UNITED NATIONS: India will make a strong pitch for comprehensive reform of the UN Security Council to create an equitable system that is reflective of current realities when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh addresses the UN General Assembly on Saturday. Singh, who arrived here on Thursday, will participate in the high level segment of the 66th session of the world body when he will also focus on issues... 

Seven rebel candidates are likely to return to their parent party Shiromani Akali Dal. Two Panthic Morcha candidates may also join the SAD that has won 157 of the 170 seats in the SGPC elections. Sources said the SAD had initiated talks with the victorious seven rebel candidates as Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal was of the view that since the rebels were essentially “Akalis at heart”... 

CHANDIGARH: The Central government’s affidavit in the Supreme Court declaring those spending Rs 32 per person per day and Rs 26 in rural areas as above poverty line has provoked politicians of all hues in poll-bound Punjab to demand a higher rate as deprivation in Punjab cannot be captured with these figures. The ruling SAD patron and chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and chairman of the programme... 

The Punjab and Haryana High Court today minced no words in saying there was enough indications to suggest senior advocate Harbhagwan Singh had been engaged by the Centre in the Sehajdhari voting rights case. The assertion is significant as just more than a fortnight ago, the Centre had categorically told Parliament that “neither the Ministry of Law, nor the Ministry of Home Affairs, had given a vakalatnama... 

CHANDIGARH: Punjab women outnumbered men in casting votes at a number of polling booths in Sunday’s SGPC elections. At most of the polling booths falling in Barnala and Sangrur, queues of women were there for all to see, whereas queues of men were either very thin or completely missing. Sukhdeep Kaur of Barnala said, “The women are taking keen interest in casting their votes as they want... 

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)-Sant Samaj alliance swept the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandak Committee (SGPC) elections held today. The alliance won 157 out of 170 seats spread across Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh. The alliance lost 10 seats in Punjab and three (out of 11) in Haryana. It won both seats in Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh. In the last General House, SAD had won 140 seats,... 

Amid sporadic violence, an estimated 50 to 55 per cent of the electorate today cast votes for elections to the General House of the SGPC, known as mini-parliament of Sikhs. Between 50 and 55 per cent of polling was recorded for the SGPC elections, Gurdwara Election Commissioner Manjeet Singh said. Reports of clashes during the polling were received from almost all parts of the state, police said. A... 

FEROZEPUR: The stage is set for conducting of elections for Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) in Ferozepur district with the local administration having made “fool-proof arrangements” to ensure free and fair elections for all the six SGPC seats falling in the district. The elections for SGPC seats in the Ferozepur district include two in Ferozepur (one reserved for the SC category... 

Around 57 lakh voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in the election to the 14th Shiromani Gurdwara Prabhandak Committee (SGPC) that will be held on Sunday in three states of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh and the Union Territory of Chandigarh. Elaborate security arrangements have been made for peaceful conduct of the elections.  Shiromani Gurdwara Prabhandak Committee is  considered... 

The International Panthic Dal (IPD) have rolled out a poster campaign in an effort to raise awareness within the Sikh masses of the need to vote for the Sant Samaj/Panthic candidates in the forthcoming SGPC elections – September 18th 2011. IPD have created the poster which outlines the consideration the Sikh nation should make when going out to vote, this will hopefully get people thinking about...