The BJP will hold a legislature party meeting on Wednesday evening to decide the new chief minister of Delhi. The party won the February 5 assembly elections, ending the Aam Aadmi Party's five-year rule. The meeting will be held at the party's Delhi unit office and is expected to begin around 7 pm. The 48 BJP MLAs will choose the Leader of the House in the Delhi Assembly, who will become the chief minister. The meeting will be held in the presence of BJP's central observers, whose names are yet to be declared. The new chief minister, after being chosen by the party MLAs, will meet Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena at the Raj Niwas to stake claim to power. A grand swearing-in ceremony of the new government is scheduled for Thursday afternoon at Ramleela Ground. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other dignitaries are expected to attend the ceremony. The names doing the rounds for the new chief minister include Parvesh Verma, Vijender Gupta, Satish Upadhyay, Pawan Sharma, Ashish Sood, Rekha Gupta, Shikha Rai, Ravinder Indraj Singh, and Kailash Gangwal. Many within the party believe that the BJP leadership could choose a "dark horse" as Delhi's next chief minister.
A strong dust storm and gusty winds followed by rain hit Delhi-NCR on Friday evening, causing trees to be uprooted in several parts and leading to traffic congestion. Thunderstorms caused power disruptions in several parts of the city, primarily due to trees and branches falling on electricity cables. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued an orange alert, recommending people stay indoors and avoid unnecessary travel.
Police forces of several states were on the look out for him.
The cabinet of the new government led by Rekha Gupta balances representation of all major communities that propelled the Bharatiya Janata Party to power in Delhi with a massive majority after over 26 years.
Climate activist Sonam Wangchuk and several others who were detained at the Delhi border while marching to the capital to demand Sixth Schedule status for Ladakh on Tuesday launched an indefinite fast at police stations where they have been kept.
This deterioration in air quality led to prompting enforcement of Stage II of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) in the national capital.
Climate activist Sonam Wangchuk and 150 Ladakhis were again detained after they were released by the Delhi Police late Tuesday night, even as their indefinite fast continue at the police stations, officials said on Wednesday.
The majority of these calls originate from foreign-based gangsters or their associates, using Voice Over Internet Protocol or international phone numbers, they said.
Curbs under Stage III include a ban on non-essential construction and demolition, closure of stone crushers and mining activities in Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR).
Delhi's air quality plummeted to alarming levels on Tuesday after 24 days, with many areas witnessing a significant spike in pollution despite the strictest measures, including a ban on construction activities and the entry of trucks into the city, coming into force.
Delhi cabinet ministers have written a letter to Prime Narendra Modi and urged him to resolve the water crisis in the national capital on a priority basis, Environment minister Gopal Rai said on Monday.
Asserting the AAP MLAs will not leave the party, Jha escalating his attack on the BJP said that Operation Lotus has begun again.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who was sent to Tihar Jail after a court remanded him in judicial custody till April 15 in the excise policy case, will remain under 24x7 watch with CCTV cameras in his cell and could watch TV and read books, officials said.
Pollution levels in the national capital entered the "severe" zone for the first time this season on Thursday, with scientists warning of a further spike over the next two weeks.
A building collapsed in north Delhi's Bawana area on Friday afternoon, killing four people, including a woman and a nine-year-old girl, the police said.
Authorities in New Delhi intensified security arrangements on Tuesday to stop the farmers' march from entering Delhi as the Singhu and Tikri borders were shut while the Red Fort complex was closed temporarily after peasants on their way to the national capital clashed with the police at the Shambhu border between Haryana and Punjab.
Ahead of the crucial Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) House meeting on Friday, Aam Aadmi Party councillor Pawan Sehrawat joined the Bharatiya Janata Party alleging that he felt 'suffocated' due to 'corruption' in the party led by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
In all, the girl, Sakshi, was found to have 34 wound marks on her body and her skull was ruptured. The final autopsy report is awaited, the police said.
Areas in the National Capital Region -- Noida and Gurugram -- recorded an AQI of 529 and 478 respectively both in the highly toxic 'severe'.
The wrestlers protesting at the Jantar Mantar, about two kilometres from Parliament, said that they will go ahead with their 'Mahila Mahapanchayat' near the new building at any cost.
Heavy rains and thunderstorm on Monday brought Delhiites a much-needed respite from the lengthy spell of sweltering heat, but it also affected road and air traffic during the morning rush hours, and brought down houses and trees, leaving at least eight people injured.
Those covered under the raids also included gangsters involved in the murder of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala.
A few days ago, the Crime Branch had taken jailed gangster Tillu Tajpuriya -- one of the prime conspirators -- in its custody to grill him about Gogi's killing.
Soon after realising his mistake, Surender Kumar apologised and corrected himself and said, "Priyanka Gandhi zindabad".
The dead include 10 women and seven men, another fire official said, noting that a man and woman were injured.
Jain, 57, is the minister for health, power, home, PWD, industries, urban development, flood, irrigation and water in the Arvind Kejriwal-led government.
In terms of casualties, Friday's fire at the commercial building was the largest since the blaze at a factory in the Anaj Mandi area and the second largest since the Uphaar Cinema tragedy in 1997.
No major glitches in electronic voting machines were reported and the voting passed off peacefully with high security observed at the 3,360 critical booths in 493 locations where more than 25,000 police personnel, nearly 13,000 home guards and 100 companies of paramilitary forces were deployed, officials said.
Over 50 employees of the company whose office was located on the first floor were rescued while 27 bodies have been found.
Rajendra Pal Gautam, who is social welfare minister in the outgoing government, retained the Seemapuri seat by a whopping margin of over 56,000 votes against LJP's Sant Lal.
Dilip Pandey, Atishi and Raghav Chadha, who unsuccessfully contested the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, will also contest the assembly elections to be held on February 8.
The Bawana MLA said that he would also resign from the assembly and other government-run bodies.
It was crucial for the BJP to bag the two seats as it does not enjoy a majority on its own in the 40-member assembly.
The civic body's horticulture department fears some of the uprooted trees might be among those tagged as 'heritage trees' by the NDMC, but the team is yet to compile a damage report and ascertain the facts.
Heavy rains accompanied by strong winds damaged many cars, brought traffic to a grinding halt, left trees uprooted and led to power outages in various parts of the capital on Monday.
Amid reports of simmering tensions in some parts of the national capital ahead of Muharram on Tuesday, Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi assured that all security measures have been taken, especially in sensitive areas and warned that those found involved in spreading rumours will be dealt with strongly.
Tractors from Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan have also reached on Tikri border between Delhi-Haryana as the farmers sit in for protest for nearly two months. The move comes as Delhi Police formally granted permission for the rally on January 26, assigning them routes for the same.
Farmer leaders on Sunday appealed to those participating in the Republic Day tractor march to carry enough ration for 24 hours and ensure that the rally remains peaceful.
A fire broke out in a slum cluster in outer Delhi on Friday afternoon gutting several hutments, fire brigade officials said.The blaze was reported at the slum in Bawana area at around 2.15 pm and around 20 fire tenders were pressed into service.
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