News highlights: Akhilesh promises cheap electricity if voted to power

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AAP declares 18 more candidates for Punjab polls

The Aam Aadmi Party on Friday declared 18 more candidates for the next year’s Punjab Assembly elections.

The party has till now declared 58 candidates for the polls, a release said here.

Punjab has 117 Assembly seats.

According to the list released today, Sajjan Singh Cheema will contest from Sultanpur Lodhi, Principal Prem Kumar from Phillaur, Pandit Brahm Shankar Jimpa from Hoshiarpur, Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal from Ajnala, Jaswinder Singh from Attari, Dalbir Singh Tong from Baba Bakala and Harjot Singh Bains from Anandpur Sahib.

Akhilesh promises cheap electricity if voted to power

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Friday promised regular and cheap power supply for agricultural, domestic and industrial purposes if voted to power in next year's Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls.

"Had the proposed power plants in Etah and other districts been built, the people of Uttar Pradesh would not have been compelled to buy electricity at the highest rate in the country," his tweet in Hindi targeting the BJP government read.

"When the SP government takes over, we reiterate our resolve to provide more relief than anticipated and regular cheap electricity to agriculture, households, industries and businesses," he said.

PM Modi chaired the first meeting of high-level committee constituted to commemorate 150th Birth Anniversary of Sri Aurobindo

Russia fines Google $98 million over banned content

A Moscow court slapped Google with an unprecedented hefty fine on Friday for repeatedly failing to remove illegal content as Russian authorities pile pressure on foreign tech giants.

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Ayodhya land scam allegations baseless, says UP minister

Uttar Pradesh minister Anand Swarup Shukla on Friday attacked Priyanka Gandhi Vadra for her urging the apex court to intervene in an alleged land scam in Ayodhya, saying only those opposed to the Ram temple are raising such issues.

"The Congress party and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra gave all their effort to ensure that Ram temple is not constructed and now when a grand temple is being built at the Ram Janmabhoomi, they are not able to tolerate it and are levelling such baseless allegations," Shukla, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, told media here.

Oppn should introspect on uncivilized behaviour of MPs, says Goyal

AAP will give strong, stable government to Punjab: Kejriwal

Aam Aadmi Party will give a strong and stable government to Punjab. Only under such a government, incidents of 'beadbi' or sacrilege can stop and those guilty be punished, saysAAP leader and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal in Gurdaspur

Ahead of Assembly polls, ex-Goa MLA Lavoo Mamlatdar quits Trinamool Congress nearly 3 months after joining it; alleges it's a "communal party which is trying to disturb the secular fabric"

Congress leader Harish Rawat given command of poll campaigning in Uttarakhand

Harbhajan Singh retires from all forms of cricket

Delhi High Court has taken note of the overcrowding at Delhi's Sarojini Nagar market and has directed the concerned SHO to appear in the post-lunch hearing today

Congress screening committee for Punjab to meet today: Charanjit Singh Channi

Five arrested for blackmailing MoS Home Ajai Misra Teni, says Delhi Police

Leh receives its first snowfall of the Winter season

PM Narendra Modi to hold Council of Minister meet on 29th December

Sri Lanka PM Mahinda Rajapaksa offered prayers at Tirumala Venkateswara Temple in Andhra Pradesh, this morning

BJP legislators protest in Maharashtra Assembly premises against state govt over the issues Maharashtra State Road Transport employees, students (exam paper leaks) and farmers

PM Modi will address the Gurpurab celebrations of Guru Nanak Dev Ji at Gurudwara Lakhpat Sahib in Kutch, Gujarat tomorrow via video conferencing

Arvind Kejriwal is an absconder: Charanjit Singh Channi

Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi, said, "AAP says I am doing drama. Arvind Kejriwal gave 'Mafinama' in court and said sorry to Bikram Singh Majithia and ran away. He is an absconder. His 10 MLAs also left him as he could not take a stand on this drug issue"

Nagesh Karale, a 37-year-old wrestler shot dead in Chakan area of Pune district by four men, yesterday, December 23

Punjab govt has decided to waive off debt up to Rs 2 lakh for farmers who have land up to 5 acres: Charanjit Singh Channi

Punjab needs strong, actionable govt: Arvind Kejriwal

Voting underway for Chandigarh Municipal Corporation elections

In Rajasthan, fire breaks out at a chemical factory near City Mall in Kota district; five fire engines at the spot

32 dead in Bangladesh ferry fire: Police

At least 32 people died on Friday when a packed ferry caught fire in southern Bangladesh, police said.

"The three-storey Obhijan 10 caught fire mid-river. We have recovered 32 bodies. The death toll may rise. Most died from the fire and a few by drowning after they jumped into the river," local police chief Moinul Islam told AFP.

The incident happened early in the morning near the southern rural town of Jhakakathi, 250 kilometres (160 miles) south of the capital Dhaka.

The accident was the latest in a string of similar incidents in the low-lying delta country criss-crossed by rivers.

Experts in the South Asian country of 170 million people blame poor maintenance, lax safety standards at shipyards and overcrowding.

Legendary filmmaker K S Sethumadhavan no more

Award-winning legendary filmmaker K S Sethumadhavan, who helmed a handful of iconic and path-breaking movies in Malayalam, died at his residence in Chennai, film industry sources said here on Friday. He was 90 and was not keeping well for some time due to age-related ailments, they said.

Delimitation double standards: One rule for J&K, another for South India

For some years now, many South Indian states have been flagging the issue of distribution of the central pool of tax revenue in the Finance Commission. The grounds for concern have been that the southern states collect more taxes and have brought down their populations, but the larger shares of revenue go to the poorer states with bigger and expanding populations. In other words, the South Indian states have been arguing that they are "penalised" for controlling the pace of population growth.

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