The winners of each group will join hosts Assam, last season's champions West Bengal and runners-up Kerala in the 12-team Final Round that will be hosted in Dhakuakhana and Dhemaji.
Eight persons have been killed in floods and landslides in Assam as incessant rainfall caused massive inundation in 17 districts, affecting over 78,000 people, officials said on Saturday.
Assam Congress spokesperson Reetam Singh was arrested on Saturday for a social media post questioning the status of cases registered against three senior BJP leaders, including a former state chief and two serving MLAs. The arrest came after a complaint by the wife of BJP MLA Manab Deka, who was mentioned in Singh's post. Singh's arrest was met with criticism from the Congress, with Deputy Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi alleging that Singh was "brutally dragged away" by police.
Five major rivers, including the Brahmaputra at two places, were flowing over the danger level, it said.
Assam has been hit by floods with 25 villages in flood-prone Dhemaji district inundated on Wednesday, official sources said.
ULFA militants had called for a boycott of the Independence Day celebrations in the state.
A caller identifying himself as ULFA commander-in-chief Paresh Barua told a local daily over telephone on Thursday night that the outfit was not behind the blast but "we cannot rule out the involvement of other groups sympathetic to our cause."
Assam's flood situation remained critical on Tuesday with over 6.71 lakh people affected in 20 districts in the second wave of flooding this year, as the Indian Air Force (IAF) rescued 13 stranded fishermen from the severely-hit Dibrugarh district, an official said.
The flood situation in Assam remained grim on Thursday even though flood waters started have receding in many parts of the state, officials said.
Dhubri is the worst-hit district, followed by Cachar and Darrang.
Altogether 34,189 people, comprising 14, 675 women and 3,787 children, are reeling under the impact of the deluge.
The Gauhati high court on Thursday acquitted all six accused in the 2004 Dhemaji bomb blast case in which 18 people, including 13 school children, were killed on Independence Day.
Two persons died in Assam's Dhemaji district on Monday after alleged firing along the inter-state border.
Two persons died and three others went missing after alleged firing along the Arunachal Pradesh border in Assam's Dhemaji district on Monday, the police said.
The India Meteorological Department has issued a 'Red Alert' and predicted 'very heavy' to 'extremely heavy' rainfall across several districts of Assam over the next five days.
The India Meteorological Department has issued a 'Red Alert' and predicted 'very heavy' to 'extremely heavy' rainfall across several districts of Assam till Thursday.
The flood situation in Assam deteriorated drastically on Thursday with one person losing his life and nearly five lakh people reeling under the deluge across 12 districts, an official bulletin said.
Major rivers of the state, including the Brahmaputra, were flowing above the danger level at different places.
The flood situation in Assam deteriorated on Thursday with one more person losing his life and nearly 7.18 lakh people in 27 districts remaining affected by the deluge, an official bulletin said.
With two more deaths, the fatalities due to flood this year has gone up to 18.
According to the daily flood report of the Assam State Disaster Management Authority, one person was killed at Sissibargaon in Dhemaji district on Saturday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Assam and West Bengal to lay the foundation stones of several projects.
In the last 24 hours, eight people have died after drowning in flood waters -- two each in Barpeta and Karimganj districts, one each in Darrang, Hailakandi, Nalbari and Sonitpur districts and eight people are still missing.
The total number of people killed in flooding and landslides in the state this year has gone up to 76. While 50 people were killed in inundation, 26 died due to landslides.
The deluge, which had affected 2.5 lakh people in 11 districts on Wednesday, spread to six more districts on Thursday affecting 4.23 lakh people, it said.
"Those who ruled for decades since Independence believed Dispur was too distant from Delhi. 'Dilli ab door nahi aapke darwaaze par hai' (Delhi is not far now, it stands at your doorstep," he told a massive gathering.
The Assam Congress on Monday suspended its MLA Sherman Ali Ahmed with immediate effect for "repeatedly violating" the party's discipline, a senior leader said.
With the fresh fatalities, the total number of people losing their lives in this year's flood and landslides across the state has gone up to 42.
A total of 246 militants of United Gorkha People's Organisation and Tiwa Liberation Army formally surrendered before Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in Guwahati on Thursday.
Currently, the Brahmaputra at Guwahati, Nimatighat in Jorhat, Tezpur in Sonitpur, Goalpara and Dhubri towns, while the Barak at AP Ghat in Cachar and Badarpurghat in Karimganj are flowing above the danger mark.
The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958, was completely withdrawn in Meghalaya in 2018, Tripura in 2015 and Mizoram in the 1980s.
The flood situation in Assam took a serious turn on Thursday with over 100 villages inundated and nearly 50,000 affected people so far.
Flash floods in upper Assam's Dhemaji and Lakhimpur districts have affected over 2.5 lakh people with the swollen rivers inundating more than 100 villages following incessant rains during the last two days.
The flood situation in Assam turned worse on Friday with most of the people in Dhemaji district affected by flood, while 75 per cent of Kaziranga National Park submerged by the deluge that has also affected Jorhat, Kamrup, Tinsukia, Sonitpur and Lakhimpur districts.
The flood situation in Assam deteriorated further on Monday as more than 1,000 villages were affected after an embankment of river Brahmaputra in worst affected Dhemaji district was breached in the early hours.
Nandita Saikia, a BA student at Moridhal College in Dhemaji district, was attacked by Rintu Sharma while she was returning home from her college on Saturday, police said.
The 27 critically injured were undergoing treatment at the Dhemaji civil hospital, while the rest with minor injuries admitted to the hospital and the Silapathar public health centre, were released on Saturday, they said.
The flash floods triggered by swirling waters of Gai-Nadi and Jiadhal rivers have left a trail of devastation in Dhemaji district of eastern Assam.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit the poll-bound states of Assam and West Bengal on Monday to launch and lay the foundation stones of several projects.
The ASDMA said more than 4.87 lakh people are currently suffering in Lakhimpur, Jorhat, Golaghat, Cachar, Dhemaji, Biswanath, Karimganj, Sonitpur, Majuli, Barpeta, Nagaon, Nalbari, Sivasagar, Morigaon and Chirang districts.
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