Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who is visiting Karnataka, said he intended to shut all the madrasas (Muslim religious schools) in his state, as they were not needed in "New India".
Holi was celebrated with pomp and splendor across India on Friday, with people soaking in the festivities by smearing 'gulaal' on each other and exchanging greetings and sweets. Homes and streets wore a colourful look as the revellers splashed colours and feasted on traditional delicacies. Public transport did not ply in the morning in most major cities while metro services started functioning from noon. As Holi coincided with the second Friday prayers during the holy Islamic month of Ramzan, security -- including increased patrolling and picketing -- was beefed up in several states. In Delhi, more than 25,000 security personnel were deployed. Police closely monitored about 300 sensitive areas with CCTV cameras and drones.
Bypolls will be held on Wednesday in 31 assembly seats spread across 10 states and Kerala's Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency, from where Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is making her electoral debut. Though these bye-elections are not going to have any bearing on the governments, they are seen as a big test for the Congress and the INDIA bloc which failed to put up a united show in the recent Haryana assembly polls. Most of these seats fell vacant after the sitting MLAs contested the Lok Sabha elections and won while in some constituencies, the bypolls are being held due to death of the representatives. The Wayanad seat was vacated by Rahul Gandhi, who also won from the Rae Bareli parliamentary constituency which he kept. Voting will be held in seven seats in Rajasthan, six in West Bengal, five in Assam, four seats in Bihar, three in Karnataka, two seats in Madhya Pradesh, and one seat each in Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Kerala and Meghalaya. Votes will be counted on November 23.
The counting of votes for the bypolls to 46 assembly seats in 13 states and in the Lok Sabha segments of Nanded in Maharashtra and Wayanad in Kerala, a crucial electoral exercise since the parliamentary polls in April-May, will begin at 8 am on Saturday.
At least 2,441 people have been arrested in the state till Monday in the continuing operation against child marriage, launched on February 3.
The Assam government on Wednesday constituted a one-man inquiry committee headed by the Additional Chief Secretary P P Verma to probe into the incident of mob assault on Rumi Nath, ruling Congress MLA of Borkhola LAC, in South Assam, on the night of June 29 last inside a hotel at Karimganj town. The committee will submit its report within 15 days.
Water and electricity connections to former chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta's quarters inside the Assam assembly complex were snapped on Wednesday as he has not shifted to a new accommodation despite receiving several notices to do so, officials said.
'Most senior Congress leaders in Assam have a secret understanding with the BJP.' 'They are hobnobbing with the chief minister for their self-interest.'
A video of MLA Dilip Lande entering the luxury hotel in Guwahati, where the party rebels have been camping for the past few days, was shared by Shinde's office in Mumbai on Friday.
A day after the arrest of party Member of Legislative Assembly Pradeep Brahma by Assam police on charges of inciting mob violence in Kokrajhar district in the recent riot, the Bodoland People's Front on Friday clarified that it would continue with its alliance with the ruling Congress notwithstanding the arrest of the party MLA.
BJP leader Pema Khandu took oath as the chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh for the third consecutive term on Thursday.
In a stunning comeback, Hemant Soren's Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-led alliance on Saturday stormed to power in Jharkhand for a second consecutive term, winning 56 seats in the 81-member assembly, despite an all-out blitz by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance which managed only 24 seats.
Hours before the ceremony, Saini visited the Valmiki Bhawan and offered prayers at a gurdwara and the Mansa Devi temple in Panchkula.
'The greatness of India can be experienced by meeting Indians on the frontiers of India.' 'Every citizen on the border is a soldier'
Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh on Thursday said the state government is working towards peace talks and has held several meetings in Assam's Silchar.
This is the third time in two days that Singhal, the Assam Housing and Urban Affairs Minister, has met the dissidents.
Amid the political blame game over Bengal's potato ban, which led to shortages in Jharkhand and Odisha, Uttar Pradesh farmers are the unlikely winners.
At least 13 people, including the prime accused, have been arrested so far for allegedly lynching an All Assam Students' Union leader in Jorhat city, while the outfit on Tuesday vowed not to keep quiet until the culprits were given 'exemplary punishment.'
Gangmei in his appeal said the HAC "was a necessary and proper party and the proceedings before the high court were vitiated on account of not making the HAC a party".
Congress's Assam president Ripun Bora resigned on Sunday after the party's defeat in the state elections.
The Congress on Tuesday announced its second list of 43 candidates for the Lok Sabha polls, fielding Kamal Nath's son Nakul Nath once again from Madhya Pradesh's Chhindwara and Ashok Gehlot's son Vaibhav Gehlot from Rajasthan's Jalore.
Shinde said MLAs are keen on continuing the Sena founded by late Balasaheb Thackeray.
Three persons, including the president and general secretary of the Assam Miya Parishad, have been detained for their alleged association with terror outfits, police said.
Assam reeled under devastating floods caused by incessant rain, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi taking stock of the situation and Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma visiting several relief camps sheltering affected people on Saturday, officials said.
The Assam government on Tuesday began clearing nearly 1,900 hectares of forest and government land in Sonitpur district, affecting 12,000-odd people who were allegedly staying there illegally for decades, a senior official said.
Adding more mystery to the sensational death case, another video clip of a different person also went viral, claiming that the deceased police officer's vehicle was stationary and a speeding truck had hit it.
Singh, 31, and Rashid, 56, won the recent Lok Sabha elections from Khadoor Sahib in Punjab and Baramulla in Jammu and Kashmir, respectively, as Independents while being incarcerated.
Congress Member of Legislative Assembly Rupjyoti Kurmi was allegedly assaulted by Central Reserve Police Force personnel on Friday when he had gone to inquire about the kidnapping and subsequent release of two garden labourers in Assam's Jorhat district.
'There are 7,000 guns which are in the hands of the armed militia of the Kuki and Meitei communities.'
Earlier, the high court had permitted the NIA to seek framing of charges in the special court against Gogoi and three of his associates in connection with anti-CAA protests and suspected Maoist links.
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.
Patil said after he cast his vote in Mumbai on June 20 for the Maharashtra Legislative Council polls, he was called to Shinde's bungalow in neighbouring Thane.
Gogoi was the only one whose bail was rejected by the court and he was released after spending 567 days in jail once Special NIA Judge Pranjal Das cleared him along with the three others of all charges.
The Central Bureau of Investigation has taken over the investigation of four distinct cases from the Assam police, all connected with the death of the state police sub-inspector Junmoni Rabha last month in a suspected road accident, according to officials.
The Gauhati high court on Thursday granted bail to Pradeep Brahma, Bodo People's Front MLA of Kokrajhar (West) constituency in Bodoland Territorial Autonomous District Council area, who was arrested on August 22 on charges of inciting the mob during the recent flare-up in the region
'We are the real Shiv Sena and we will remain in the Sena.'
The Bharatiya Janata Party and its two Assam allies -- the Asom Gana Parishad and the United People's Party Liberal -- on Wednesday 'almost finalised' their seat-sharing pact for the Assam assembly polls and a formal announcement will be made in a day or two, sources said.
Soren, who is scheduled to join the Bharatiya Janata Party on August 30, also resigned as an MLA of the state assembly and a minister in the Jharkhand Cabinet.
Gujarat legislator Jignesh Mevani was granted bail by a court in Assam's Barpeta district on Friday in a case related to the alleged assault of a woman police officer.
The BJP won both the Rajya Sabha seats from Assam.
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