Even as questions continue to be raised within the Congress party over Rahul Gandhi's primary election experiment, the party has managed to avoid a major embarrassment by forcing controversial former MP Jagdish Tytler to withdraw his nomination

The prospect of sitting members of Legislative Assembly, barring Assam health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, appears to be bleak in the four prestigious assembly constituencies of Dispur, Gauhati East and West, and Jalukbari under Kamrup (metro) district going to the polls in the second phase.

Fourteen hardcore militants belonging to the proscribed United Liberation Front of Asom on Thursday gave up arms and surrendered, while an abducted junior engineer of Assam government was set free by militants.