Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann is expected to meet Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal in Tihar jail on April 30, PTI quoted AAP sources as saying. This is Mann's second meeting with Kejriwal in Tihar. After his first meeting with the Kejriwal earlier this month, Mann said the AAP supremo  was being treated worse than hardcore criminals and that he was made to speak to him on the phone through a glass wall. Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on March 21 in connection with the Delhi excise policy case and is currently under judicial custody in Tihar jail.

Arvinder Singh Lovely on Saturday said that he had only left the chairmanship of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee, but was not thinking of quitting the party at the moment. “I have submitted my resignation from the post of adhyaksh of the Delhi congress, and those who are alleging that I am going to join the BJP, you all know that I had myself introduced the candidates a few days ago,” Lovely said while addressing a press conference in the capital today.

Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee in-charge Deepak Babaria on Sunday announced the acceptance of Arvinder Singh Lovely's resignation as the DPCC chief. 

While leaving Arvinder Singh Lovely’s residence after he resigned from his post, senior Congress leader Sandeep Dixit said, “I cannot comment on each point made by him in his resignation letter but there is personal suffering that each Congress leader and Karyakarta has been facing the last 6 to 8 months…"

"I feel that the suffering that he has highlighted in his letter needs to be properly focused on… I was contesting for candidature from Chandni Chowk but in the end, the party decides what it decides, in Delhi, the Congress is in such a situation that we are struggling, whoever is receiving the Congress candidature is not receiving a crown but a crown of throns instead, and still he made attempts to put the party together so the leadership needs to deal with the situation with patience…I will try to talk to the senior leadership in this regard,” Lovely stated.

Delhi AAP Minister Atishi Sunday alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was using the Election Commission of India (ECI) to stop its campaign theme song, 'Jail ka jawab vote se'."

"BJP has now used its another weapon -- Election commission of India against us. First, they arrest CM Arvind Kejriwal in a false case, with a motive to stop him from campaigning for the upcoming LS polls. Now, the BJP is using political weapon -- ECI to stop our campaign theme song," she alleged.

"It says that this song is a criticism of the ruling government. There is nowhere in the song that mentions BJP. It only talks about taana-shahi...so, now the ECI also agrees that the BJP is a dictatorship government," Atishi stated.

"The visuals of the songs are from incidents taken place. It is shocking that the BJP is now even trying to stop the Opposition from doing the campaign. We have received the notice from ECI. We will respond to this," she added.

A cab driver and two more people sustained serious injuries after a speeding luxury car hit their vehicle here, police said on Sunday. The incident took place early morning when a speeding Jaguar hit the cab and two other vehicles before coming to a halt near the Dhaula Kaun area of southwest Delhi, the police said, news agency PTI reported.

"A PCR call was received at about 4.55 am regarding the accident of three vehicles and three injured individuals. A team, which was sent to the spot, found that the injured had been shifted to some unknown hospitals," Deputy Commissioner of Police (southwest) Rohit Meena said.

Later, at 8.32 am, the police received information from AIIMS Hospital regarding the cab driver, identified as Harjeet Singh, and two other people, who were travelling in the same cab, DCP Meena said. "We have identified the owner of the Jaguar car, who fled the scene after the accident. Teams have been sent to nab the accused," he said.

DCP Meena said investigations are underway and the police are trying to find out if more people were injured in the accident. (PTI)

The Aam Aadmi Party Sunday alleged that the Election Commission of India has banned the party's campaign song "Jail ka jawab vote se".

Several senior Congress leaders Sunday reached Lovely’s residence to negotiate the way forward, soon after he resigned from his post amid the Lok Sabha polls. 

Leaders included Sandeep Dikshit and Amit Malik, former Delhi Youth Congress chief. Malik had left the Congress party with Lovely in 2017 to join the BJP. Both had returned to the Congress a few months later before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Virendra Sachdeva Sunday, reacting to the resignation of Delhi Congress chief Arvinder Singh Lovely from his post early today said, “there is no consensus even within Congress, the so-called main party of the INDI alliance of corrupt people. In the Congress party, where there is neither democracy nor the spirit of service, people who give importance to values ??cannot survive. Congress which looted the country for 6 decades is now heading towards its end.”

Delhi Congress chief Arvinder Singh Lovely wrote a letter to party president Mallikarjun Kharge, mentioning his resignation from the post, where he cited, "“The Delhi Congress unit was against an alliance with a party which was formed on the sole basis of levelling false, fabricated and malafide corruption charges against the Congress party. Despite that, the party made a decision to ally with the AAP…."

Delhi Congress chief Arvinder Singh Lovely Sunday resigned from his post amid the Lok Sabha elections.

“The Delhi Congress unit was against an alliance with a party which was formed on the sole basis of levelling false, fabricated and malafide corruption charges against the Congress party. Despite that, the party made a decision to ally with the AAP…,” he wrote.

As he assumed the role in August last year, a section of the Congress’s Delhi leadership had said that Lovely taking over the reins of the party will ease the way for a seat-sharing agreement with INDIA ally Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), in the coming Lok Sabha elections.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Sunday organised a walkathon 'Walk for Kejriwal' in support of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, in which Ministers Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj participated, news agency ANI reported.

Delhi will witness partly cloudy skies on Saturday, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

The maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to be around 38 and 23 degrees Celsius.

A fire broke out around 4.30 am on the second floor of a leather related export & import company in Noida Sector 65, CFO Pradeep Kumar told the Indian Express.

A total of 15 fire tenders were sent on the spot and the fire has been completely doused off. Prima facie reason for the fire seems to be short circuit. Because the company was shut, nobody was on that floor. No casualties or injuries have been reported, Kumar stated.

Basking in the 'tremendous' turnout at Sunita Kejriwal's first roadshow, Delhi Minister Atishi took a potshot at the Prime Minister, saying the 'dictator' had lost his sleep after 'lakhs of Arvind Kejriwals' had hit the streets to campaign for him. 

She said that it was the love for the Delhi Chief Minister, which had brought the people of Delhi out in such huge numbers. The ED arrested Kejriwal on March 21 after the Delhi High Court refused to grant him protection. He is currently lodged in Tihar jail under judicial custody.

While Sunita Kejriwal carried out her debut roadshow in East Delhi, the BJP targetted the Aam Aadmi Party for failing to walk the talk when it came to corruption allegations.      

BJP National Spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said, 'In Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan, we had seen some people (Arvind Kejriwal and other AAP leaders) come to change politics. Those who started their journey with 'India Against Corruption' campaign are with INDI Alliance and corruption.' 

Poonawalla added that the issue had not only raised concerns within the BJP, but even with the Delhi High Court. The remarks came after the high court slammed Kejriwal saying, 'You have placed your political interests above the interest of school children.” 

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today termed his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), a “classic case of how the ruling party-led central government has misused the central agency... and its wide powers... to crush its biggest political opponent -- the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and its leaders”.

The CM, who was arrested on March 21 in the Delhi excise policy case and is currently in judicial custody at Tihar Jail, said this in his rejoinder filed in response to the ED’s affidavit before the top court.

Opposing Kejriwal's plea against his arrest, the ED’s affidavit had said the arrest of a person, “however high he may be”, for commission of offence based on material can never violate the concept of free and fair elections. The ED said if it is accepted that such an arrest will violate the concept of free and fair polls, “politicians who are criminals would be granted immunity from arrest on the ground that he is required to canvass in the election”.

In his rejoinder, Kejriwal maintained that his “arrest constitutes an unprecedented assault on the tenets of democracy based on ‘free and fair elections’ and ‘federalism’, both of which form significant constituents of the basic structure of the Constitution”. Read More 

The Aam Aadmi Party staged a protest at the BJP headquarters against the postponement of the election for the mayor of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi on Saturday.

As per a PTI report, over a dozen AAP MLAs and volunteers, including MLAs Rakhi Birla and Ajay Dutt, along with mayoral candidate Mahesh Khichi were detained by the police during the protest.

The AAP accused the BJP of "conspiring" with Lt Governor VK Saxena to "cancel" the mayoral elections fearing the AAP candidate would win the polls.

Campaigning in East Delhi, Sunita Kejriwal, the wife of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal urged the electorate to vote to remove dictatorship and save democracy. 

Sunita held her maiden Lok Sabha poll roadshow in support of AAP's East Delhi candidate Kuldeep Kumar on Saturday evening. With Arvind Kejriwal behind bars in a money laundering case, his wife will spearhead the AAP's poll campaign and hold roadshows, including one in West Delhi Lok Sabha constituency on Sunday, according to party leaders.

Sunita Kejriwal will also campaign for AAP candidates in South Delhi and New Delhi constituencies as well as in Gujarat, Haryana and Punjab.

Kuldeep Kumar, 30, is a Dalit leader, who has been on the rise within the AAP. He has been closely associated with senior AAP leader and ex-deputy CM Manish Sisodia.

A DU graduate, Kuldeep is currently the MLA from the Kondli constituency. He also has influence in East Delhi as he has served as the councillor from the Kalyanpuri ward. He was vocal against the BJP as the Leader of Opposition in the East Delhi Municipal Corporation. He is also the AAP’s Delhi unit vice-president.

When Sisodia was arrested by the CBI in the alleged Delhi liquor scam case in February last year, he was among the leaders who protested outside the agency’s headquarters. Earlier, during Sisodia’s questioning by the agency, he used to wait outside its office. He also used to accompany Sisodia during his rallies and campaigns. After his arrest, Kuldeep’s name made the rounds as a possible ministerial candidate.

In the 2019 polls, the AAP had fielded Atishi, currently Education Minister, from East Delhi against the BJP’s Gautam Gambhir, the cricketer-turned-politician, who defeated her.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's wife Sunita Kejriwal kicked off her maiden Lok Sabha poll roadshow in support of the AAP's East Delhi candidate on Saturday evening.

Piling on to the Delhi High Court's critical remarks against jailed Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal over the non-supply of textbooks to over 2 lakh students in the city, BJP MP Manoj Tiwari today accused the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo of prioritising personal political interests over the welfare of children.

"It is because of Arvind Kejriwal that Delhi is grappling with a constitutional crisis. It has now been established beyond any reasonable doubt that he took bribes. If a sitting chief minister is arrested and put behind bars, he or she must resign so that the government can run smoothly," Tiwari, who is seeking a fresh term from the North-East Delhi Lok Sabha on a BJP ticket, said, adding that Kejriwal was doing more harm than good to New Delhi by holding on to his office. 

Yesterday, the Delhi high court had slammed Kejriwal saying, "You have placed your political interests above the interest of school children.” 

Taking a potshot at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who has been lodged in Tihar Jail since his arrest on March 21, BJP leader Shehzad Poonawalla, in a tongue-in-cheek remark, said, 'We've heard of gangs operating from jail, but today we see the Delhi government running from jail.'

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday told the Supreme Court that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had acted in a 'most highhanded manner' in the money-laundering case stemming from the alleged excise policy scam.

In a rejoinder to the ED's reply affidavit filed on his petition challenging his arrest in the case, Kejriwal said he has always cooperated with the investigation.

In a rejoinder to the ED's reply affidavit filed on his petition challenging his arrest in the case, Kejriwal said he has always cooperated with the investigation.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader said the ED, in its reply affidavit filed in the apex court, has said that one of the reasons which necessitated his arrest was that he did not remain present before the investigating officer (IO) despite being summoned nine times.

Kejriwal said the ED has said in its reply that in such a case, the IO was justified in forming an opinion that custodial interrogation would lead to 'a qualitatively more elicitation orientated' questioning of the accused.

'The aforementioned tenor, text and contents of the reply leave no manner of doubt that the ED has acted in a most highhanded manner in a gross affront to the due process of law,' he said.

Kejriwal further claimed that a cumulative reading of the ED's stand in its reply would expose the 'bogey and blatant falsehood' in the conduct of its proceedings. Read More 

Delhi Aam Aadmi Party Minister Gopal Rai on Saturday inaugurated AAP war room.

“The war room has been inaugurated today and through this, we will be able to monitor the election campaign. There are 12 sections. Social media will be monitored. The digital media team and legal team will work from here. Data management will be done,” Rai told news agency PTI.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) workers protested against the postponement of mayoral elections on Saturday, news agency PTI reported.

Delhi Rouse Avenue court Saturday granted bail to AAP Okhla MLA Amanatullah Khan in a case registered on the complaint filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against him.

ED had moved a complaint before the court for not appearing before the agency and not joining the probe in the case related to the alleged irregularities in appointment in the Delhi Waqf Board.

Earlier, Khan was questioned by the agency for 13 hours in relation to the case.

Fire broke out in a duplex apartment in Delhi's Rohini early Saturday.

Five fire tenders reached the spot and doused the fire. Two people have suffered minor injuries, according to Atul Garg, Director, Delhi Fire Services (DFS).

Aam Aadmi Party cadres staged 'Jail Ka Jawab Vote Se' campaign against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's arrest in connection with excise policy case, news agency ANI reported.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s wife Sunita Kejriwal will formally start campaigning for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as part of its Lok Sabha campaign on Saturday evening.

Sunita will lead a roadshow in East Delhi constituency today.

“Sunita ji will enter the fray to seek support from the people of Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana and Punjab by campaigning for AAP candidates. She will seek the blessings of the people on behalf of Arvind Kejriwal ji from the people; a day later, on April 28 (a day later), she will lead a roadshow in west Delhi,” said Atishi.

AAP Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal campaigned for party's East Delhi candidate Kuldeep Kumar on Friday.

Maliwal’s absence from Delhi had been questioned by BJP leaders when Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal was arrested over a month ago.

Maliwal had then said that she will return from US, where her sister was undergoing treatment, to campaign for the party soon.

The Delhi High Court in a series of detailed directions has directed the DGCA to de-register the aircraft of various lessors of Go First airline.

Raju & Shatabdi Nayak, a brother sister duo at the same booth want better education facilities from the government. “If people will be educated, other problems will automatically be resolved as a well educated society will lead to lesser corruption thus better transparency, facilities and accountability.”

In Sector 31’s Saraswati Balika Vidya Mandir, Yamini Kapoor came to cast her vote along with her two sons, Yash & Kush, the latter being a first time voter. The family said there are too many potholes and electricity fluctuations in their area. They expect their next MP to work on ground level development, provide better facilities to the public, better security. “Better everything,” the mother stressed.

Satish Kumar, a driver who came to vote at a booth in Sector 12 Noida, said, “I’m voting for better facilities. We have to run to Delhi for basic facilities like hospitals and schools...Everything is better in Delhi compared to UP. Asking about his expectations with his next MP (whoever it will be) he said we want him to work for the poor and the backward class."

While another voter, Raman Chawla from Laghu Udyog Bharti, said that voting in these areas (Sector 11,12) has always been low due to multiple factors. First of all it’s a commercial/industrial area, so not many people live in these areas or have their vote here. Secondly, Most of these voters are migrants and have gone to their respective home towns/villages as its crop cutting season as well.

A 24-year-old man was arrested for allegedly posing as a pilot of an airline from the IGI Airport, police said on Friday. According to police, they spotted a man wearing the uniform of an airline and wandering in the Metro Skywalk area on Thursday.

"He presented himself as a pilot of an airline to CISF personnel, he displayed an ID card hanging from his neck. The staff noticed something wrong and upon interception was identified as Sangeet Singh, of Noida," Deputy Commissioner of Police (IGI Airport) Usha Rangnani said. "Investigations revealed that he had forged the I'd using some online application and purchased the uniform accessories from Dwarka, New Delhi," the DCP said.

During the investigation, police found that Singh had completed a one-year course in Aviation Hospitality from Mumbai in 2020. He had misled his friends and family by professing to work as a pilot, he said. Singh was arrested and a case was registered against him. Further investigation is underway, he added. (PTI)

Delhi's Rouse Avenue Court on Tuesday extended the judicial custody of former deputy CM Manish Sisodia and other accused persons till May 8 in the money laundering case related to the Delhi excise policy.

A general house meeting of the MCD was held, in view of the cancellation of Mayoral elections. The AAP councillors carried posters of “Dalit virodhi BJP” considering this year's Mayoral elections were reserved for the SC category. While the BJP councillors carried posters of “house tax ki badauti band karo.” After putting the house in order the mayor said, “This shouldn’t have happened, this the murder of democracy.” Later the house was adjourned.

The Supreme Court on Friday told the Delhi government that it would consider listing its plea challenging the central government's law establishing pre-eminence of the lieutenant governor over the elected dispensation in controlling services in the national capital.

A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra was urged by senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for the AAP government, that the whole administration has come to a standstill and the matter needed to be heard.

The CJI said presently a nine-judge bench matter is going on and he will consider the submission. Presently, the nine-judge bench headed by the CJI is hearing petitions raising a vexed legal question whether private properties can be considered "material resources of the community" under Article 39(b) of the Constitution, which is a part of the Directive Principles of State Policy.

The top court had earlier referred to a five-judge Constitution bench the Delhi government's plea challenging the Centre's May 19, last year ordinance which took away the control over services from the city dispensation and set off a fresh tussle between the two power centres. Later, a central law replaced the ordinance on the issue. (PTI)

The Supreme Court on Friday rejected pleas seeking complete cross-verification of votes cast using Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) with Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT).

A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta delivered two concurring verdicts in the matter.

Pronouncing the judgement, Justice Khanna said the court had rejected all the petitions, including those seeking to resort back to ballot papers in elections. 

The national capital on Friday morning recorded a minimum temperature of 21.6 degrees Celsius, two notches below the season's average, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD). The IMD said the city's maximum temperature is likely to settle around 40 degrees Celsius. The weather department has forecast a partly cloudy sky and surface winds during the day.

Delhi noted a humidity reading of 39 per cent at 8.30 am.  (PTI)

Senior citizens dominated the early hours of voting in Noida in the Gautam Buddh Nagar constituency as polling began here Friday morning in the second phase of the Lok Sabha election. The queues were short and many booths reported brisk voting in the first hour, according to some of the electors.

District Magistrate Manish Kumar Verma, who is also the District Election Officer, joined the early voters to exercise his democratic right. "I am also excited like other voters. I appeal to residents to exercise their rights and cast votes in large numbers. I hope this time we will have better voter turnout than the last time," Verma said after casting his vote at Cambridge School in Sector 27.

A total of 15 candidates are in the fray for the Gautam Buddha Nagar seat, with over 26.75 lakh people eligible to decide their fate. The constituency has over 26.75 lakh voters this year. It had recorded a voter turnout of 60.47 per cent in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, 60.38 per cent in 2014 and an abysmal 48 per cent in 2009, according to Election Commission statistics. (PTI)

Voters, including senior citizens, turn out in the early hours for Lok Sabha polls in Noida's Gautam Buddh Nagar.

As the state gears up for the Lok Sabha election next month, all eyes will be on two constituencies of NCR: Gautam Buddha Nagar (GBN) and Ghaziabad, which comprise 10 Vidhan Sabhas of Uttar Pradesh. Heading to vote in the second phase of seven-phased Lok Sabha polls on April 26, the constituencies are significant for two reasons: They are the economic drivers of the state and also strategically important due to their proximity to the national capital.

Manish Kumar Verma, returning officer and GBN District Magistrate, said a total of 641 polling centres and 1,826 polling booths have been created in the district. A total of 100 polling booths will be set up in the high-rises of the district, he added.

As per data, there are a total of 10.08 lakh men and 8.22 lakh women voters and 102 persons of the third gender in GBN district. In Ghaziabad, there are 15.54 lakh male voters, 12.60 lakh female voters and 186 of the third gender. A total of 3,197 polling stations have been created in Ghaziabad constituency.