NEW DELHI: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday came out with a point-by-point rebuttal to the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s “baseless” and “unwarranted” claims over Maharashtra Assembly elections and the alleged discrepancy in voters list.

NEW DELHI: Union Minister Giriraj Singh on Tuesday backed the West Bengal unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s demand for separate polling booths for Hindu voters, claiming that under the leadership of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Muslim groups in the state have allegedly intimidated Hindu voters, preventing them from exercising their democratic rights.

NEW DELHI: Preparations are underway for the smooth conduct of polls to elect Mayor and Deputy Mayor of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on April 25.

TALWANDI SABO: Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Badal on Sunday said party workers had decided to bring the party back to power in 2027 and made it clear that once this was done, no gangster or drug smuggler would remain the state, besides assuring government jobs for Punjabis only.

CHANDIGARH:  Mr.Bhupesh Baghel AICC general Secretary in charge of Punjab Congress today encouraged the Youth Congress workers to rise above local politics and work for the victory of Congress party in the 2027 assembly elections. He was addressing a meeting of Youth Congress leaders of block and district level here at Congress Bhawan.

CHANDIGARH: The Congress party has fielded former minister and Punjab Congress’s working president Bharat Bhushan Ashu, 54, as its candidate for the upcoming Ludhiana West bypoll. He is a two-time former MLA from this seat and a prmominant Hindu face of the party..

LODNON: World Championship of Legends season 2 welcomes West Indies legends Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard back to professional T20 cricket with the West Indies Champions.

OTTAWA: Canada's three-term Liberal Member of Parliament Chandra Arya, who has been barred from contesting in the forthcoming elections under the party's banner in his own Ottawa Nepean constituency over alleged foreign-interference concerns involving India, believes he has been denied nomination this time for speaking out against the Khalistani extremist movement in the country.

NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) effected a major overhaul in the party's organisational structure on Friday, replacing incumbent Delhi unit chief Gopal Rai with Saurabh Bharadwaj and moving the former to Gujarat.

CHANDIGARH: Raising an alarming and emergent concerns over the pollution of Punjab's water bodies caused by industrial effluents discharged from Himachal Pradesh (HP), Punjab Education Minister and MLA from Anandpur Sahib S. Harjot Singh Bains has shoot letter to HP Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu for swift and stringent action to address this environmental and public health issue.

CHANDIGARH: Calling it AAP's deep-rooted conspiracy to humiliate Punjab's farmers after using them for votes and cheap political motives, the Punjab BJP President Sunil Jakhar on Thursday here stated that it was at behest of Punjab CM Bhagwant Singh Mann that Punjab was held to ransom and allowed to bleed financially and economically for 400 days for a dharna which was never in our state's longterm interests.

DHAKA: The Bangladesh Election Commission (EC) has warned that holding local government polls before the national election would delay the parliamentary polls.

PATNA: With the 2025 Bihar Assembly elections on the horizon, the Congress on Monday appointed seven key officials to strengthen its media and publicity operations.

THIRUVANANTHAPURM: With just a year left until Kerala gears up for the 2026 Assembly elections, the Congress high command is considering appointing Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to oversee the party's campaign.

KOLKATA: This year, International Women’s Day holds special importance for the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal, as the state gears up for crucial Assembly elections to be held next year.

HYDERABAD: Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Bandi Sanjay Kumar, termed the victory of the BJP in the Telangana MLC elections as a ‘Ramzan gift’ for the Congress party.

CHENNAI: The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), Tamil Nadu’s principal Opposition party, is preparing hard to win the 2026 Legislative Assembly elections by defeating its “primary adversary” the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK).

AMARAVATI: Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan has announced his brother K. Naga Babu as his Jana Sena's candidate for the Legislative Council election.

PATNA: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has ramped up preparations for the upcoming Bihar Assembly Elections with a crucial State Council meeting scheduled on Tuesday at Bapu Auditorium in Patna.

DHAKA: Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh on Saturday morning has created a record with the most polluted air quality in the world. According to the air quality and pollution city ranking, the air was classified as 'hazardous'.

GURUGRAM: With just two days left for the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) and Manesar Municipal Corporation (MMC) elections, preparations in the district are in full swing.

KOLKATA: Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, on Thursday, expressed apprehension that there might be enhanced actions by different Central investigative agencies in the state before the 2026 Assembly elections.

CHANDIGARH: With the fielding of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha MP Sanjeev Arora as its candidate for the Ludhiana (West) Assembly byelection, speculations are rife over party’s supremo Arvind Kejriwal to get entry into the Rajya Sabha from Punjab, if the former wins the seat.

CHANDIGARH: The Aam Aadmi Party on Wednesday announced Rajya Sabha MP Sanjeev Arora as its candidate for the Ludhiana (West) Assembly byelection.

PATNA: Krishna Allavaru, the Congress incharge for Bihar, commenced a four-day visit to the state on Monday, marking his second trip within a week.

BERLIN: German voters went to polls Sunday to decide the composition of the next Bundestag, the country's lower house of parliament.

HYDERABAD: An interesting battle is on the cards between Telangana's ruling party Congress and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the Legislative Council seat from Karimnagar-Medak-Nizamabad-Adilabad graduates' constituency.

KOLKATA: The crucial state conference of CPI(M) in West Bengal will start at Dankuni in Hooghly district on Saturday to choose a new leadership for the state Assembly polls in 2026.

CHANDIGARH: Indian Youth Congress (IYC) president Uday Bhanu Chib today called upon the youth Congress volunteers of Punjab to get ready for the 2027 battle and oust the present regime of Aam Aadmi Party. He was speaking at Executive Committee meeting of Punjab Youth Congress, hosted by PYC president Mohit Mohindra.

NEW DELHI: Exposure to pollution from car brake wear can prove to be more harmful to the lungs than diesel exhaust, according to a study.

JAGDALPUR: Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress Committee President Deepak Baij on Sunday raised doubts over EVM functioning after the party failed to win even one out of the 10 mayoral elections in the state.

CHENNAI: The ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in Tamil Nadu is undergoing a significant organisational restructuring to strengthen its presence ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections.

NEW DELHI: The NDA will fight the upcoming Assembly elections in Bihar under the leadership of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, BJP sources said here on Thursday, putting to rest speculation over a possible new CM face for the October-November polls.

NEW DELHI: While anaemia is long known to be caused by iron deficiency, experts on Thursday noted that air pollution and vitamin B12 deficiency have emerged as major culprits behind its increasing prevalence in the country.

NEW DELHI: In a meeting with Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann and 91 state MLAs, AAP National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday called for collective focus on the Assembly polls in the agrarian state in 2027 and dismissed talk of trouble in the party in that state, said a party leader.

WASHINGTON: A new poll has revealed that an average of 41.3 per cent of US adults approve of the job Joe Biden was doing as President, during his fifth quarter in office.

CANBERRA: Climate change, cost of living and the economy are the most important issues to Australians in the general election to be held on May 21, a newpoll revealed on Friday.

NEW DELHI: The Delhi BJP on Friday appointed the Assembly in-charge for upcoming bypolls in Rajinder Nagar constituency.

LONDON: Exposure to certain traffic-related air pollutants is associated with a greater likelihood of testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 virus, claims an observational study of young adults.

PATNA: The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) on Saturday won the Bochahan Assembly bypolls after defeating the BJP candidate with a big margin of over 36,000 votes.

KOLKATA: Trinamool Congress candidates won the bypolls in both Asansol Lok Sabha and Ballygunge Assembly constituencies on Saturday.

CHAMBA: In the election year, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Friday announced sops comprising 50 per cent discount to women for travelling in state-run buses, no water bill in rural areas and up to 125 electricity units free for 11.5 lakh consumers.

HYDERABAD: Actor Vijay, who is called 'Thalapathy' in Tamil Nadu, finally appeared in front of a TV channel for an interview, ahead of the release of his film'Beast'.

PATNA: Braving the scorching Sun, a large number of voters were queuing up at polling booths in Bihar's Muzaffarpur district as voting for the by-election to Bochahan Assembly constituency got underway on Tuesday morning.

LUCKNOW: The Bharatiya Janata Party is leading in the initial rounds of counting of votes for 27 seats of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council.

PARIS: The first round of the 2022 French presidential elections will be held on Sunday and if none of the 12 eligible candidates receive an absolute majority, a run-off will take place on April 24 between the top two candidates from the first round.

BHOPAL: The Madhya Pradesh Congress has constituted a 20-member committee of party leaders to prepare strategies to take on the ruling BJP in the state.

BHOPAL: With just little over one-and-half-year time left for the Assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, both the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress have taken a plunge into election mode and are gearing up with their respective strategies to woo the voters.

TUNIS: Tunisian President Kais Saied has urged the Independent High Authority for Elections (ISIE) to be ready to organise the legislative elections slated for December 17, according to a statement released by the presidency.

GENEVA: Almost the entire global population, or 99 per cent, breathes air that exceeds air quality limits set by the World Health Organization (WHO), the UN health agency said in a statement.

BALGRADE: Voters cast ballots in polling stations in Serbia for presidential, parliamentary and local elections, which could give current President Aleksandar Vucic a second term.

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday held a meeting with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs from Gujarat to discuss the party's strategy for the year-end assembly polls.

CHANDIGARH: Defeating Nalin Acharya of Him Prabha by a margin of 38 votes, independent journalist Saurabh Duggal on Sunday became the new president of the Chandigarh Press Club at the annual elections held here. The remaining eight positions were won by members of the Duggal-Nagarkoti-Sharma panel.

CHANDIGARH: Nalin Acharya panel has announced 3 more candidates for the Chandigarh press club election to be held on March 27. Panel today announced Rakesh Gupta from ANB News channel, Rajendra Dhawan from Tribune group and Archana Sethi from Punjab Kesari group as candidates.

NEW DELHI: Amid a call for leadership change in the party, Congress General Secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has called a meeting of party leaders on Tuesday to find out the reasons for the defeat.

LUCKNOW: Despite the pre-election narrative about upper castes being upset with the BJP, an analysis of the election data shows that within the upper castes, the highest number of MLAs are from the BJP alliance.

CHANDIGARH: Holding the Gandhis solely responsible for the complete rout of the Congress in all the recent Assembly polls, PLC chief Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday hit out at the Congress Working Committee (CWC) for trying to put the blame of their party’s dismal defeat in Punjab on him instead of gracefully admitting to their own blunders.

KOLKATA: In a major development, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday announced that two former Union Ministers -- Shatrughan Sinha and Babul Supriyo -- will contest the upcoming West Bengal bypolls for the Trinamool Congress.

NEW DELHI: "Holi has come early this time", Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in his victory speech at the BJP headquarters. The election slogan -- "Ayenge toh Yogi hi" became a reality as the BJP scored a resounding victory in Uttar Pradesh (UP). The party also decimated the Opposition in Uttarakhand, Manipur and after a neck and neck fight with Congress, retained Goa for the third consecutive time. Also for the time in Uttarakhand, an incumbent government managed to return with a renewed mandate. On the other side, it was an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) wave that wiped out the ruling Congress in Punjab.

OTTAWA: A new poll has revealed that more than half of Canadians, or 54 per cent, said they had a close friend or family member who was infected with Covid-19 in the past two years.

NEW DELHI: There is a simmering tension in the Congress after the poll debacle in the state elections and the leaders are miffed with the functioning style of the leadership. The issue may heat up when the G-23 leaders meet in the days to come.

NEW DELHI:Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday that the Assembly poll results are a stamp of approval for the BJP's pro-poor and pro-active governance.

CHANDIGARH: While AAP is now touching 80 seats in the initial leads, Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi is running behind in both the seats of Chamkaur Sahib and Bhadaur. Former Chief Ministers Parkash Singh Badal from Lambi and Capt Amarinder Singh from Patiala city are also trailing behind. Sukhbir Singh Badal is also trailing.

AMRITSAR: " Mr Sukhbir Singh Badal president Shiromani Akali Dal said he does not have faith in the credibility of the exit polls and and opinion polls should be banned.

SEOUL: Voter turnout for South Korea's presidential election reached 61 per cent as of 1 p.m. (South Korean standard time) on Wednesday, according to the country's election authorities.

NEW DELHI: The Republic TV's Poll of the Polls has predicted that the BJP will retain power in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Manipur while Goa is likely to witness a hung Assembly and Punjab is to be swept by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

NEW DELHI: As exit polls rolled out on Monday at the end of the seventh and final phase of elections in Uttar Pradesh, the NDTV Poll of Polls has predicted BJP to retain power in three states, besides giving the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) a clear majority in Punjab.

CHANDIGARH: Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) is set to form a government in Punjab with landslide victory. AAP may sweep the elections with seats between 80 to 100, according to exit polls shown by various news channels.

NEW DELHI:The Supreme Court on Thursday slammed a petitioner who sought registration of FIRs and also a direction to disqualify candidates fielded by the Congress and Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh and candidates representing Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab in this year's Assembly election, for offering freebies amid the ongoing polls.

IMPHAL: A security personnel was killed and 11 others were injured on Wednesday when their vehicle met with an accident due to mechanical failure in northern Manipur's Tamenglong district, officials said.

LUCKNOW: Bahujan Samaj Party President Mayawati on Monday said that her party is not contesting the ongoing Panchayat elections in Uttar Pradesh since they are not being held in a transparent manner.

NEW  DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party top leadership on Saturday discussed party preparations for assembly polls in five states scheduled early next year.
BJP Chief J P Nadda and Union Ministers Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nirmala Sitharaman, Narendra Singh Tomar, Smriti Irani, Piyush Goyal, Dharmendra Pradhan, Hardeep Singh Puri and Kiran Rijiju were present in the meeting held at the party national headquarters here.

BENGALURU: A day after internal bickering within the state Congress came to the fore with at least half a dozen MLAs projecting Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah as the ‘next CM, Karnataka Congress chief D.K. Shivakumar on Thursday said Karnataka has even seen leaders who lost elections becoming Chief Minister.

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission (TNSEC) to conduct local body polls in nine districts, which were carved out of four existing ones, by September 15.

NEW DELHI: Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh on Tuesday met the three-member Congress panel in Delhi amid escalating tension in the state unit with Navjot Singh Sidhu who has stepped up his attack against the chief minister.

LUCKNOW: The newly appointed BJP state vice-president Arvind Kumar Sharma, has sent a letter to party state president Swatantra Dev Singh, saying that the name and patronage of Prime Minister Narendra Modi were enough for the BJP to win the coming Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.

KOLKATA: Four days after West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar wrote to chief minister Mamata Banerjee alleging that the state government has been inactive and indifferent about the sufferings of the people due to post-poll violence, the Calcutta High Court on Saturday criticised the Mamata Banerjee government and observed that the state has not taken any concrete steps to address the complaints pertaining to post-poll violence.

NEW DELHI: To send a strong message ahead of next year's Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP is now focusing on winning the maximum number seats in the district panchayat president (Zila Panchayat Adhyaksh) polls to held in the first half of July.

NEW DELHI: BJP Chief J.P. Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday discussed next year's Punjab Assembly polls with party state unit chief Ashwani Sharma.

CHANDIGARH: The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) on Saturday formed an alliance to contest the 2022 Punjab Assembly elections together.

MUMBAI: Maharashtra politics saw a flutter on Friday as much sought-after polls mastermind Prashant Kishor called on Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar and the duo broke bread over lunch here.

NEW DELHI: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief J.P. Nadda and discussed governance as well as the political situation in the state.

CHANDIGARH: Underscoring full faith in Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh's leadership and vision for state, Punjab MPs today reiterated that Congress would comfortably sweep 2022 assembly polls to carry forward party's ongoing developmental agenda for people of the state.

CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Secretary, Ms Vini Mahajan, on Tuesday directed all the departments concerned to take necessary measures to address the major environmental issues in the state and control water and air pollution besides ensuring proper solid and plastic waste management.

NEW DELHI: BJP Chief J.P. Nadda and party's General Secretaries met Prime Minister Narendra Modi here and apprised him of the upcoming Assembly polls preparations in five states early next year.

NEW DELHI: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh appeared before a three-member Congress panel here on Friday, reportedly formed by the party high command to sort out the problems in its state unit. The meeting lasted for more than three hours.

PATNA: The Bihar government has decided to delay the Panchayat elections in the state due to the Covid outbreak. The tenure of Panchayat representatives in Bihar ended on June 15 this year.

NEW DELHI: The Election Commission on Friday said that it has deferred the bypoll for a Rajya Sabha seat in Kerala due to the Covid situation.

BHOPAL: The Congress has adopted an aggressive political strategy in Madhya Pradesh after its recent victory in the Damoh Assembly by-elections, with party leaders, including former Chief Minister Kamal Nath, intensifying their attacks on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) governments in the state and at the Centre.

KATHMANDU: In a dramatic turn of events, Nepal President Bidya Devi Bhandari on Friday midnight dissolved the Parliament as per the recommendation of the government and declared to hold midterm elections on November 12 and 19.

WASHINGTON: In the November 2020 US presidential elections, Indian-Americans reported the highest rate of voting at 71 per cent among adult citizens, according to the publisher of demographic data and policy research on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI).

SANTIAGO: Some 6.45 million eligible voters in Chile have cast their votes for mayors, councillors and for the first time regional governors and members of a constituent assembly over two days of polling this past weekend, election officials said.

TEHRAN:A total of 592 people have registered for the 13th presidential polls in Iran, Jamal Orf, head of the country's election campaign, said.
Out of the total candidates, 40 are women and 552 are men, Xinhua news agency quoted Orf as saying in a statement on Saturday.

NEW DELHI: Air pollution from planned new coal plants built by companies in which HSBC holds ownership stakes will cause an estimated 18,700 global deaths, close to half in India, from air pollution per year, a new research from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) said on Wednesday.

CHENNAI: The perception that the way to political power in Tamil Nadu is through Kollywood does not hold good anymore given the humiliating defeat of the parties floated by heroes Kamal Haasan and Vijayakanth in the 2021 assembly polls, said political analysts.

NEW DELHI: After the dismal performance of the Congress in recent Assembly elections in five states/UT, party leader Kapil Sibal said on Tuesday that this is not the right time to discuss such issues when the nation is in the grip of pandemic.

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday expressed his anguish and concern over West Bengal post poll violence in a telephonic conversation with state Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, asking him to restore law and order.

LUCKNOW: With the counting for the three-tier panchayat elections in Uttar Pradesh still on, the ruling BJP and the opposition Samajwadi Party (SP) have claimed that their candidates have won over half of the zila panchayat seats.

LUCKNOW: A total of 3.19 lakh candidates have been declared elected unopposed in the Uttar Pradesh panchayat elections, the State Election Commission (SEC) said in a statement.

CHENNAI: The Congress party retained the Kanniyakumari Lok Sabha seat in the bypoll with its candidate V. Vijayakumar trouncing former Union Minister and BJP's Pon Radhakrishnan.

BENGALURU: Buoyed by the victory of the Congress and the DMK alliance in Tamil Nadu, and Trinamool Congress retaining power in West Bengal, Karnataka leader of the opposition, Siddaramaiah on Sunday described these election results as 'a new game' in the country.

BENGALURU: Karnataka's opposition Congress is set to retain the Maski (reserved) Assembly seat as its candidate Basanagouda Turuvihal was leading by a margin of 30,606 votes over ruling BJP's nominee Pratapgouda Patil, as per poll officials.

JAIPUR: Cashing in on the emotional card, Rajasthan's ruling Congress won the bypolls to the Sujangarh and Sahada Assembly seats while the BJP retained Rajsamand.

NEW DELHI: As the Trinamool Congress, led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is looking at a spectacular victory in the West Bengal assembly elections, Senior BJP leader and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh was the first from the BJP to congratulate her. The TMC is on course to winning more than two hundred seats in the 294-member assembly.