One word that can aptly describe the year 2019 is "surprise", or maybe "shock". The year 2019 was a roller coaster ride for people as a lot of developments took place in India that left them stunned. From political ups and downs to the sudden economic crisis, the public witnessed a number of astonishing turn of events in 2019. As we come close to say goodbye to 2019, LatestLY has compiled a list of news that shocked people. Year Ender 2019: From Jofra Archer to Mayank Agarwal, List of Emerging Cricket Stars This Year.

Devendra Fadnavis And Ajit Pawar's Swearing-In

On November 22, Sharad Pawar announced that Uddhav Thackeray will lead the Maha Vikas Aghadi government, comprising the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the Shiv Sena and the Congress. The triparty alliance was formed following the breakup of the Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the chief ministerial post. Newspapers carried headlines such as "Uddhav Thackeray Set to Become Maharashtra Chief Minister", however, news channels had shocking news to tell. Hours after Pawar's announcement, BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis took oath as Maharashtra Chief Minister with NCP leader Ajit Pawar as his deputy.

Devendra Fadnavis, Ajit Pawar after swearing-in ceremony (Photo Credits: IANS)

The swearing-in ceremony that took place at 7:45 am, stunned everyone. The news was so shocking that initially, people refused to believe it. However, it was true. Ajit Pawar switched side and assured the support of NCP MLAs to Devendra Fadnavis who staked claim to form a government. The duo, however, resigned barely 80 hours after taking the oath. Ajit Pawar couldn't bring a required number of NCP MLAs with him and the Maha Vikas Aghadi remained intact. The drama ended with formation of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government led by Uddhav Thackeray.

Hyderabad Veterinarian's Rape And Murder And Encounter of Accused

Another news that stunned the nation was sexual assault and murder of a 27-year-old veterinarian in Hyderabad. The woman was gang-raped and killed on the outskirts of Hyderabad on the night of November 27. Her body was also set on fire by the accused. The chilling details left people in shock and grief. The gruesome incident triggered nationwide outrage with the victim's family demanding that the culprits be hanged till death. No one knew the accused had more brutal death written in their destinies.

The site, where the rape accused, were 'encountered' | (Photo Credits: ANI)

On November 29, police arrested four accused in connection with the rape. A week later, people woke up to the news of an encounter in which all four accused were killed. On December 6, police gunned down all four accused when they allegedly attempted to escape. The encounter took place at the same spot where the accused had dumped the victim's body.

Chandrayaan 2 Mission Being Rescheduled

Chandrayaan 2, India's second moon mission by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), was breathtaking too. On July 15, everything was set for the launch of heavy-lift rocket GSLV MkIII-M1, nicknamed 'Baahubali', that was supposed to put Chandryaan 2 spacecraft into space. However, the mission was called off minutes before the scheduled launch due to technical snag. The issue was later rectified by the ISRO and the spacecraft was successfully sent into space on July 22. Lok Sabha Election Results, Chandrayaan 2, Article 370 Top The Most-Searched News on Google Year in Search 2019 India List.

Vikram Lander had hard Landing on Moon’s surface (Photo Credits: Twitter, @NASA)

Another twist came when Chandrayaan 2 was to make a soft-landing on the moon in the early hours of September 7. All eyes were on Chandrayaan 2 with Prime Minister Narendra Modi camping at ISRO's Bengaluru centre to witness the historic moon landing. However, ISRO lost communication with the spacecraft when the lander 'Vikram' was 2.1 kilometres away from the Moon surface. The lander was moments away from making a soft-landing on the Moon surface when it stopped sending signals. The entire nation was sad but applauded ISRO scientists for their historic attempt.

PMC Bank Crisis

In September, thousands of depositors of the Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank were left in the lurch after Reserve Bank of India (RBI) restricted the bank's daily business and capped depositor withdrawals at Rs 1,000. The unprecedented development triggered panic among PMC Bank depositors who rushed to branches to withdraw their hard-earned money but returned empty hand.

PMC Bank customers outside a branch. (Photo Credits: IANS)

The restrictions were imposed after the central bank found certain irregularities in PMC Bank, including under-reporting of NPAs and had put restrictions on fresh lending. So far, there have been at least 10 deaths of depositors after the scandal erupted and led to more than half-a-dozen arrests so far by the Economic Offences Wing of Mumbai Police.

Bifurcation of Jammu And Kashmir After Article 370 Repeal

An environment was building up in August with murmurs that the central government was going to make a bid decision on Jammu and Kashmir. Security was enhanced in the militancy-hit state. There was a buzz that all was done to withdraw Jammu and Kashmir's special status granted Article 370 of the Constitution. No one was certain about it until August 5 when it actually happened.

President Ram Nath Kovind passed an order called 'The Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order 2019', superseding the Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order, 1954 and doing away with Article 35(A) that empowered the Jammu and Kashmir state's legislature to define "permanent residents" of the state and provide special rights and privileges to those permanent residents. It made all the provisions of the Constitution applicable to Jammu and Kashmir.

Moreover, the government passed another resolution declaring all the clauses of Article 370 except clause 1 to be inoperative in Jammu and Kashmir. All this was anticipated given the ruling BJP's consistent commitment to the abolition of Article 370. But the most unexpected development was the bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir and repeal of its statehood. The government bifurcated the state into two union territories - Jammu and Kashmir with a legislature and Ladakh without one.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 18, 2019 09:09 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).