Bharatiya Janata Party’s Rajiv Jain, the outgoing mayor of Sonipat Municipal Corporation and the party’s nominee for the May 10 mayoral poll, made an unannounced visit to Nirankari Bhawan on Railway Road on Sunday.

Skipping the usual cavalcade and crowd of supporters, Mr. Jain attended a ‘satsang (religious gathering)’ before kicking off a packed day of campaigning, with around 30 ‘nukkad sabhas (public meetings)’ planned across the municipal area till midnight.

A veteran of four decades in politics, Mr. Jain is contesting his fourth election. The husband of former Haryana Urban Local Bodies Minister Kavita Jain touched the feet of the saint before sitting with devotees on the carpet. After listening to the discourse for a few minutes, he greeted men, women and children in attendance, shook hands with the staff, and left in his car.

Relying on work

Locked in a prestige battle with Congress’s Kamal Dewan, Mr. Jain said he was relying on his public image and the work done during his nine-month stint as mayor after winning the bypoll in March last year. “I focused on laying drinking water and sewage lines and fixing the roads. A sanitation drive was held every weekend for 40 weeks. We also installed street lights in several parts of the city,” he said.

Mr. Jain said 175 development projects were inaugurated during his tenure, with work orders for 40 more in the pipeline. Congress’s Nikhil Madan, now a BJP MLA from Sonipat, had won the mayoral poll to the Sonipat Municipal Corporation in 2020. However, he joined the BJP before the 2024 Assembly poll, necessitating the by-poll to the municipal corporation, the third richest in Haryana with an annual budget of ₹625 crore and over three lakh electorate.

Having lost the by-poll to Mr. Jain with a margin of 34,749 votes last year, Mr. Dewan, renominated by his party for the election, said the circumstances were “very different” last year. “The by-poll was held soon after Congress’ defeat in the Assembly polls. Also, it was only a mayor’s election and not the entire municipal corporation and, therefore, turnout was abysmally low around 27%,” said Mr. Dewan, son of late MLA Dev Raj Dewan.

Exuding confidence

Appointed as Sonipat district president of Congress in August last year, Mr. Dewan said he stayed among the people since the last mayoral bypoll. He rejected claims by rivals that he lacked public support and said he was confident of a “resounding victory”.

“Corruption in the municipal corporation is the major issue,” Mr. Dewan said. He said the ‘safai karamcharis (sanitation workers)’ who had not been paid salaries for six months, and the fire brigade employees had pledged support to him.

With the Hooda family seen as influential in the Sonipat-Rohtak-Jhajjar belt, Congress’s Rohtak MP Deepender Hooda has completed a round of canvassing in the municipal corporation area, which encompasses four Assembly constituencies, including Gannaur, Rai and Kharkhoda. He is scheduled to address several more meetings before the polling.

The BJP has brought in north-east Delhi MP Manoj Tiwari to woo Purvanchali voters, who number around 15,000. Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini held meetings with voters across all 22 wards on Monday, and New Delhi MP Bansuri Swaraj is also expected to campaign for the party.

Punjabi factor

Mr. Jain played down the Hoodas’ influence, pointing to the 2024 Assembly results. “Four of the six Assembly seats were won by the BJP and only one by the Congress. At least Sonipat is no more a Hooda bastion,” said Mr. Jain, a former media adviser to then Chief Minister Manohar Lal from 2014-19.

Punjabis make up around 20% of the electorate in the municipal corporation area and hold the key to the election outcome, said realtor Praveen Arora.

“Though sewage and drinking water pipelines have been laid during the BJP rule, the prolonged delay in completing the work caused inconvenience to locals and made them angry,” Mr. Arora said. “Rampant corruption” in getting routine work done has also gone against the regime, he said, but the Congress nominee lacked the social connect and experience of the BJP candidate. “All said and done, the election would be decided the way the Punjabis vote,” Mr. Arora said.

Published – May 07, 2026 01:11 am IST

New Delhi:

Amid protests led by women from Punjab outside his Delhi residence, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal launched a scathing attack on the Congress and BJP, accusing them of working in alliance to oppose his party.

“Congress should not worry about us,” Mr Kejriwal said. “Those women belong to their (Congress and BJP) party. They have not come from Punjab, the women in Punjab are with us. They have faith in AAP. Congress and BJP should officially announce that they are contesting elections together against AAP in Delhi.”

Dismissing the Congress, the former Delhi Chief Minister said, “Don’t take Congress seriously.” 

Mr Kejriwal claimed that AAP’s governance model has consistently delivered on promises, citing free water supply to over 12 lakh families in Delhi as a case in point. However, he alleged that issues arose in his absence, resulting in exorbitant water bills for many residents. “I want to publicly and officially announce that those who think their bills are wrong, they need not pay. Wait for the elections; AAP will form the government, and we will waive off those wrong bills,” he promised.

Women from Punjab accused the AAP-led Punjab government of not fulfilling its pre-election promise to provide Rs 1,000 per month to every woman in the state. The protesters allege that AAP has prepared similar welfare schemes for women in Delhi ahead of assembly elections in the national capital scheduled this year. AAP’s Mukhya Mantri Mahila Samman Yojana in Delhi proposes a Rs 2,100 monthly stipend for women over 18.

Congress which has struggled to regain political ground in Delhi, capitalised on the protests to highlight AAP’s alleged failures. “Just like AAP deceived the women of Punjab, they are now planning to deceive the women of Delhi,” Congress said in a statement, urging Delhi voters not to fall for “false promises,” claiming that the party’s 15 years of governance had transformed the capital’s “image, direction, and condition.”

The controversy surrounding AAP’s welfare schemes was intensified after Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena ordered an inquiry into allegations of unauthorised data collection for the Mahila Samman Yojana. The scheme, meant to register women for benefits, has been clouded by claims that private individuals were gathering personal details without official sanction.

The BJP today announced its first list of candidates for the 2025 Delhi assembly elections. Pervesh Verma has been fielded against Mr Kejriwal from in the New Delhi constituency while Ramesh Bidhuri will take on Atishi in Kalkaji. AAP secured a landslide victory in the 2020 assembly elections by winning 62 out of 70 seats. 

Tonk, Rajasthan:

Congress leader Sachin Pilot exuded confidence in the names announced by the party for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and said that those who have a good chance of winning have been given the opportunity.

After 10 Congress candidates were announced in Rajasthan’s second list, Sachin Pilot said that candidates who can win have been fielded from the state after a careful study by the All India Congress Committee.

Mr Pilot stressed the Congress’ optimism for the upcoming elections, citing instances of sitting Lok Sabha MPs from Haryana and Rajasthan leaving the BJP to join Congress. He mentioned that the main contest, especially in north India, will be between Congress and BJP.

“A sitting Lok Sabha MP in Haryana left BJP and joined Congress. In Rajasthan too, a sitting Lok Sabha MP left the BJP and joined Congress. So, sitting MLAs and MPs are coming to us. Former legislators are going to the BJP. People should understand this. People who are accepting the Congress ideology and expressing trust in our leadership are being welcomed and given an opportunity. I am happy that the party has given opportunity to people on the basis of their performance and commitment to the party. I have visited several states, and a good atmosphere for the INDIA bloc is forming,” he said.

On Rajasthan MP Rahul Kaswan jumping ship and joining the Congress ahead of elections, Mr Pilot said it is a good thing that current BJP MPs have joined the party after considering its long history and ideology.

Criticising the BJP, Mr Pilot said, “The BJP talks about crossing 300 or 400 seats. But if they are so confident, why do they need to bring opposition members into their party and contest elections?” They say one thing but their actions suggest otherwise, he said, adding, “If they are so confident, then why the need to bring our former ministers, former MPs, and MLAs into their party?”

Asked about former Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s son being given a ticket from Jalore-Sirohi despite losing the previous election from Jodhpur in 2019, Mr Pilot said, “In politics, defeats and victories continue. Whatever ticket distribution has happened, it has been done by the central leadership of the Congress. The party has looked at the region and also considered the demand of the public. Whoever contests from wherever will contest with strength. The entire party will unite and fight together,” he said.

The Congress on Tuesday announced the second list of 43 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in which some prominent names including Kamal Nath’s son Nakul Nath, Ashok Gehlot’s son Vaibhav Gehlot and Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi have been mentioned.

Among the 10 names announced from Rajasthan, Rahul Kaswan who joined Congress after quitting BJP has been fielded from Rajasthan’s Churu, Brijendra Ola from Jhunjunu, Lalit Yadav from Alwar, Sanjana Jatav from Bharatpur, Harish Chandra Meena from Tonk-Sawai Madhopur, Karan Singh Uchiyarda from Jodhpur.

Vaibhav Gehlot, the son of former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, has been fielded from the Jalore seat. The party has fielded Tarachand Meena from Udaipur and Udaylal Ajana from Chittorgarh.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The voting for the Madhya Pradesh assembly elections will be held on November 17 with the counting of votes scheduled for December 3, the Election Commission announced today. 

The 230-member Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly is currently led by the BJP, which has been in power for the last 15 years in the state. 

The Madhya Pradesh assembly polls are a high-stakes battle, with the BJP led by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and the Congress, who have projected Kamal Nath as its chief ministerial candidate, vying for power. Parties are offering freebies and guarantees, courting tribal, OBC, and women voters.

The state has long been dominated by the Congress and BJP, but the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) also hopes to make its mark in the upcoming elections.

Last week, the Madhya Pradesh Election Commission released the final electoral roll for the upcoming state assembly elections. The state has 56,136,229 eligible voters, including 75,304 service voters.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Anupam Rajan announced that the state has 56,060,925 general voters that includes 28,825,607 male and 27,233,945 female voters.

Five states will go to polls this year including Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram and Rajasthan.