among 34 "unsung heroes" awarded Padma Shri on Thursday.
The Sirsa-headquartered sect chief, who is serving a 20-year jail term for raping two of his disciples, walked out of the Sunaria prison in Haryana's Rohtak on Saturday after being granted a 40-day parole and reached Barnawa Ashram in Uttar Pradesh's Baghpat.