At many places, where the voters had entered booths before 6 pm and were standing in queues, they were allowed to cast their votes.
A day ahead of former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi's visit to Rajasthan to raise the voice of the farmers against the farm laws, he said that the Centre should withdraw the laws and after thorough consultation with farmers and states, come up with a new set of legislations which the tillers would themselves want and is not something that is forced upon them.
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.
Almost all will say no. Then ask them why they don't push back at those who rise the slogan of Khalistan. Somebody would confront you with a counter-question: If people can talk of a Hindu Rashtra, why get so upset if others talk of a Sikh Nation, points out Shekhar Gupta.
Here is the list of constituencies where results have been announced.
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 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.
Sources said Modi also called up various leaders, including Mulayam Singh Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik, Dravida Munnetra Kazagham's M K Stalin and Shiromani Akali Dal leader Parkash Singh Badal.
The meeting at Gandhi's 10 Janpath residence was seen as very crucial in forging an Opposition unity with efforts on to reconcile differences between the Congress and some regional parties that have been at loggerheads traditionally.
Ahead of the Punjab assembly polls, former Army chief Gen Joginder Jaswant Singh on Tuesday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in Chandigarh in the presence of the party leadership, including Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.
The two main factions in Karnataka's Congress party -- one led by Siddaramaiah and the other by D K Shivakumar -- are both contenders for the chief ministership. Both groups have fought hard to get their choice of MLAs the party ticket, notes Aditi Phadnis.
In Punjab, more than 9,000 people were evacuated in Patiala, Rupnagar, Moga, Ludhiana, Mohali, SBS Nagar and Fatehgarh Sahib districts, officials said on Tuesday.
The announcement made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday to repeal the three contentious farm laws is expected to bring to an end the year-long confrontation between the government and the farmers, which has left more than 700 dead in its wake.
Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia was on Wednesday questioned for more than two hours by a special investigation team probing a drugs case registered against him.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Wednesday said he aspired to become the CM of the state and also took a jibe at his 83-year-old uncle asking when will the Maratha strongman retire from active politics, as he appeared to be ahead in the numbers game for control of the Nationalist Congress Party after its vertical split.
BJP leaders Arun Jaitley and M Venkaiah Naidu have made this request to P S Badal
Members of opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and Shiromani Akali Dal on Tuesday stalled proceedings in Lok Sabha over the issue of suicides by farmers across the country, forcing brief adjournment of the House.
With some variations, all regional political formations, whether in power presently or out of it, share some common features: Tight family control of the political apparatus, key members in elected or appointed positions, obvious wealth but not quite known sources of income, and family factionalism, sometimes open and bitter, notes Shreekant Sambrani.
Jakhar, the former president of Punjab Congress, said the party had never named its CM face adding that it was only an exception that the Congress high command had declared Captain Amarinder Singh as the chief ministerial candidate in the run-up to the 2017 state assembly polls.
Thousands of farmers from Punjab, Haryana and other areas have stayed put at various Delhi border points, protesting against the new farm laws, which they fear will dismantle the minimum support price system, leaving them at the "mercy" of big corporate firms.
Introducing UCC is a challenging task for any government. The complexities are real and difficult to negotiate as it deals with sensitive religious and cultural sentiments. How can it strike an easy balance between individual rights and community interests?, asks Ramesh Menon.
Following the death of Lok Janshakti Party leader and Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan, Ramdas Athawale of Republican Party of India is the lone member from the Bharatiya Janata Party allies in the National Democratic Alliance government at the Centre.
'The politics that is now being played in Punjab doesn't contribute towards peace and tranquillity.'
The Congress policy of minority appeasement and burdening the middle-class has cost it dear in Punjab
However, it was BJP, which put up an unexpectedly impressive performance bagging 19 of the 23 seats it contested.
The Congress is planning to call a meeting of Opposition parties in May. It is possible to keep all possibilities open in case Karnataka yields a hung House, leading to a recalibrated Opposition.
However, the scheme will be optional for the eligible beneficiaries, Mann said in a video message.
There's no doubt that now Captain Singh has no choice: A succession plan has been forced on him. He can sulk, or he can fight back. But the playing field is no longer as level as it was.
A rocket-propelled grenade hit the Punjab police's intelligence wing headquarters in Mohali on Monday night.
The decision of its two oldest allies to walk out means that Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, who is also president of the Janata Dal-United, is now the oldest BJP ally besides being the most powerful.
The youth leadership taking the reigns of the states was a rare event in the last century as very few broke the glass ceilings.
Kejriwal urged all AAP MLAs in Punjab to work with dedication and honesty, saying people have reposed their faith and now it is our responsibility to deliver goods.
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 ruling BJP in Gujarat has decided to organise kabaddi and cricket tournaments that will have 'Article 370' in their names in Union Home Minister Amit Shah's Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency, party office bearers said on Tuesday.
One of the four Sikh women alleged to have been converted to Islam by force had approached the Jammu and Kashmir high court seeking protection from any coercive action by her family and the police, saying she changed her religion and married a Muslim man willingly.
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.
The AAP leader did not clarify whether 300 units of free electricity will be given per month as Punjab has a two-month billing cycle.
Sikh organisations, including hardline groups, gathered to take part in 'Sarbat Khalsa', seeking to free Sikh institutions from political influence.
The miscreants sprayed red and black paint on the statue at the Salem Tabri area in Ludhiana, police said, adding that they carried out the act in full public glare and blamed Rajiv Gandhi for the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
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.
