Author: Atreyee Chakraborty

In Punjab, Voting for all 117 Assembly seats are scheduled to take place in a single phase today  Amid tight security, voting for 117 Assembly seats takes place in Punjab today. An average of 2.14 crore voters will decide the political fate of 1304 candidates in this high-stakes electoral battle. Among the candidates are 93 women and two transgender people. Polling began at 8 a.m. and continued till 6 p.m.   This Assembly election is a multi-cornered contest in Punjab among the Aam Aadmi Party, SAD-BSP alliance, BJP-PLC-SAD (Sanyukt), the Congress, and the Sanyukt Samaj Morcha, which is a political fold…

Rajnath Singh accused AAP of making false promises; condemned CM Channi’s remark on “bhaiyas” from U.P. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh addressed a rally in Amritsar, supporting BJP candidate contesting from Amritsar Central, Dr. Ram Chawla. Singh assured voters that if BJP is elected to power, all Centre-sponsored schemes shall be fully implemented in Punjab. He made a solid appeal to voters to keep Congress and AAP away from ruling power in the State.  Singh further targeted the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party concerning the issue of drugs and alcohol. He said, “You know one has looted Punjab. The other which…

AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal terms Priyanka Gandhi’s presence in the rally as evidence of her “double face.”  Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi appealed to voters at a roadshow in Rupnagar to not allow ‘bhaiyas’ from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Delhi to enter the state. Channi’s derogatory comment on outsiders has sparked an enormous controversy, with heavyweights, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling him out on his insensitive statement.   ‘Bhaiya’ is a derogatory slang used in Punjab to refer to migrant workers from U.P. and Bihar. Congress party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra applauded beside C.M. Channi as he made…

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) alliance has released their poll manifesto for the upcoming Punjab Assembly Elections. Their manifesto announces a 75% quota for ‘Punjabis’ across jobs in both public and private sectors. Coupled with this magnanimous promise, the SAD-BSP Alliance announces a bagful of promises in multiple domains, including health, social security, education, and agriculture. At a joint press conference, SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal and BSP in charge of Punjab affairs Randhir Singh Beniwal announced that this manifesto will secure a genuine federal structure in India. They further asserted that the SAD-BSP alliance…

Union Minister and BJP’s in-charge for Punjab, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, asserts that violence is unacceptable in a civilized society BJP candidate Sucha Ram Ladhar, contesting from the Gill constituency in Ludhiana, Punjab, suffered injuries after an attack on his car by allegedly unidentified people, the police reported. The attack took place as he returned from an election campaign in a village in his constituency in Ludhiana. The police further said to the media that bricks were hurled at his car, due to which he suffered injuries.   Ladhar was immediately admitted to Ludhiana civil hospital. His condition is now reportedly stable.…

Ahead of Punjab Assembly Elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to participate in public rallies on February 14th, 16th, and 17th in the regions of Malwa, Doaba, and Majha. The PM is expected to address the first rally on February 14 in Jalandhar, the second one on February 16 in Pathankot, and the third one on February 17 in Abohar. However, protesting farmers are planning on a mass boycott of his rallies. Recently, Congress MP Ravneet Singh Bittu hinted at forthcoming disruption. He asserted that PM Modi should consider traveling by helicopter or an airplane since he will supposedly…

As sons pose as poster boys this Assembly Elections, it marks a clear move by candidates to use their election campaign as a strategy to debut their political heirs Across Punjab, candidates for the upcoming Assembly Elections are projecting their sons as poster boys to boost their election campaign. This proves to be an evident move by prominent candidates to introduce their tentative political heirs to the public foray just ahead of the elections. While Prime Minister Modi might have expressed discontent in the past over dynastic politics popularized by Congress Raj in India, his party in Batala seems to…

SAD’s President Sukhbir Singh Badal catches up with prominent industrialists at President of FICO, Gurmeet Singh Kular’s residence Ahead of elections, Akali Dal’s president Sukhbir Singh Badal interacts with industrialists, assuring them that boosting industrial growth is on his party’s top priority list if elected for another term. The meeting was organized at the president’s residence of the Federation of Industrial and Commercial Organization (FICO).  Badal expressed that he sympathizes with the recession period that the industry is undergoing because of frequent lockdowns that Covid 19. To help industrialists flourish in this crisis, he assures that his party plans on…

The impact of the months’ long farmers’ protest will be reflected in the electoral battle in Uttar Pradesh today for 58 seats in Phase 1.    Just hours ahead of the high-stakes Phase 1 electoral battle of Uttar Pradesh, BJP Uttar Pradesh’s Twitter handle posted a video where Yogi Adityanath appealed to the people of Uttar Pradesh to vote for BJP if they did not want Uttar Pradesh to reflect the condition of Kerala, West Bengal, and Kashmir governments. To quote him: “Beware! If you miss, the labour of these five years will be spoiled. It would not take much…

This visit will mark S. Jaishankar’s first official trip to Australia and the Philippines as External Affairs Minister and his first overseas official trip post-Covid recovery The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) confirms that S. Jaishankar will begin his six-day official visit to Australia and the Philippines tomorrow, marking his first official overseas trip after his recovery from Covid-19. Between February 10-13, he is scheduled to visit Australia, responding to the invitation of Australian External Affairs Minister Marise Payne. The visit’s main objective is to participate in the 4th Quad Foreign Minister’s Meeting on 11th February in Melbourne. Other dignitaries…