Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal will submit his resignation to the Governor on Sunday following his party's defeat in the assembly election.

The Shiromani Akali Dal, which ruled Punjab for 10 years in alliance with the BJP, trailed at the number three slot in the results as officials counted the votes polled in the 117 seats on Saturday.

The Congress had won on 18 seats and was leading on 61 others by Saturday afternoon.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won seven seats and was leading on 13 others while the Akali Dal won only one seat and was leading in 12 others.

"I will go to Chandigarh tomorrow and submit my resignation to the Governor," Badal, 89, the oldest Chief Minister in the country, told the media in his village Badal in Muktsar district.

"I am grateful to the people of Punjab for giving me an opportunity to serve them. I am fully satisfied with all the things I was able to do. I will seek forgiveness from people for any mistakes," Badal said.

He said the reasons behind the Akali Dal's defeat would be assessed.
 

India successfully test-fired the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, which is capable of carrying a warhead of 300 kg, from a test range along the Odisha coast on Saturday.

The cruise missile was test fired from a mobile launcher from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur near here at about 11: 33 AM, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) officials said.

"It was an excellent launch and a great success," a senior DRDO scientist associated with this project said.

The missile is capable of carrying a warhead of 300 kg.

The two-stage missile, one being solid and the second one ramjet liquid propellant, has already been inducted into the Army and Navy, while the Air Force version is in final stage of trial, they said.

The Army is already equipped with three regiments of Block III version of Brahmos missiles.

While induction of the first version of Brahmos missile system in the Indian Navy began in 2005 with INS Rajput, it is now fully operational with two regiments of the Army, they said.

After two successful test trials of Brahmos missile from INS Kolkata in June 2014 and February 2015, test firing from INS Kochi on September 30, 2015 had validated the newly commissioned ship's systems.

The air launch version and the submarine launch version of the missile system are in progress.

The Army has so far placed orders for the BrahMos missile to be deployed by three regiments of the Army and two of them have already been inducted operationally.

BrahMos Aerospace, an Indo-Russian joint venture, is also in advance stage of test launching the air version of the sophisticated missile system and work on the project is in progress.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley met with Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Urjit Patel and other senior officials here on Friday to discuss the issue of banks' non-performing assets (NPAs) or bad loans, sources said.

"Lot of options were discussed for early resolution of stressed assets. RBI made some suggestions and these will be taken forward to and be given a concrete shape," the sources told reporters after the meeting.

The meeting discussed the idea of a Private Asset Management Company (PAMC), as well as a National Asset Management Company (NAMC), to tackle the bad loans issue proposed recently by RBI Deputy Governor Viral Acharya.

As per the plan, the banking sector could be asked to restructure about 50 large stressed assets in sectors like metals, construction, telecom and textiles, by December 31, 2017.

According to sources, the meeting also discussed the concept of a "bad bank" that has been proposed by Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian, who was also present at Friday's meeting.

"We will have to weigh the pros and cons well before using tax payers' money to set up a bad bank," they said.

The magnitude of the problem can be guaged from the NPA figures of state-run banks, which at the end of the current fiscal's second quarter that ended in September, rose to Rs 6.3 lakh crore, as compared to Rs 5.5 lakh crore at the end of the first quarter.

The meeting was also attended by RBI Deputy Governor S.S. Mundra, Principal Economic Advisor Sanjiv Sanyal, Financial Services Secretary Anjuly Chib Duggal and Corporate Affairs Secretary Tapan Ray.

In what is being touted as a thumping victory for the saffron party,  BJP's clean sweep in Uttar Pradesh winning 308 seats out of the total 403 indicates a shift by the voters from caste based politics to a hope for good governance and overall development. Call it the Modi Magic,BJP's strategy of not announcing a chief ministerial candidates in advance and fighting the elections only on the "Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas" slogan has worked in its favour big time with BJP coming to majority in the state after more than a decade. The Election Results 2017 will definitely have a long standing impact on the ensuing General Election in 2019.

Unnao        Pankaj Gupta (BJP)Leading,
Fatehpur    Vikram Singh (BJP)Leading,
Rampur Khas    Aradhana Mishra Mona (INC)Leading,
VishwanathGanj    Rakesh Kumar Verma Alias Dr.R.K.Verma (AD (Soneylal))Leading,
Behat        Naresh Saini (INC)Leading,
Nakur        Imran Masood (INC)Leading,
SaharanpurNagar    Sanjay Garg (SP)Leading,
Saharanpur    Masood Akhtar (INC)Leading,
Deoband        Brijesh (BJP)Leading,
RampurManiharan    Ravindra Kumar Molhu (BSP)Leading,
Gangoh        Pradeep Kumar (BJP)Leading,
Kairana        Mriganka Singh (BJP)Leading,
Thana Bhawan    Suresh Kumar (BJP)Leading,
Shamli        Tejendra Nirwal (BJP)Leading,
Budhana        Umesh Malik (BJP)Leading,
Charthawal    Mukesh Kumar Chaudhary (SP)Leading,
Purqazi        Pramod Utwal (BJP)Leading,
MuzaffarNagar    Gaurav Swarup Bansal (SP)Leading,
Khatauli    Chandan Singh Chauhan (SP)Leading,
Meerapur    Liyakat Ali (SP)Leading,
Najibabad    Rajiv Kumar Agarwal (BJP)Leading,
Nagina        Manoj Kumar Paras (SP)Leading,
Barhapur    Sushant Kumar (BJP)Leading,
Dhampur        Ashok Kumar Rana (BJP)Leading,
Nehtaur        Omkumar (BJP)Leading,
Bijnor        Suchi (BJP)Leading,
Chandpur    Kamlesh Saini (BJP)Leading,
Noorpur        Lokendra Singh (BJP)Leading,
Kanth        Muhammed Usman Ali (PECP )Leading,
Thakurdwara    Rajpal Singh Chauhan (BJP)Leading,
Moradabad Rural    Haji Ikram Qureshi (SP)Leading,
Moradabad Nagar    Ritesh Kumar Gupta (BJP)Leading,
Kundarki    Mohammad Rizwan (SP)Leading,
Bilari        Mohd. Faeem (SP)Leading,
Chandausi    Gulab Devi (BJP)Leading,
Asmoli        Aqeelurrehman Khan (BSP)Leading,
Sambhal        Dr. Arvind (BJP)Leading,
Suar        Mohammad Abdullah Azam Khan (SP)Leading,
Chamraua    Naseer Ahmad Khan (SP)Leading,
Bilaspur    Sanjay Kapoor (INC)Leading,
Rampur        Shiv Bahadur Saxena (BJP)Leading,
Milak        Rajbala (BJP)Leading,
Dhanaura    Rajeev Kumar (BJP )Winner
Naugawan     Sadat    Javed Abbas (SP)Leading,
Amroha        Mehboob Ali (SP)Leading,
Hasanpur    Mahender Singh Khadakvanshi (BJP)Leading,
Siwalkhas    Jitendra Pal Singh Billu (BJP)Leading,
Sardhana    Sangeet Singh Som (BJP)Leading,
Hastinapur    Dinesh Khatik (BJP)Leading,
Kithore        Shahid Manzoor (SP)Leading,
Meerut Cantt.    Satya Prakash Agarwal (BJP)Leading,
Meerut        Rafiq Ansari (SP)Leading,
Meerut South    Dr. Somendra Tomar (BJP)Leading,
Chhaprauli    Sahender Singh Ramala (RLD)Leading,
Baraut        Krishanpal Malik (BJP)Leading,
Baghpat        Yogesh Dhama (BJP)Leading,
Loni        Nandkishor (BJP)Leading,
Muradnagar    Ajit Pal Tyagi (BJP)Leading,
Sahibabad    Sunil Kumar Sharma (BJP)Leading,
Ghaziabad    Atul Garg (BJP)Leading,
Modi Nagar    Wahab (BSP)Leading,
Dhaulana    Dharmesh Singh Tomar (SP)Leading,
Hapur        Shripal Singh (BSP)Leading,
Garhmukteshwar    Kamal Singh (BJP)Leading,
Noida        Pankaj Singh (BJP)Leading,
Dadri        Tejpal Singh Nagar (BJP)Leading,
Jewar        Dhirendra Singh (BJP)Leading,
Sikandrabad    Rahul Yadav (SP)Leading,
Bulandshahr    Virendra Singh Sirohi (BJP)Leading,
Syana        Devendra (BJP)Leading,
Anupshahr    Sanjay (BJP)Leading,
Debai        Anita Singh Rajput (BJP)Leading,
Shikarpur    Anil Kumar (BJP)Leading,
Khurja        Vijendra Singh (BJP)Leading,
Khair        Anoop (BJP)Leading,
Barauli        Dalveer Singh (BJP)Leading,
Atrauli        Sandeep Kumar Singh (BJP)Leading,
Chharra        Ravendra Pal Singh (BJP)Leading,
Koil        Shaz Ishaq Urf Ajju Ishaq (SP)Leading,
Aligarh        Zafar Alam (SP)Leading,
Iglas        Rajveer Diler (BJP)Leading,
Hathras        Hari Shankar Mahor (BJP)Leading,
Sadabad        Ramveer Upadhyay (BSP)Leading,
Sikandra     Rao    Birendra Singh Rana (BJP)Leading,
Chhata        Laxmi Narayan (BJP)Leading,
Mant        Satish Kumar Sharma (BJP)Leading,
Goverdhan    Karinda Singh (BJP)Leading,
Mathura        Shrikant Sharma (BJP)Leading,
Baldev        Pooran Prakash (BJP)Leading,
Etmadpur    Ram Pratap Singh (BJP)Leading,
Agra Cantt.    Dr. Girraj Singh Dharmesh (BJP)Leading,
Agra South    Yogendra Upadhyaya (BJP)Leading,
Agra North    Jagan Prasad Garg (BJP)Leading,
Agra Rural    Hemlata Diwakar (BJP)Leading,
Fatehpur Sikri    Udaybhan Singh (BJP)Leading,
Kheragarh    Mahesh Kumar Goyal (BJP)Leading,
Fatehabad    Jitendra Verma (BJP)Leading,
Bah        Rani Pakshalika Singh (BJP)Leading,
Tundla        Satya Pal Singh Baghel (BJP)Leading,
Jasrana        Ramgopal (BJP)Leading,
Firozabad    Khalid Nasir (BSP)Leading,
Shikohabad    Mukesh Verma (BJP)Leading,
Sirsaganj    Jaiveer Singh (BJP)Leading,
Kasganj        Sudhir Alias Pappu Yadav (MD)Leading,
Amanpur        Devendra Pratap (BJP)Leading,
Patiyali    Kiran Yadav (SP)Leading,
Aliganj        Satyapal Singh Rathaur (BJP)Leading,
Etah        Vipin Kumar David (BJP)Leading,
Marhara        Virendra (BJP)Leading,
Jalesar        Sanjeev Kumar Diwakar (BJP)Leading,
Mainpuri    Ashok Kumar (BJP)Leading,
Bhongaon    Ram Naresh Agnihotri (BJP)Leading,
Kishni        Brajesh Kumar (SP)Leading,
Karhal        Sobaran Singh Yadav (SP)Leading,
Gunnaur        Ajeet Kumar Urf Raju Yadav (BJP)Leading,
Bisauli        Kushagra Sagar (BJP)Leading,
Sahaswan    Omkar Singh (SP)Leading,
Bilsi        Pt. Radha Krishan Sharma (BJP)Leading,
Badaun        Mahesh Chandra Gupta (BJP)Leading,
Shekhupur    Dharmendra Kumar Singh Shakya (BJP)Leading,
Dataganj    Rajeev Kumar Singh Urf Babbu Bhaiya (BJP)Leading,
Baheri        Chhatra Pal Singh (BJP)Leading,
Meerganj    Dr. D.C. Verma (BJP)Leading,
Bhojipura    Bahoran Lal Maurya (BJP)Leading,
Nawabganj    Kesar Singh (BJP)Leading,
Faridpur    Dr. Shyam Bihari Lal (BJP)Leading,
BithariChainpur    Veer Pal Singh Yadav (SP)Leading,
Bareilly    Dr. Arun Kumar (BJP)Leading,
Bareilly Cantt.    Rajesh Agarwal (BJP)Leading,
Aonla        Dharam Pal Singh (BJP)Leading,
Pilibhit    Sanjay Singh Gangwar (BJP)Leading,
Barkhera    Kishan Lal Rajpoot (BJP)Leading,
Puranpur    Babu Ram Paswan (BJP)Leading,
Bisalpur    Agyash Ram Saran Verma (BJP)Leading,
Katra        Veer Vikram Singh Prince (BJP)Leading,
Jalalabad    Sharadvir Singh (SP)Leading,
Tilhar        Roshan Lal Verma (BJP)Leading,
Powayan        Chetram (BJP)Leading,
Shahjahanpur    Suresh Kumar Khanna (BJP)Leading,
Dadraul        Manvendra Singh (BJP)Leading,
Palia        Harvinder Kumar Sahani (BJP)Leading,
Nighasan    Patel Ramkumar Verma (BJP)Leading,
GolaGokrannath    Arvind Giri (BJP)Leading,
Sri Nagar    Manju Tyagi (BJP)Leading,
Dhaurahra    Awasthi Bala Prasad (BJP)Leading,
Lakhimpur    Yogesh Verma (BJP)Leading,
Kasta        Saurabh Singh (BJP)Leading,
Mohammdi    Lokendra Pratap Singh (BJP)Leading,
Maholi        Shashank Trivedi (BJP)Leading,
Sitapur    Rakesh Rathore (BJP)Leading,
Hargaon    Suresh Rahi (BJP)Leading,
Laharpur    Anil Kumar Verma (INC)Leading,
Biswan        Mahendra Singh (BJP)Leading,
Sevata        Gyan Tiwari (BJP)Leading,
Mohmoodabad    Narendra Singh Verma (SP)Leading,
Sidhauli    Hargovind Bhargava (BSP)Leading,
Misrikh        Ram Krishna Bhargava (BJP)Leading,
Sawayazpur    Kunvar Madhvendra Pratap (BJP)Leading,
Shahabad    Rajani Tiwari (BJP)Leading,
Hardoi        Nitin Agarwal (SP)Leading,
Gopamau        Rajeshwari (SP)Leading,
Sandi        Prabhash Kumar (BJP)Leading,
Bilgram-Mallanwan    Subhash Pal (SP)Leading,
Balamau        Ram Pal Verma (BJP)Leading,
Sandila        Pawan Kumar Singh (BSP)Leading,
Bangermau    Kuldeep Singh Sengar (BJP)Leading,
Safipur        Bamba Lal (BJP)Leading,
Mohan        Brijesh Kumar (BJP)Leading,
Unnao        Pankaj Gupta (BJP)Leading,
Bhagwantnagar    Hriday Narayan Dikshit (BJP)Leading,
Purwa        Uttam Chandra Urf Rakesh Lodhi (BJP)Leading,
Malihabad    Jai Devi (BJP)Leading,
BakshiKa Talab    Avinash Trivedi (BJP)Leading,
Sarojini Nagar    Swati Singh (BJP)Leading,
Lucknow West    Suresh Kumar Shrivastav (BJP)Leading,
Lucknow North    Dr.Neeraj Bora (BJP)Leading,
Lucknow East    Ashutosh Tandan "Gopal Ji" (BJP)Leading,
Lucknow Central    Ravidas Mehrotra (SP)Leading,
Lucknow Cantt.    Dr. Reeta Joshi (BJP)Leading,
Mohanlalganj    Ambrish Singh Pushkar (SP)Leading,
Bachhrawan    Ram Naresh Rawat (BJP)Leading,
Tiloi        Mayankeshwar Sharan Singh (BJP)Leading,
Harchandpur    Kanchan Lodhi (BJP)Leading,
Rae Bareli    Aditi Singh (INC)Leading,
Salon        Dal Bahadur (BJP)Leading,
Sareni        Dhirendra Bahadur Singh (BJP)Leading,
Unchahar    Manoj Kumar Pandey (SP)Leading,
Jagdishpur    Suresh Kumar (BJP)Leading,
Gauriganj    Rakesh Pratap Singh (SP)Leading,
Amethi        Garima Singh (BJP)Leading,
Isauli        Abrar Ahmad (SP)Leading,
Sultanpur    Surya Bhan Singh (BJP)Leading,
Sadar        Sitaram (BJP)Leading,
Lambhua        Devmani (BJP)Leading,
Kadipur        Rajesh Kumar Gautam (BJP)Leading,
Kaimganj    Amar Singh (BJP)Leading,
Amritpur    Sushil Kumar Shakya (BJP)Leading,
Farrukhabad    Mejor Sunil Dutt Dwivedi (BJP)Leading,
Bhojpur        Nagendra Singh (BJP)Leading,
Chhibramau    Archana Pandey (BJP)Leading,
Tirwa        Kailash Singh Rajput (BJP)Leading,
Kannauj        Anil Kumar Dohare (SP)Leading,
Jaswantnagar    Shivpal Singh Yadav (SP)Leading,
Etawah        Sarita Bhadauriya (BJP)Leading,
Bharthana    Kamlesh Kumar Katheria (SP)Leading,
Bidhuna        Dinesh Kumar Verma (SP)Leading,
Dibiyapur    Lakhan Singh (BJP)Leading,
Auraiya        Madan Singh Gautam Alias Santosh (SP)Leading,
Rasulabad    Nirmala Sankhwar (BJP)Leading,
AkbarpurRaniya    Pratibha Shukla (BJP)Leading,
Bhognipur    Vinod Kumar Katiyar (BJP)Leading,
Bilhaur        Shiv Kumar Beriya (SP)Leading,
Bithoor        Abhijeet Singh Sanga (BJP)Leading,
Kalyanpur    Nilima Katiyar (BJP)Leading,
Govindnagar    Satya Dev Pachauri (BJP)Leading,
Sishamau    Hazi Irfan Solanki (SP)Leading,
Arya Nagar    Salil Vishnoi (BJP)Leading,
Kidwai Nagar    Ajay Kapoor (INC)Leading,
Kanpur Cantt.    Raghunandan Singh Bhadauria (BJP)Leading,
Maharajpur    Satish Mahana (BJP)Leading,
Ghatampur    Kamal Rani (BJP)Leading,
Madhaugarh    Moolchandra Singh (BJP)Leading,
Kalpi        Narendra Pal Singh (BJP)Leading,
Orai        Gauri Shankar (BJP)Leading,
Babina        Rajeev Singh Parichha (BJP)Leading,
Jhansi Nagar    Ravi Sharma (BJP)Leading,
Mauranipur    Biharilal Arya (BJP)Leading,
Garautha    Jawahar Lal Rajpoot (BJP)Leading,
Lalitpur    Ramratan Kushwaha (BJP)Leading,
Mehroni        Manohar Lal (BJP)Leading,
Hamirpur    Ashok Kumar Singh Chandel (BJP)Leading,
Rath        Manisha Anuragi (BJP)Leading,
Mahoba        Rakesh Kumar Goswami (BJP)Leading,
Charkhari    Brijbhushan Rajpoot Alias Guddu Bhaiya (BJP)Leading,
Tindwari    Brajesh Kumar Prajapati (BJP)Leading,
Baberu        Chandrapal (BJP)Leading,
Naraini        Raj Karan Kabir (BJP)Leading,
Banda        Prakash Dwivedi (BJP)Leading,
Chitrakoot    Chandrika Prasad Upadhyay (BJP)Leading,
Manikpur    R.K. Singh Patel (BJP)Leading,
Jahanabad    Jai Kumar Singh Jaiki (AD (Soneylal))Leading,
Bindki        Karan Singh Patel (BJP)Leading,
Fatehpur    Vikram Singh (BJP)Leading,
Ayah Shah    Vikas Gupta (BJP)Leading,
Husainganj    Ranvendra Pratap Singh Urf Dhunni Bhaiya (BJP)Leading,
Khaga        Krishna Paswan (BJP)Leading,
Rampur Khas    Aradhana Mishra Mona (INC)Leading,
Babaganj    Vinod Kumar (IND)Leading,
Kunda        Raghuraj Pratap Singh (IND)Leading,
VishwanathGanj    Rakesh Kumar Verma Alias Dr.R.K.Verma (AD (Soneylal))Leading,
Pratapgarh    Sangam Lal Gupta (AD (Soneylal))Leading,
Patti        Ram Singh (SP)Leading,
Raniganj    Abhay Kumar Alias Dhiraj Ojha (BJP)Leading,
Sirathu        Sheetla Prasad (BJP)Leading,
Manjhanpur    Indrajeet Saroj (BSP)Leading,
Chail        Sanjay Kumar (BJP)Leading,
Phaphamau    Vikramajeet (BJP)Leading,
Soraon        Jamuna Prasad (AD (Soneylal))Leading,
Phulpur        Praveen Kumar Singh (BJP)Leading,
Pratappur    Mohd Mujtaba Siddqui (BSP)Leading,
Handia        Hakim Lal (BSP)Leading,
Meja        Neelam Karwariya (BJP)Leading,
Karachhana    Piyush Ranjan (BJP)Leading,
Allahabad West    Sidharth Nath Singh (BJP)Leading,
Allahabad North    Harshvardhan Bajpai (BJP)Leading,
Allahabad South    Parvez Ahmad (SP)Leading,
Bara        Dr. Ajai Kumar (BJP)Leading,
Koraon        Rajmani (BJP)Leading,
Kursi        Sakendra Pratap Verma (BJP)Leading,
Ram Nagar    Sharad Kumar Awasthi (BJP)Leading,
Barabanki    Dharmraj Singh Yadav Urf Suresh Yadav (SP)Leading,
Zaidpur        Upendra Singh (BJP)Leading,
Dariyabad    Satish Chandra Sharma (BJP)Leading,
Rudauli        Ram Chandra Yadav (BJP)Leading,
Haidergarh    Kamala Prasad Rawat (BSP)Leading,
Milkipur    Gorakh Nath (BJP)Leading,
Bikapur        Shobha Singh Chauhan (BJP)Leading,
Ayodhya        Ved Prakash Gupta (BJP)Leading,
Goshainganj    Indra Pratap Alias Khabbu Tiwari (BJP)Leading,
Katehari    Lal Ji Verma (BSP)Leading,
Tanda        Azeemul Haq Pahalwan (SP)Leading,
Alapur        Aneeta (BJP)Leading,
Jalalpur    Ritesh Pandey (BSP)Leading,
Akbarpur    Ram Achal Rajbhar (BSP)Leading,
Balha        Akshayvaralal (BJP)Leading,
Nanpara        Madhuri Verma (BJP)Leading,
Matera        Yasar Shah (SP)Leading,
Mahasi        Sureshwar Singh (BJP)Leading,
Baharaich    Rubab Sayeda (SP)Leading,
Payagpur    Subhash Tripathi (BJP)Leading,
Kaiserganj    Mukut Bihari (BJP)Leading,
Bhinga        Alekshendra Kant Singh (BJP)Leading,
Shrawasti    Mohd. Ramzan (SP)Leading,
Tulsipur    Kailash Nath Shukla (BJP)Leading,
Gainsari    Shailesh Kumar Singh (BJP)Leading,
Utraula        Ram Pratap Alias Shashikant Verma (BJP)Leading,
Balrampur    Palturam (BJP)Leading,
Mehnaun        Arshad Ali Khan (BSP)Leading,
Gonda        Prateek Bhushan Singh (BJP)Leading,
Katra Bazar    Bawan Singh (BJP)Leading,
Colonelganj    Ajay Pratap Singh (BJP)Leading,
Tarabganj    Prem Narayan Pandey (BJP)Leading,
Mankapur    Ramapati Shastri (BJP)Leading,
Gaura        Abdul Kalam (BSP)Leading,
Shohratgarh    Amar Singh Chaudhary (AD (Soneylal))Leading,
Kapilvastu    Shyam Dhani (BJP)Leading,
Bansi        Jai Pratap Singh (BJP)Leading,
Itwa        Dr. Satish Chandra Dwivedi (BJP)Leading,
Domariyaganj    Raghvendra Pratap Singh (BJP)Leading,
Harraiya    Ajay Kumar Singh Ajay Singh (BJP)Leading,
Kaptanganj    Chandra Prakash Alias Ca Chandra Prakash Shukl (BJP)Leading,
Rudhauli    Sanjay Pratap Jaiswal (BJP)Leading,
Basti Sadar    Dayaram Chaudhary (BJP)Leading,
Mahadewa    Ravi Kumar Sonkar (BJP)Leading,
Menhdawal    Rakesh Singh Baghel (BJP)Leading,
Khalilabad    Dr. Mohd. Ayub (PECP )Leading,
Dhanghata    Shri Ram Chauhan (BJP)Leading,
Pharenda    Virendra Chaudhary (INC)Leading,
Nautanwa    Aman Mani Tripathi (IND)Leading,
Siswa        Premsagar Patel (BJP)Leading,
Maharajganj    Jaimangal (BJP)Leading,
Paniyra        Gyanendra (BJP)Leading,
Caimpiyarganj    Fateh Bahadur (BJP)Leading,
Pipraich    Afatab Alam Urf Guddu Bhaiya (BSP)Leading,
Gorakhpur Urban    Dr. Radha Mohan Das Agrawal (BJP)Leading,
Gorakhpur Rural    Bipin Singh (BJP)Leading,
Sahajanwa    Sheetal Pandey (BJP)Leading,
Khajani        Sant Prasad (BJP)Leading,
Chauri-Chaura    Sangeeta Yadav (BJP)Leading,
Bansgaon    Vimlesh Paswan (BJP)Leading,
Chillupar    Rajesh Tripathi (BJP)Leading,
Khadda        Jatashanker Tripathi (BJP)Leading,
Padrauna    Swami Prasad Maurya (BJP)Leading,
Tamkuhi Raj    Ajay Kumar Lallu (INC)Leading,
Fazilnagar    Ganga (BJP)Leading,
Kushinagar    Rajnikant Mani Tripathi (BJP)Leading,
Hata        Pawan Kumar (BJP)Leading,
Ramkola        Ramanand Baudh (SBSP)Leading,
Rudrapur    Jai Prakash Nishad (BJP)Leading,
Deoria        Janmejai Singh (BJP)Leading,
Pathardeva    Surya Pratap Shahi (BJP)Leading,
Rampur Karkhana    Fasiha Manzer Ghazala Lari (SP)Leading,
Bhatpar Rani    Jaynath Kushwaha Urf Guddan (BJP)Leading,
Salempur    Vijay Laxmi Gautam (SP)Leading,
Barhaj        Suresh Tiwari (BJP)Leading,
Atrauliya    Dr. Sangram Yadav (SP)Leading,
Gopalpur    Nafees Ahmad (SP)Leading,
Sagri        Bandana Singh (BSP)Leading,
Mubarakpur    Shah Alam Urf Guddu Jamali (BSP)Leading,
Azamgarh    Durga Prasad (SP)Leading,
Nizamabad    Alambadi (SP)Leading,
Phoolpur Pawai    Arun Kumar Yadav (BJP)Leading,
Didarganj    Krishna Murari (BJP)Leading,
Lalganj        Azad Ari Mardan (BSP)Leading,
Mehnagar    Manjoo (SBSP)Leading,
Madhuban    Dara Singh Chauhan (BJP)Leading,
Ghosi        Fagu Chauhan (BJP)Leading,
Muhammadabad-Gohna    Shriram (BJP)Leading,
Mau        Mahendra Rajbhar (SBSP)Leading,
Belthara Road    Dhananjay Kannoujia (BJP)Leading,
Rasara        Uma Shanker Singh (BSP)Leading,
Sikanderpur    Sanjay Yadav (BJP)Leading,
Phephana    Upendra Tiwari (BJP)Leading,
Ballia Nagar    Narad (BSP)Leading,
Bairia        Surendra (BJP)Leading,
Badlapur    Ramesh Chandra Mishra (BJP)Leading,
Shahganj    Rana Ajeet Pratap Singh (SBSP)Leading,
Jaunpur        Nadeem Javed (INC)Leading,
Malhani        Parasnath Yadav (SP)Leading,
Mungra Badshahpur Ajay Shankar Dubey (INC)Leading,
Machhlishahr    Jagdish Sonkar (SP)Leading,
Mariyahu    Leena Tiwari (AD (Soneylal))Leading,
Zafrabad    Dr Harendra Prasad Singh (BJP)Leading,
Kerakat        Dinesh Chaudhary (BJP)Leading,
Jakhanian    Gareeb (SP)Leading,
Saidpur        Vidyasagar Sonkar (BJP)Leading,
Ghazipur    Sangeeta (BJP)Leading,
Jangipur    Ram Naresh Kushwaha (BJP)Leading,
Zahoorabad    Om Prakash Rajbhar (SBSP)Leading,
Mohammadabad    Sibgatulla Ansari (BSP)Leading,
Zamania        Sunita (BJP)Leading,
Mughalsarai    Sadhana Singh (BJP)Leading,
Sakaldiha    Prabhunarayan Yadav (SP)Leading,
Saiyadraja    Sushil Singh (BJP)Leading,
Chakia        Sharada Prasad (BJP)Leading,
Pindra        Avadhesh Singh (BJP)Leading,
Ajagara        Kailash Nath Sonkar (SBSP)Leading,
Shivpur        Anil Rajbhar (BJP)Leading,
Rohaniya    Surendra Narayan Singh (BJP)Leading,
Varanasi North    Ravindra Jaiswal (BJP)Leading,
Varanasi South    Dr. Neelkanth Tiwari (BJP)Leading,
Varanasi Cantt.    Saurabh Srivastava (BJP)Leading,
Sevapuri    Neel Ratan Singh Patel Neelu (AD (Soneylal))Leading,
Bhadohi        Ravindra Nath Tripathi (BJP)Leading,
Gyanpur        Mahendra Kumar Bind (BJP)Leading,
Aurai        Dinanath Bhaskar (BJP)Leading,
Chhanbey    Rahul Prakash (AD (Soneylal))Leading,
Mirzapur    Ratnakar Mishr (BJP)Leading,
Majhawan    Shuchismita Maurya (BJP)Leading,
Chunar        Anurag Singh (BJP)Leading,
Marihan        Rama Shankar Singh (BJP)Leading,
Ghorawal    Anil Kumar Maurya (BJP)Leading,
Robertsganj    Bhupesh Chaubey (BJP)Leading,
Obra        Sanjiv Kumar (BJP)Leading,
Duddhi        Hari Ram (AD (Soneylal))Leading.

Stay tuned to thestatesman.com for latest news updates.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday expressed grief over the death of 11 CRPF personnel in Sukma district of Chhattisgarh in a Maoist attack and said that Home Minister Rajnath Singh would be going there.

"Saddened by the killing of CRPF personnel in Sukma. Tributes to the martyrs and condolences to their families. May the injured recover quickly," Modi said in a tweet.

"Spoke to Home Minister Rajnath Singh Ji on the situation in Sukma. He is going to Sukma to take stock of the situation," he said.

11 CRPF personnel were killed and five others injured in a Maoist attack near Bhejji of Sukma district in tribal Bastar region. The Maoists also looted weapons from the dead personnel.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh also condoled the deaths and said the perpetrators of the attack will be brought to justice. 

"Deeply pained to learn of the killing of CRPF personnel in Sukma. My heartfelt condolences to the families of the deceased," the Home Minister said.

He said he had spoken to Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh, and the state government is providing all medical assistance to the injured.

"The Centre is in direct communication with the state government. Those who perpetrated this incident in Sukma will be brought to justice," he said.

Germany will host Brazil in an international football friendly in March 2018, the first meeting between the teams since their historic semi-final clash at the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

The match will be played at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin on March 27, 2018, less than three months before the start of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, the Brazilian Football Confederation said in a statement on Friday, reports Xinhua news agency.

"To play against a high-level team like Germany will be an important test for our players and coaching staff," Brazil team coordinator Edu Gaspar said.

"This is even more so because it will be played away from home and in a year that is very important for our national team."

Germany crushed host Brazil 7-1 in the 2014 World Cup semis in Belo Horizonte. Joachim Low's team went on to win the tournament by defeating Argentina 1-0 in the final.

Actress Kristen Stewart says she is disappointed with US President Donald Trump as he remained mum over her comments on TV show Saturday Night Live.

While appearing on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Thursday, Colbert asked Stewart about Trump's 2012 tweets about her, which she spoke about on Saturday Night Live earlier this year, reports hollywoodreporter.com.

"You were one of the first people on Twitter that our president, Donald Trump, attacked repeatedly. Keep in mind that this man is now the keeper of the nuclear launch codes," Colbert said.

"Hey, man, that's whatever," Stewart replied. 

"Did this teach you how to deal with bullies," Colbert said while asking if she knew why he attacked her. 

Stewart said she didn't know, but she wished he had responded to her when she brought it up while hosting Saturday Night Live. 

"I did it publicly, and he didn't publicly respond. I was kind of disappointed. We're all different. That's okay. Celebrate the differences. Whatever," Stewart said.

Earlier while hosting Saturday Night Live, Stewart had said: "The president is not a huge fan of me. But that is so okay. And Donald, if you didn't like me then you probably really aren't going to like me now, because I'm hosting SNL and I'm, like, so gay, dude."

US President Donald Trump has invited Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to visit the White House soon, spokesperson Sean Spicer said.

In his first phone call with Abbas since he took office, Trump on Friday told the Palestinian leader that he believes the time has come to make a deal on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, The Washington Times reported.

The US President emphasised his "personal belief that peace is possible", Spicer said.

"The President noted that such a deal would not only give Israelis and Palestinians the peace and security they deserve, but that it would reverberate positively throughout the region and the world," he said.

According to official Palestinian News Agency WAFA, Abbas reiterated his commitment to peace as a strategic choice to establish the Palestinian state living side by side with Israel.

Palestinians are concerned at the more favourable approach shown by Washington toward Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu since Trump came to power.

Netanyahu and Trump have spoken on the phone at least twice since the inauguration, and the Israeli Prime Minister visited Washington last month.

At his meeting with Netanyahu, Trump broke with decades of US policy by saying he was not bound to the two-state solution for ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Spicer emphasised the long-lasting US stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that a peace agreement must be negotiated directly between Israel and Palestine.

That took an indirect jab at a UN resolution passed last December that demanded Israel stop building settlements on occupied Palestinian territory to preserve the possibility of a two-state solution.

Former President Barack Obama let pass that resolution in a major departure from the US tradition of shielding Israel from UN reproaches despite Trump's adamant opposition.

According to Palestinian officials, Abbas would emphasise his concern about Israeli settlement-building on occupied land and the need for a two-state solution to the conflict.

"Abbas stressed the commitment to peace as a strategic choice to establish a Palestinian State alongside the state of Israel," the Palestinian leader's spokesperson Nabil Abu Rdainah said.

The peace process has been deadlocked since April 2014 following the collapse of indirect negotiations led by then US secretary of state John Kerry.

US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley on Tuesday met for the first time the Palestinian envoy to the world body, Riyad Mansour.

After the talks, Haley tweeted the Palestinians should "meet with Israel in direct negotiations rather than looking to the UN to deliver results that can only be achieved through the two parties".

Israel has long favoured direct bilateral talks, while the Palestinians argue they need the international community to ensure Israel follows through on its pledges.

Trump has previously suggested he would move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, while Israeli right-wingers have encouraged Netanyahu to use Trump's election as an opportunity to formally annex parts of the West Bank into Israel.

Punjab Congress chief Captain Amarinder Singh, who turned 75 on Saturday, got the perfect birthday gift on Friday with voters in the state paving the way for his elevation to the chief minister’s (CM) post  after a gap of 10 years.

Having announced the 2017 Assembly elections as his last, the Congress’ face in Punjab took charge of the party campaign and made sure there was no let up in poll campaign across the state.

The former CM led from the front and single-handed helped the Congress in projecting itself as the alternative to the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bhartiya Janta Party (SAD-BJP) combine.

Captain’s leadership helped in lifting the spirit of the demoralised Congress workers who were losing hope following party’s decade long ouster from power in the state.

Even as the Congress high command took time to announce his candidature for the chief minister’s post, Capt Amarinder made sure the party took due care in selection of candidates which played key role in party’s shocking defeat in 2012 Assembly elections.

Goa Deputy Chief Minister Francis D'Souza on Saturday retained the Mapusa assembly seat in North Goa, defeating his nearest Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party rival Vinod Phadke by 6,828 votes.

This is the sixth consecutive time that D'Souza has won the Mapusa assembly seat and he is the seniormost elected BJP legislator in the state.

Latest trend from Manipur shows ‘others’ are leading in number of win with five seats.

Congress is leading with 21 seats while the BJP with the win of Sapam Ranjan Singh is behind Congress with one win. Irom Sharmila’s People’s Resurgence and Justice Alliance (PRJA) party has failed to secure any win and has no lead. Irom Sharmila herself suffered a defeat at the hands of CM Okram Ibobi Singh from Thoubal.

Independents can turn as kingmakers if others’ manage to fetch ten seats in the state. With good stake by the Independents, the state stands good chance of a hung assembly.

Punjab was the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) only hope outside Delhi, but the party faltered in cashing on its good start in the state following AAP’s inner turmoil and failure to project its chief ministerial candidate.

Seeking change, Punjab voters gave four Lok Sabha seats to AAP in 2014 Lok Sabha polls despite the Modi-wave all over the country but the an over-confident party could not set its own house in order to cash on
the strong anti-incumbency wave against the Parkash Singh Badal government.

In the run up to February 4 elections, AAP suffered setbacks in the form of exit of several key leaders including former state chief Sucha Singh Chhotepur.

With the outgoing AAP leaders alleging corruption and ruing the control of outsiders over party’s affairs in the state, it created a confusion in the voter’s which helped the Congress in consolidating its position as main alternative to the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bhartiya Janta Party (SAD-BJP) combine.

The fact the party failed to name its CM candidate also added to this confusion as both the Congress and SAD-BJP had declared the CM candidates, Capt Amarinder Singh and Parkash Singh Badal respectively.

With the Congress staring at a drubbing in Uttar Pradesh, the grand old party on Saturday admitted that "the bad loss hurts" and said it needs to do "fundamental restructuring" in the state, calling for hard decisions.

While the Congress said the "loss" in the Hindi heartland it once ruled will be assessed, it defended party leadership saying it should not be judged over a short span.

The Congress also highlighted its performance in Punjab, where it is leading over SAD-BJP combine and AAP.

"Yes, UP is a bad loss, it hurts…I agree that, in UP, we need fundamental restructuring thinking for the Congress as a whole. These have to be hard, tough decisions about strategy," Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said.

Another Congress leader Shakeel Ahmad attributed the party's poor show in the politically crucial state to "public mood" and said its performance will be "scrutinised".

He, however, stressed that Congress' gains in Punjab and likeliness of the party forming government in Goa, ruled by the BJP until before the elections, should not be ignored.

"We are forming government in Punjab…In Goa, the BJP is not in position to form government. There is a possibility that we may form government there," the former Union Minister said.

Early trends suggested the BJP is on its way to form government in Uttar Pradesh after a hiatus of 15 years.

The Congress is leading in 73 of the 117 assembly segments in the state, according to the trends.

Goa appeared headed for a hung assembly on Saturday with the Congress winning two and the BJP three seats and leading in six and three other seats respectively.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party suffered a major blow when Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar was defeated by Dayanand Sopte of the Congress at Mandrem by nearly 5,000 votes. 

And at Poriem, former Chief Minister and Congress candidate Pratapsingh Rane defeated his BJP rival Vishwajit K. Rane. 

The Congress, which was determined to oust the BJP after losing narrowly to it in the 2012 election, also led in six other constituencies.

BJP candidates won from Mapusa, Bicholim and Mayem and led in other four seats as Election Commission officials made known the results and trends from about 20 of the 40 assembly seats. 

The Mapusa victor was Deputy Chief Minister Francis D'Souza, who defeated his Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) rival Vinod Phadke by 6,828 votes.

This is D'Souza's sixth consecutive win in assembly elections. He is the senior most elected BJP legislator in the state. 

Nationalist Congress Party's Churchill Alemao won from Benaulim.

The Goa Forward and the MGP won one seat each. 

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which had made a determined bid to take power in the coastal state, could not win a single seat.

The same was the case with Goa Surakha Manch, formed by ex-RSS leader Subhash Velinkar who had the Shiv Sena as his ally.

A case has been registered against an MLA of the ruling Congress in Meghalaya after he allegedly held captive a government doctor at gun point in East Garo Hills district, a senior police official said on Saturday.

A case has been registered against Sengnam N Marak, Rongjeng Mla and also Parliamentary Secretary, after an FIR was registered against him by the doctor at Williamnagar police stationon Friday, the official said.

The matter is under investigation and no arrest has been made so far, he said.

The government doctor, Dr S M Bujabaruah, stated in the FIR that the Parliamentary Secretary in charge of Health and Family Welfare and his friend came to Rongjeng PWD Inspection Bungalow in East Garo Hills around midnight on March 5 where the doctor was held at gun point till 3.30 am.

According to the doctor, the two were in an inebriated condition.

The police official could not give any immediate reason behind the incident.

The Parliamentary Secretary was booked under sections 342 (wrongful confinement), 353 (criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 307 (attempt to murder), 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC, the official said.

Attempts to contact the MLA failed as he could not be reached on his personal phone.

With the BJP's wave sweeping the state of Uttar Pradesh in the Election Results 2017, winning 308 out of 403 seats,  murmurs are being heard within the cadres of the Samajwadi  Party (SP) seeking a step down from the party chief and outgoing chief minister Akhilesh Yadav. It was just before the elections were announced  that the SP leaders had a bitter family tussle and the then party chief and Akhilesh Yadav's father Mulauam Singh Yadav was unceremoniously removed from the post. The party underwent a bitter infighting before that when Mulayam Singh's brother Ram Gopal Yadav and Akhilesh were expelled from SP. Later the father and son duo( Mulayam Singh Yadav -Akhilesh Yadav) also indulged in fighting over their party's symbol-the cycle. The Election Commission however had granted the symbol to the outgoing CM Akhilesh Yadav. Rumours around the same time were also doing the rounds that Akhilesh may float a separate party but the same died down when he took over the post of party chief unanimously.

Experts say that it was perhaps for the first time in the history of SP that Mulayam Singh Yadav was hardly seen campaigning for his party candidates. This also marked a shift for the two bahus of the Yadav clan- Aparna Yadav and Dimple Yadav who for the first time were seen campaigning in full swing.

Notwithstanding the young brigade's all out efforts, the question now being asked is should Akhilesh Yadav hand over the reins of the party back to his father Mulayam Singh Yadav, thus taking the responsibility for a dismal performance in the Elections?