The Congress is close to finalising candidates for 100 Lok Sabha seats after the first meeting of its Central Election Committee tonight, but a decision on the fate of sitting members of the Lower House will be taken only after Parliament session concludes on February 21.
Take a look at the famous faces who exercised their democratic right.
In a shot in the arm for the Bharatiya Janata Party and Shiromani Akali Dal ahead of Punjab assembly polls, their alliance on Tuesday defeated Congress in the Chandigarh municipal corporation election in which demonetisation had emerged as a key issue.
Amarinder, 75, was sworn in as the state's 26th chief minister along with nine ministers, including Navjot Singh Sidhu.
Giving the clearest indication yet that Pawan Kumar Bansal would be its contestant of choice for the Chandigarh Lok Sabha seat, the Congress on Thursday said that the purported "taint" on the former rail minister was all a matter of "speculation which has nothing to do with the truth".
BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on Saturday attacked Congress for its decision to give tickets to "tainted" leaders, saying "Adarsh candidates" including Ashok Chavan and Pawan Kumar Bansal have been "rewarded".
Senior party leaders slug it out for tickets in Chandigarh, Kangra
Polling will be held in all 13 seats in Punjab and an equal number of seats in Uttar Pradesh, nine in West Bengal, eight seats each in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, four in Himachal Pradesh, three in Jharkhand and the lone seat Chandigarh.
Bansal has been named as the 39th prosecution witness in the case in which Singla, the then Member (Staff) of Railway Board Mahesh Kumar and eight others have been chargesheeted for the offence of criminal conspiracy under the IPC and relevant provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Former Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal on Sunday hit out at his detractors, who questioned his re-nomination from Chandigarh over the cash-for-post scam issue, claiming he was a victim of a conspiracy and had suffered despite there being no evidence against him.
'If tainted leaders come to power, they may tamper with the files and weaken the cases against them,' says former Lokayukta of Karnataka Santosh Hegde
Former Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal was re-nominated by Congress from Chandigarh on Thursday brushing aside the "taint" argument as it released the second list of 71 candidates who include film star Nagma in Meerut and Youth Congress chief Rajeevv Satav from Hingoli.
Former Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal's nephew Vijay Singla and nine others, arrested in the Rs 10-crore cash-for-post railway bribery case, were on Tuesday put on trial by a special court on charges of conspiracy and corruption.
Counting's underway and the fate of the candidates is awaited. As we wait for the results with bated breath, here's how your heavyweights are faring for now.
Former Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal was on Tuesday given a clean chit by the CBI in the Rs 10 crore cash-for-post Railway bribery scandal in which the agency filed charge sheet against his nephew Vijay Singla and suspended Board Member Mahesh Kumar along with eight others for graft and other charges.
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Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi will contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh.
'I can't say who is to blame for this incident; it could be anybody. I leave it to you and the people to decide,' Selja told Rediff.com, adding this was the first time she has been attacked in her career.
While I&B Minister Manish Tewari seems desperate for the Chandigarh Lok Sabha seat, the Congress leadership is having a tough time choosing the right candidates. Anita Katyal reports
From Bollywood strong men to cricketing greats, celebrities upped the glam quotient this poll season. Some we will see as future MPs, the others just have to get back to business. Rediff.com takes a look at some popular faces, who fought Election 2019 and here's the verdict on them.
Ignoring controversies surrounding him over Adarsh housing scam, the Congress has decided to field ex-Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan for the Lok Sabha polls and has fielded Madhusudan Mistry, a close aide of party vice president Rahul Gandhi to take on Narendra Modi in Vadodara. Anita Katyal reports
Former Miss India and actor Gul Panag on Thursday joined the Aam Aadmi Party and will be its candidate for Lok Sabha polls from Chandigarh, a place where she was born and describes as her "family's home".
In a major exercise ahead of Lok Sabha polls, Congress on Thursday night constituted screening committees for all states and union territories for early selection of candidates.
At a time when the Congress is perhaps facing its toughest electoral challenge and senior leaders are opting out of the race one by one, the party has at least succeeded in fielding tough candidates in two Lok Sabha constituencies in Punjab. Anita Katyal reports.
Setting the stage for confrontation in Parliament, an all-party meeting called in New Delhi on the eve of the monsoon session on Monday ended in a deadlock over controversies related to the Lalit Modi and Vyapam scam even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered to discuss all issues. The government ruled out any resignations.
The Congress party's first list of 194 Lok Sabha candidates released on Saturday night has no major surprises. Anita Katyal reports
'By demonetising higher denominations of currency notes, we have taken out the vehicle for corruption.' 'But the motive is still there.'
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