While the BJP has assured voters that these benefits will not be discontinued, AAP leaders have questioned the party's long-term commitment.
The assembly polls are seen as a test of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity, especially in the wake of demonetisation.
Counting of votes for the bypolls in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Tripura, Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand will be taken up on Sunday.
At a time when rallies and large gatherings are banned by the Election Commission in view of a spike in the number of COVID-19 cases, political parties in Punjab are battling it out on social media platforms as they promote their agendas for people and also counter any negative propaganda by their opponents.
Bharatiya Janata Party MP Parvesh Verma on Wednesday said he will file a Rs 50 crore defamation suit each against AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann for levelling "false allegations against" and claiming he called Punjabis a "threat" to the country.
'He is worried about how best the Punjab crisis can be resolved.'
There was more to him than he let on, asserts Aditi Phadnis.
Rahul Gandhi had earlier talked to the MLAs over the phone ahead of the meeting of the AICC panel on Punjab.
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.
When events like these take place, it is easy for the BJP to portray the Gandhis as latter-day versions of the Borgias or Medicis, who toy with their nobles and promote favourites, points out Vir Sanghvi.
The 48-year-old Mann was elected the AAP Legislature Party leader at a meeting of the party MLAs in Mohali on Friday.
The counting of votes for the bypolls to 46 assembly seats in 13 states and in the Lok Sabha segments of Nanded in Maharashtra and Wayanad in Kerala, a crucial electoral exercise since the parliamentary polls in April-May, will begin at 8 am on Saturday.
However, the scheme will be optional for the eligible beneficiaries, Mann said in a video message.
Gang member Lucky has taken responsibility for the murder, said Bhara.
In line with exit poll predictions, the Bharatiya Janata Party has taken an early lead in Uttar Pradesh, after one hour of counting.
'Amritpal is the creation of journalists and the inaction of the government in Punjab.'
The Bharat Mata controversy in Kerala shows how political and symbolic fights between the state and the Centre have taken attention away from education, throwing the state's oldest university into confusion and disorder, observes Shyam G Menon.
The BJP, which rules the Centre, is in power in Uttarakhand, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Goa, Assam, Tripura, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, and is all set to get Madhya Pradesh back and snatch Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh from the Congress after today's vote count.
The party also promised to end the mafia raj by creating corporations for the sale of liquor and sand mining.
Mann, 48, is a two-time MP from Sangrur and is the party's state unit chief.
Ahead of Amarinder Singh's resignation as Punjab chief minister on Saturday, over 50 Congress legislators from Punjab had written to party chief Sonia Gandhi seeking his replacement, highly placed party sources said.
Shah asserted that the BJP will once again form the government in Uttar Pradesh with a comfortable majority.
Campaigning for the first phase of the Gujarat assembly elections to be held on December 1 ended at 5 pm on Tuesday.
The old alliance between the BJP and the SAD broke last year when the Shiromani Akali Dal quit the National Democratic Alliance over the farm laws.
Counting began at 8 am under multi-tier security cover. At first, postal ballots will be counted and then EVMs opened.
'The BJP while being in government in Gujarat continues to campaign like an Opposition party whereas the Opposition does the opposite.'
Without naming any party, Sidhu made the remark ahead of the announcement of the Congress' chief ministerial face by the party's former president Rahul Gandhi during his visit to Ludhiana for the February 20 Punjab assembly polls.
If everything goes according to plan, a resuscitated SAD could emerge as a central player in Punjab in three years, notes Aditi Phadnis.
Nadda's visit to Badal's native village came days after the former Punjab chief minister said minorities 'should be taken along' to run a government.
Party also concerned about dissension in Uttarakhand and erosion of support in Goa
Rediff Labs analysed the 2012 Manipur assembly election results and merged it with the 2014 Lok sabha election result to develop a Sentiment Meter for the 2017 electoral battle.
Shiromani Akali Dal-Amritsar's Simranjit Singh Mann on Sunday won the Sangrur Lok Sabha seat after defeating his nearest rival, Aam Aadmi Party's Gurmail Singh, by a margin of 5,822 votes.
Rediff Labs analysed the 2012 Uttrakhand assembly election results merged with 2014 Lok sabha election result are to develop a Sentiment Meter for the 2017 electoral battle.
Polling was by and large peaceful in the bypolls for three Lok Sabha and seven assembly seats spread across five states and Delhi on Thursday barring an incident of stabbing of a policeman in Tripura, where polling was the highest at 76.62 per cent.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Thursday said the session of the state assembly will be summoned on September 27.
The scion of erstwhile Patiala Royal family refused to comment on the number of ministers who will be part of the new cabinet.
The grilling of Brigadier-General Dyer by Akshay Kumar's Sir C Sankaran Nair, as shown in Kesari 2, is purely an imaginary sequence, proves Utkarsh Mishra.
'There will be no change of seats for Delhi, Assam and Maharashtra.' 'Andhra, J&K, Kerala, Punjab, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, West Bengal and Telangana will lose seats while there will be an increase for MP, UP, Bihar, Haryana, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh.' 'It is a big mistake if you make it a north-south issue.'
22 images that captures glimpses of a most unusual Indian who led the nation for 10 years.
