Sarma, whose stock is high in Delhi had earlier captured eyeballs as the BJP's first star campaigner from the region in far away Gujarat and Delhi.
Laws, he said, are meant to facilitate justice for the common people and not trouble them. They are meant to prescribe certain mechanisms to ensure that the life of common people is as normal as possible.
The Tamil Nadu assembly on Wednesday adopted a resolution urging the Centre to repeal the Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 to protect and ensure unity and communal harmony and uphold the secular principles enshrined in the Constitution.
Apart from Sangma, 11 other cabinet ministers were also sworn in by the governor.
The Centre has denied political clearance to Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann for his visit to Paris to support the Indian Hockey team at the Olympic Games, an official source said on Saturday.
The former Meghalaya chief minister, who recently switched over to the TMC along with 11 other Congress MLAs, told PTI in an interview that the political dynamics in the entire region is going to change with him quitting the grand old party.
The Commission, under Justice (retd) Ritu Raj Awasthi, would recommend an amendment to the Constitution to add the "new chapter or part" on simultaneous elections, the sources said.
Neither the ruling DMK nor the fractured AIADMK Opposition anticipated that an assembly by-election would put them both to test, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Women politicians bring to politics and policy a sensitivity that most of their male counterparts, at least until a generation back, lacked.
If 74.9 per cent of NRI voters are from Kerala, Andhra Pradesh at 6.4 per cent, Maharashtra at 4.7 per cent, Tamil Nadu and Telangana at 2.9 per cent each follow way behind.
Adequate security and Covid safety measures have been put in place for the electoral exercise.
Meghalaya Chief Minister D D Lapang resigned on Wednesday just before the trust vote in the assembly, saying his government was unable to muster a majority. "Congress could not get the requisite support, so the Congress Legislature Party decided to resign," Lapang told reporters shortly after a CLP meeting on Wednesday morning. He said he was going to Governor S S Siddhu to submit his resignation.
'We are not secessionists, we want to coexist with our countrymen but not on the terms that will strip us off our dignity and a right to peaceful existence.'
Meghalaya, which witnessed a controversial confidence vote in the Assembly, was today brought under the Central rule and the state assembly put under suspended animation.
The counting of votes will take place on November 2.
The poll panel said the seizures made since the polls were announced on October 9 are over seven times (Rs 239.15 crore) the seizures made in the previous assembly elections in these states in 2018.
Defying a bandh called by militants in seven districts, 51 per cent of the over 15 lakh electorate cast their votes in the first five hours of polling to the 60-member Meghalaya assembly on Saturday. "Till 1:pm around 51 per cent of votes were cast out of the 15 lakh plus voters in the state," Chief Election Officer P Naik said.
The term of the Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura legislative assemblies is ending on March 6, March 13 and March 14 respectively.
Voting was underway on Friday in 102 Lok Sabha seats spread across 21 states and Union territories in the first of the seven phases of the world's largest electoral exercise, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging voters to exercise their franchise in record numbers.
Polling will be held between 7 am and 4 pm, except in some polling stations of the interior districts of Nagaland, where the process is scheduled to conclude at 3 pm. The two states have a 60-member House each, but voting will be held for 59 constituencies in both.
In all there are 331 candidates from different political parties, including 73 Independents contesting election to 59 assembly constituencies. Election to constituency No 37 (Baghmara) has been postponed due to death of a candidate.
"The voting percentage is likely to go upwards when reports from all polling stations are obtained as polling is scheduled till 6 pm in many constituencies. Final figures will be known on Saturday after the scrutiny of form 17A," the EC said.
The Election Commission on Thursday removed Meghalaya police chief Kulbir Krishan following complaints against him in order to ensure free and fair state assembly polls on February 23.
Close to half of the total 543 Lok Sabha seats are bracing for multi-cornered fight this time, making the contest way more interesting and intense than it was in the 2019 elections.
Meghalaya Chief Minister J D Rymbai resigned on Saturday.
Independence Day was celebrated across states and Union territories on Thursday, as several chief ministers announced job schemes while some others vowed their support for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of a Viksit Bharat by 2047.
Conrad said that he has support from 34 MLAs -- 19 of the NPP, six of the the United Democratic Party, four of the People's Democratic Front, two each of the Hill State People's Democratic Party and the BJP and an Independent.
Surprisingly, the BJP's nearest rival in ad spend was not the Congress, but the Bharat Rashtra Samithi.
The Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies are well on the way to power in two north-eastern states, and is almost certain to be part of the ruling dispensation in the third.
The support for P A Sangma, who is contesting the presidential election, is increasing day by day, claimed his son and Leader of Opposition in the Meghalaya Assembly Conrad K Sangma on Saturday. Conrad, an influential leader of the Nationalist Congress Party in Meghalaya, told reporters at an official meeting of the NCP, "P A Sangma's vote share is increasing and now it is at 30-32 per cent of the total votes."
The proportion of postal votes polled in the general elections has gradually risen since 2009.
The All India Congress Committee, have finally zeroed in on 60 candidates for the forthcoming election to 60-member Meghalaya Assembly from a pool of too many ticket aspirants. Meghalaya Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma's wife Dikanchi D Shira and his brother Zenith Sangma are among those who have made to the list of final 60 party candidates for the election in the northeastern hill state.
While 67 per cent of India's population is 39 years old or younger, states are governed by chief ministers who are 70 or older.
Sarma added that the oath-taking ceremony would take place on March 6.
Congress, which emerged as the single largest party with 25 seats in the 60-member assembly, has already elected Chief Minister D D Lapang as its Legislature Party leader and is expected to meet Governor S S Sidhu shortly to stake claim. The NCP, which won 14 seats, has combined with the 11-member United Democratic Party, a former ally of Congress, and the lone BJP member to form the Meghalaya Progressive Alliance to support its claim.
The BJP, which rules the Centre, is in power in Uttarakhand, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Goa, Assam, Tripura, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, and is all set to get Madhya Pradesh back and snatch Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh from the Congress after today's vote count.
Campaigning ended on Wednesday evening for 102 Lok Sabha seats across 21 states and Union territories which will go to polls in the first phase on April 19 with top leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance and the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) making a last-gasp effort to woo voters.
Former Lok Sabha Speaker Purno A Sangma who is now out of the Nationalist Congress Party has formed Nationalist People's Party, a new political party in Meghalaya to contest the next round of Assembly elections in the northeastern hill State in early 2013.
The Election Commission Wednesday decided to defer proposed by-polls to three Lok Sabha and eight assembly seats in view of the prevailing coronavirus situation in the country.
The Left Front retained its bastion Tripura while the Naga People's Front in Nagaland and Congress in Meghalaya are set to return to power in the northeast states where counting of votes was taken up on Thursday.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances