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.
As the Opposition held its first meeting on the Presidential polls and names of Farooq Abdullah and Gopalkrishna Gandhi also cropped up, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party reached out to several parties across the political spectrum to build a consensus choice with senior party leader and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh speaking to Sharad Pawar, Mallikarjun Kharge (Congress), Mamata Banerjee (Trinamool Congress), Akhilesh Yadav (Samajwadi Party) and Naveen Patnaik (Biju Janata Dal).
'Politics is in a mess. Good people have to join to clean it up.'
Dividing people in the name of religion, engineering riots and committing atrocities on Dalits is not Hindutva but to unite one human being with another is, he said in a veiled attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party while replying to a question at a summit organised by news channel Times Now.
The incumbent Congress could win only 18 seats, with Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi losing both seats he contested -- Chamkaur Sahib as well as Bhadaur.
Sidhu made the sharp retort amid speculation that the former cricketer is himself eyeing the top post if the Congress wins next month's assembly polls.
Congregations of Sikhs in Amritsar and in Karnal against the formation of a separate Gurdwara Management Committee in Haryana were called off on Saturday after the Akal Takht's intervention but Haryana Sikhs went ahead with the election of office-bearers for the ad-hoc committee.
Farmer leaders said unions do not allow any political party to use their stage and accused the government of diverting the issue.
The Opposition concluded that NCP's Chavan would be able to get the support of all opposition parties and even a few of the National Democratic Alliance allies.
New entrant Aam Aadmi Party has emerged as the leading party winning 13 of 35 wards so far as the counting of votes in the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation polls is in progress here on Monday.
A handwritten note in Punjabi, purportedly left behind by the deceased, says he was unable to bear the "pain of farmers".
At many places, where the voters had entered booths before 6 pm and were standing in queues, they were allowed to cast their votes.
Announcing the decision, Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh welcomed them in the party fold, saying Congress will be further strengthened ahead of the Punjab assembly elections with the joining of like-minded people.
In the past, the House has passed a number of resolutions urging the Central government to transfer Chandigarh to Punjab, Mann said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to ask Britain to take strong action against Sikh groups trying to revive the demand for a separate Khalistan and their attempts to radicalise Sikh youth besides giving them training on how to make bombs.
Besides the SAD, the SP, the AIADMK and the TRS supported the idea; while the AAP, the TDP, the JD-S, the AIFB, the DMK, the TMC, the GFP and Left parties opposed it.
The prime minister may go for new faces with an eye on grooming younger leaders while also factoring in caste and regional balances
Sidhu said there would be no need for Amarinder to go for power cuts or to regulate the office timings if the state acts "in the right direction".
Construction work for Ram Temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya would start "soon" and be "completed during this tenure" of the present National Democratic Alliance government, controversial Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Sadhvi Prachi said on Friday.
Political analysts say the road to the 2024 polls for the Congress is going to get tougher as it is a party that is 'in the ICU' and cannot be revived with quick-fix solutions.
The TDP snapped its ties with the BJP alleging neglect of the southern state and failure of the Centre to grant special category state status to Andhra Pradesh.
He further also flayed the Centre and Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the farm laws, demonetisation, GST, COVID-19 management and the issue of Chinese incursion in Eastern Ladakh.
The four ministers -- Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and Charanjit Singh Channi -- and around two dozen legislators met in Chandigarh at the residence of Bajwa on Tuesday.
Floats from 13 states, including Bihar, West Bengal, Odisha weren't present at parade
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.
Two lecturers -- one from Nabha and another from Patiala -- wanted to be posted to a government polytechnic institute at Patiala.
The Shiromani Akali Dal chief said the passage of the Bills marks a 'sad day' for the 'country's millions and for democracy'.
The SAD also castigated the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party for allegedly betraying farmers by not opposing the passage of the bills in Lok Sabha.
A delegation of victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots have urged Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to further increase the amount of compensation given to them.
The Congress' top leadership realises the former cricketer's utility and mass appeal. His oratory skills and ability to whip up mass hysteria in election rallies is acknowledged as an asset
The red beacons were removed from the vehicles of the chief minister and other members of the council of ministers. Additionally, a ban on the foreign travel of ministers for two years and organising of banquets on state expense has been imposed.
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.
Some reports suggest that the Centre has empowered the BSF to conduct searches, arrest suspects and make seizures up to an area of 50 km inside the Indian territory from the international border.
Parliament proceedings were adjourned for the day following disruptions by Opposition parties which raised slogans on the Pegasus snooping row and the farmers' issue by gathering in the Well of the House.
While eight children were taken out safely by people working in nearby fields, four, including a girl three-year-old girl, were charred to death, they added. Punjab CM Amarinder Singh ordered a magisterial enquiry into the incident.
Revenge he will exact from a party he had led with great aplomb until the Gandhi siblings stepped in and, in order to show who was the boss, flung him aside, observes Virendra Kapoor.
The BJP has many ruthless leaders with super-sharp political minds. But none has all this and Yogi's charisma and personal ambition, observes Shekhar Gupta.
Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs brothers should embrace each other rather than we sow seeds of hatred, SAD stalwart Parkash Singh Badal said.
'Had the Congress made Sidhu its CM face, they would have won 80 out of 117 seats.'
A total of 16 turncoats were in the poll fray -- nine fielded by the Aam Aadmi Party, three by the Congress and four by the BJP.
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