Amanjot Kaur Ramoowalia, a former member of Akali Dal's women wing and daughter of former Union minister Balwant Singh Ramoowalia, Gurpreet Singh Shahpur, Chand Singh Chatha and Baljinder Singh Dakoha, all associated with the former BJP ally, joined the saffron party in presence of a number its leaders, including cabinet minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.
The Punjab police on Tuesday arrested the ruling Shiromani Akal Dal leader and sarpanch who slapped a woman teacher at Gidderbaha in Muktsar district on Sunday. However, Balwinder Singh, the sarpanch, was freed on bail within hours of his arrest as the offences under Indian Penal Code for which he was booked by police were bailable.
Among the national parties, the Congress, Aam Aadmi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Communist Party of India-Marxist opposed the proposal, while the Bharatiya Janata Party and the National People's Party supported it.
The state police have been looking for the Shiromani Akali Dal leader to arrest him.
The BJP is willing to offer two Lok Sabha seats, including Baghpat which is currently represented by its MP Satya Pal Singh, to the RLD and may also give it a Rajya Sabha seat, they added.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani's yatra on Sunday met a hostile reception in Punjab, with protesters hurling eggs at his 'rath' and waving black flags, briefly disrupting his convoy's journey in the state, where the party is in power along with Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal).
Punjab's 117 assembly seats are going to be a keenly-watched contest with the Congress, the AAP, the SAD-BSP alliance, and the BJP-PLC-SAD (Sanyukt) battling to form the government in the state, with a probable entry of farmers' front in the form of Sanyukt Samaj Morcha.
Here is the list of constituencies where results have been announced.
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Thursday declared that the Shiromani Akali Dal would support the National Democratic Alliance's decision on the Presidential candidate. In a statement, he said that as a key ally of the NDA, the Shiromani Akali Dal was committed to toe the line of action, as decided by the NDA.
Pro-Khalistan slogans were raised by supporters of radical Sikh outfits as well as that of Shiromani Akali Dal-Amritsar at the Golden Temple on the 38th anniversary of Operation Bluestar.
Senior Congress leader and former Punjab deputy Chief Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa said that Sikhs bravely fought the 1962, 1965, 1971 wars and the Kargil battle, but no helmet issue arose then.
Amritpal Singh, the chief of the 'Waris Punjab De' outfit, who is lodged in Assam's Dibrugarh jail under the National Security Act, has thrown his hat into the ring as an Independent.
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee has received five e-mails threatening to blow up the Golden Temple since July 14, president of the apex gurdwara body Harjinder Singh Dhami said on Wednesday.
The two had parted ways following differences over running the Akali Dal, Punjab.
She held a roadshow in Nagpur on Sunday for BJP candidate Pravin Datke.
The land pooling policy aims to kick-start a new wave of urbanisation in the predominantly rural state.
Sukhbir Badal also announced the candidature of his 94-year-old father and five-time state Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal from the Lambi assembly seat.
The political period drama, also written and co-produced by Ranaut, was scheduled to hit theatres across the country on Friday but the makers are yet to get a clearance from the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) and the matter is currently in court.
Punjab cabinet minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal was told he is left with only NRI Affairs portfolio as the administrative reforms department he was holding for the past nearly 21 months did not exist, according to a government notification.
A video purportedly showing gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, lodged in Ahmedabad's Sabarmati Central Prison since August 2023, speaking to Pakistan's gangster Shahzad Bhatti on a video call surfaced on Tuesday, prompting the Gujarat government to order a probe.lawr
A man suspected of belonging to a terrorist outfit died in an explosion near Majitha Road in Amritsar, police said. The man was retrieving explosive material when the blast happened, possibly due to mishandling. The SSP said the man might be linked to some terror organisation. A team from the Forensic Science Laboratory was at the spot to collect samples of the explosive.
An explosion occurred outside a temple in Amritsar, Punjab, India, when a motorcycle-borne person threw an explosive device towards it, damaging a portion of its wall and shattering window panes. While no one was hurt in the incident, the explosion caused panic among residents. The incident has sparked concern about law and order in the state and led to accusations against the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government. The police are investigating the incident and have collected samples from the site to identify the material used in the explosion.
The Shiromani Akali Dal-Sanyukt will contest on 17 seats.
Shiromani Akali Dal patriarch Parkash Singh Badal (94) became the country's oldest candidate to fight elections as he filed his nomination papers from Lambi on Monday.
Once a staunch ally of the BJP, the Akali Dal has severed the ties in protest against the laws
The BJP's vote share in Punjab has been declining -- 8.21 per cent in 2007 to 7.13 per cent in 2012, and finally to 5.4 per cent in 2017, when it won just three of 23 seats the party contested. So doing an election deal with Amarinder and a political formation he might float in the future is not inconceivable.
Describing the event as "da ghallughara (holocaust) of 84", Jathedar Akal Takht Gyani Harpreet Singh stressed on maintaining unity among the Sikh community.
Narain Singh Chaura, a former terrorist with a history of violence and involvement in the 2004 Burail jailbreak case, attempted to shoot Shiromani Akali Dal leader Sukhbir Singh Badal outside the Golden Temple. The attack, which occurred while Badal was sitting in a wheelchair, was thwarted by quick action from security personnel. Chaura has been arrested and is facing multiple charges, including under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Counting for assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur was held on Thursday. Here's how the big names fared.
With numbers on its side -- the ruling NDA has about half the votes of the electoral college -- and the possible support of fence-sitters like the BJD, the AIADMK and the YSRCP, the NDA candidate will likely sail through the contest.
A total of 73 women got elected to the 18th Lok Sabha against 78 women MPs in the 17th Lok Sabha.
Singh's suspension came days after he questioned the manner in which a vigilance bureau team raided the residence of Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia in Amritsar in a disproportionate assets case.
Election rallies have been on for weeks, but nothing captures the immediacy of an election like the sight of candidates filing their nomination papers.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra campaigns for Navjot Singh Sidhu ahead of the Punjab assembly election on Sunday, February 20, 2022.
Emergency is caught up in a controversy after Sikh organisations, including the Shiromani Akali Dal, objected, accusing it of misrepresenting the community and getting historical facts wrong.
Shekhawat, the BJP's poll in-charge for Punjab, said to finalise the seat sharing agreement, a joint committee will be formed comprising two leaders from each party.
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.
'The Badals have made the Akali Dal a family enterprise and undermined the Sikh faith. They have no right to call themselves Akalis. We have approached the Election Commission to register ourselves as the Akali Dal with a different nomenclature. We will impress on people's minds that we are the real Akali Dal' Sai Manish reports on the fight for supremacy over the Akali Dal.
The Dera chief has sought to stay in Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh, during the parole period, if granted.
It will be for the first time in three decades that the Badal family will have no representation in the 117-member Punjab assembly.
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