Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann are scheduled to undertake a two‑day visit to Gujarat from February 21, party leaders said on Friday.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Wednesday declared the schedule for the biennial elections to the Council of States, Rajya Sabha, to fill 37 seats falling vacant from 10 states.

According to the Commission, polling will be conducted on March 16 between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., and the counting of votes will take place the same day at 5:00 p.m.

Calling out Congress’s casteist and elitist remarks into a flashpoint on Punjab’s streets, senior leaders, ministers, MLAs, and hundreds of karyakartas of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Punjab on Sunday held a high-voltage band-baja protest outside the residence of Leader of Opposition (LoP) Partap Singh Bajwa, slamming Congress leadership for mocking Dalits, degrading honest livelihoods, and exposing its deeply feudal and dynastic mindset. 

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung on Monday congratulated Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on her party's victory in an election, wishing for Japan's further development under her leadership and hoping to meet her in South Korea via shuttle diplomacy.

Lee posted the congratulatory message on social media platform X after Takaichi's Liberal Democratic Party secured a two-thirds majority in the 465-member House of Representatives in snap elections held Sunday, News Agency reported.

Telangana Jagruthi President K. Kavitha on Friday announced that she will announce a new political party within three months.

She told media persons here that she is waiting for a good ‘mahuratam’ (auspicious time) to launch the political party.

Kavitha, daughter of Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) President and former Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR), quit the BRS last year after she was suspended from it for anti-party activities.

The Election Commission of India (ECI), on Friday, completed the two-day interaction session with more than 1,000 Central Observers, who will be deployed in about a dozen poll-bound states, this year.

During the meeting at the India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management (IIDEM), elaborate discussions took place on maintaining the fairness and integrity of the electoral procedure and the observers were briefed by the top ECI office-bearers on the electoral preparedness.

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and NCP chief Ajit Pawar and five others died in a plane crash near Baramati on Wednesday. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has confirmed that all six passengers on board are dead.

The plane crashed while landing near Baramati. Visuals from the spot show fire and smoke, mangled remains of the plane, and ambulances rushing the injured to nearby hospitals. There were people at the wreckage site trying to extend help in every possible way.

This incident occurred around 9 a.m., an hour after the plane took off from Mumbai.

At a public function in Majithia on Sunday, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann delivered a clear message on faith, governance and the future of the constituency while laying the foundation stone for 23 rural link roads worth ₹11.32 crore. The Chief Minister said it would have given him heartfelt happiness if the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) President, Advocate Harjinder Singh Dhami, considered himself as a soldier of Sri Guru Gobind Singh ji, but expressed concern that he instead calls himself a soldier of Sukhbir Singh Badal.

On the sacred occasion of Maghi, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann visited Sri Muktsar Sahib, where he paid obeisance at Gurdwara Sri Tuti Gandi Sahib and addressed a large public gathering, reiterating the Punjab Government’s position on the tracing of 169 missing saroops of Sri Guru Granth Sahib. On a day deeply rooted in Sikh history and sacrifice, the Chief Minister said the tracing of the saroops was a matter of duty rather than achievement.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) will consider the record of election-related violence in the last seven elections in West Bengal since 2014 as the determining factor for the extent and pattern of Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) deployment for the 2026 Assembly polls in the state.

These seven elections, whose poll-violence records will be under ECI's consideration, include the Lok Sabha elections in 2014, 2019, and 2024, the state Assembly elections in 2016 and 2021, and the polls for the three-tier panchayat system in West Bengal in 2018 and 2023.

The Indian stock markets remain closed on Thursday on account of municipal corporation elections in Maharashtra.

In an earlier notification, the BSE said there will be no trading in the equity segment, equity derivatives, commodity derivatives, and electronic gold receipts on that day. It also said that equity derivative contracts originally scheduled to expire on January 15, 2026, expired a day earlier. These revisions will be reflected in the end-of-day contract master files.

The NSE also said that January 15 will be a trading holiday in both the capital market and futures and options segments.

Polling will be held on Thursday for 29 municipal corporations in Maharashtra, including the high-stakes Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), with counting of votes scheduled on Friday.

While elections were originally scheduled for 2,869 seats, 68 candidates have been elected unopposed. Consequently, voting will now take place for 2,801 seats.

The 29 corporations include two newly-formed civic bodies -- Jalna and Ichalkaranji. The list includes major cities like Nagpur, Pune, Thane, Nashik and Navi Mumbai, many of which have been functioning under administrators since their terms expired between 2020 and 2023.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) is unhappy over the low number of private housing complexes with 300 or more residents identified so far in Bengal for setting up polling booths for the crucial Assembly elections scheduled later this year.

Sources in the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal, said that so far, only 69 such private housing complexes with 300 or more residents have been identified in West Bengal, far less than the estimated requirement.

US President Donald Trump Thursday night said the United States will oversee Venezuela’s recovery and oil sector before the country can move toward elections, arguing that years of collapse under Nicolas Maduro have left the nation unable to conduct a vote.

Trump made the remarks in a sit-down interview on Fox News’ Hannity, his first television interview since the US operation that led to Maduro’s capture.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has clarified that the precise deployment of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) for the forthcoming Assembly elections in West Bengal will be determined by the extent to which state police personnel can be deployed for poll-related security.

The determining factor will also be on how and where the available state police personnel will be deployed by the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal, for election-related security.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah is set to visit Thiruvananthapuram to participate in celebrations marking the Bharatiya Janata Party's historic victory in the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, a milestone achievement for the party in Kerala's political landscape.

The visit assumes added significance as it comes amid earlier indications that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would also visit the state capital, with HM Shah scheduled to arrive ahead of the Prime Minister.

According to BJP sources, the Union Home Minister will reach Thiruvananthapuram on January 11.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Saturday invited all citizens to download the ECINet App and give their suggestions to improve the App ahead of the platform’s formal launch is scheduled later this month.

Deputy Director P. Pawan issued a note seeking suggestions, adding that feedback can be given by using the 'Submit a Suggestion' tab on the App till January 10.

ECINet is one of the major initiatives of the Commission taken under the leadership of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has now decided to apply its own independent mechanism for identifying housing complexes with multiple towers for setting up polling booths for the forthcoming Assembly elections in the state.

The ECI has decided the matter amid the failure of the District Magistrates (DMs), also the District Electoral Officers (DEOs), to identify housing complexes with 300 voters or above for setting up the polling booth, sources in the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal, said.

Congress National President Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday sought suggestions from partymen on a proposed agitation against the "discontinuation of MGNREGA" and directed early preparations for Assembly elections in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Bengal, and other states in April-May 2026.

Addressing the Congress Working Committee (CWC) at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters at Indira Bhawan in New Delhi, Kharge said a nationwide movement, 'MGNREGA Action Plan', is needed to oppose the government decision to "discontinue" the rural job scheme.

The Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) on Tuesday announced the list of 40 star campaigners for the polling to the 29 municipal corporations, including the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

The list, submitted to the State Election Commission, features a blend of national heavyweights and prominent state leaders to spearhead the party's campaign.

The Congress party's move comes when it has decided to go solo in Mumbai, strongly opposing the "inclusion" of Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena in the Maha Vikas Aghadi.

Kerala's political formations are bracing for a decisive day as counting of votes in the local body elections begins at 8 am on Saturday across 244 centres statewide.

With turnout dipping in both phases of polling, the political fronts are closely crunching numbers to gauge which way the public mood has shifted ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections.

Punjab Finance Minister and senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader, Advocate Harpal Singh Cheema, on Tuesday cornered the Congress party over serious allegations of corruption, suggesting that the party should put up a 'menu board' outside its office. He quipped that this board would inform the public about the fixed rates for obtaining tickets for the post of Chief Minister, Cabinet Minister, Member of Parliament, Member of Legislative Assembly, and other positions including Panchayat elections.

The first phase of Kerala's local body elections witnessed brisk polling across seven districts on Tuesday, with long queues of voters seen at booths from early morning.

Polling began at 7 a.m. after mock polling and will continue till 6 p.m.

By noon, the overall turnout had crossed 47 per cent across the seven districts voting in the first phase, reflecting strong voter participation.

Calling the debate on Vande Mataram an attention-diverting tactic of the government, Congress MP from Wayanad Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said on Monday that the national song is a part of the country’s soul and “there can be no debate on it”.

During a special discussion on the song in Lok Sabha, the Congress MP said the “needless” discussion had been called by the ruling party with the dual intention of setting a narrative ahead of the Bengal Assembly elections and levelling new allegations against freedom fighters to divert public attention.

The celebrations and exuberance in the BJP camp over a thumping poll victory in 7 out of 12 wards of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on Wednesday, got marred by allegations of electoral fraud, levelled by the rival Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

The AAP’s Delhi unit chief Saurabh Bharadwaj alleged that his party’s candidate Seema Goyal was first declared as the ‘winner’ on the Election Commission (EC) portal but then the results were “reversed” during recounting, making the BJP nominee victorious.

 Around 15,000 additional polling booths, a large chunk of which is likely to be within the private housing complexes, will be set up for the 2026 Assembly in West Bengal, sources in the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) have said.

It is learnt that during the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the total number of polling booths in West Bengal was 80,681, which will increase to 95,668 for the Assembly elections next year. This means that there will be 14,987 additional polling booths in the state next year.

Amid this increase, instructions from the Election Commission of India (ECI) have already reached District Magistrates (also the District Electoral Officers), to identify big housing complexes with high-rise towers where the election booths could be set up.

With campaigning for the elections to the nagar parishads and nagar panchayats ending at 10:00 PM tonight, and voting scheduled for December 2, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has appealed to the State Election Commission to reconsider the revised election schedule issued on November 29.

The revised schedule calls for a re-election for approximately 24 posts of Nagar Parishad chiefs and 204 posts of members across various Nagar Parishads and Nagar Panchayats in the state.

The State BJP chief, Ravindra Chavan, in his letter to the SEC, has objected to the blanket implementation of this order, arguing that the decision to postpone the elections at the final stage of campaigning and one day before polling is inappropriate.

Today, an unusual sense of unrest pervades the country regarding elections. People are raising questions, discussing, and openly expressing their doubts. This is no small matter—when the public, who are the true owners of democracy, begin to lose faith in their own electoral system, it suggests the problem is profound. Amidst this scenario, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann recently made a statement that resonated deeply with the people. Addressing the doubts surrounding the electoral process and the SIR (Systematic Improvement of Representation/Registration/etc. - based on context, likely an election related system or process), he voiced the sentiment of millions of Indians: "Why should the public provide the proof? The Election Commission should provide the answer."

In a sweeping 24-hour crackdown ahead of the upcoming MCD bye-elections, Delhi Police carried out massive coordinated raids across the city under Operation Kavach-11.0, targeting narco-offenders, bootleggers and organised criminals, the Delhi Police said on Wednesday.

The drive conducted between 6 pm on November 24 and 6 pm on November 25 -- saw simultaneous raids at 1,566 locations across all 15 districts, with participation from district units, the Crime Branch and Special Cell.

As part of the operation, 80 drug peddlers were arrested in 76 NDPS cases, leading to the “recovery of 282.71 grams of heroin, 19.235 kg of ganja, 2.147 kg opium, 2.034 kg charas, 4,704 Tramadol capsules, and Rs 1,02,660 cash,” the police said in its press note.

According to Delhi Police, the action forms part of the police’s intensified efforts under the Centre’s “Zero Tolerance” policy against narcotics.

With just two weeks left for Kerala local body elections, major political fronts have intensified their campaigns, even as rebel candidates emerge as a significant challenge.

Kerala will have a two-phase polling: The first on December 9 and the second phase two days later, with results on December 13.

While excitement builds at the grassroots, parties are grappling with internal dissent, particularly in Thiruvananthapuram and Ernakulam districts, where the rebel presence is most prominent.

The ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) is banking on its development projects and welfare schemes, confident that these will resonate with voters despite the Opposition fanning the flames over the Sabarimala gold heist controversy.

With West Bengal gearing up for next year’s crucial Assembly elections, training for checking electronic voting machines (EVMs) and voter-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) units will begin on Friday.

Engineers from the Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) will conduct the sessions, which will be attended by EVM and warehouse officers from all districts of the state.

The four-member central team of the Election Commission of India (ECI), which is currently on a four-day visit to West Bengal to review the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR), is also expected to attend the first day of the training session on Friday.

The Indian stock market began the week on a positive note as both the Sensex and Nifty opened in the green on Monday.

The rebound comes as investors show confidence amid the NDA’s win in the Bihar Elections 2025 and strong movement in select stocks.

The Sensex was seen trading at 84,759, up 196 points or 0.23 per cent. The Nifty also moved higher to 25,963, gaining 53 points or 0.21 per cent.

"On the weekly chart, the Nifty has shown a firm recovery from key support zones, closing above 25,900 and signaling a sideways-to-bullish bias," experts said.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Saturday announced significant progress in Phase II of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, with 95.44 per cent of elector-specific Enumeration Forms (EFs) already distributed across 12 States and Union Territories, the ECI said on Saturday.

The enumeration exercise, which began on November 4 and will continue till December 4, aims to strengthen the accuracy and inclusiveness of the electoral database ahead of upcoming elections.

According to the latest bulletin released by the Election Commission, a total of 50.09 crore electors are covered under this phase, and 48.67 crore enumeration forms have already been distributed.

Indian equity indices recovered from early losses to end the session on a positive note on Friday as the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) headed towards a landslide win in the Bihar elections.

The key indices remained volatile throughout the session as counting for votes for Bihar's Assembly election continues.

Sensex settled at 84,562.78, up 84.11 points or 0.10 per cent. The share index started the session at 84,060.14, falling over 400 points against last day's closing of 84,478.67 amid caution ahead of Bihar election results. However, the index jumped over 550 points from the day's low to close in green.