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.
Two persons including a schoolteacher, riding a motorcycle, were shot dead by the army in Meghalaya's North Garo Hills district, an incident which the Army said took place because it mistook them as armed militants.
Over 100 personnel of the National Disaster Response Force and the State Disaster Response Force, along with police teams, are waiting for the water level to subside to begin rescue operations, the official said.
Trinamool Congress sources on Wednesday claimed the Congress delayed the talks and made unreasonable demands on seat-sharing without acknowledging the ground reality.
Senior Congress leader D D Lapang was on Monday sworn in as Meghalaya chief minister by Governor S S Sidhu, who rejected the demand of the newly-formed Nationalist Congress Party-led Meghalaya Progressive Alliance saying the decision was aimed at preventing horse-trading. Stung by the Governor's decision, the MPA led by former Lok Sabha Speaker Purno A Sangma decided to move the Supreme Court on Tuesday against installation of the Congress government.
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.
Heavy firing was reported along the Indo-Bangla border in Meghalaya between border guards of the two countries following an intrusion attempt from the Bangladeshi side.
'Earlier, a lot of fear was in the minds of people that the BJP is anti-Christian and anti-minority, but over the years people have learnt to accept that the BJP is just another national party.'
The officials said the body was spotted at a depth of more than 200 feet inside the "rat-hole" mine and naval divers brought it to its mouth.
'...despite not being ideologically aligned with a vast section of the people of the north east.' 'But the results in Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya show that no party, including the BJP, can say that it has really done well.'
A woman was shot dead while she was resisting an alleged attempt of molestation and rape by suspected Garo National Liberation Army militants at Raja Rongat in South Garo Hills district of Meghalaya, police said on Wednesday.
The renowned education reformist said the end of the hunger strike is the beginning of the new phase of the ongoing agitation.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be on a two-day visit to the North East from Tuesday, during which he will attend the oath-taking ceremonies of new governments in three states of the region.
Voting for the second phase of Lok Sabha polls will be held on Friday for 88 seats in 13 states with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi seeking a second-straight term from Wayanad in Kerala.
The Centre on Wednesday decided to impose President's Rule in Meghalaya, where the Nationalist Congress Party-led government survived a controversial confidence vote in the state assembly on Tuesday by a whisker. A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The Centre had received a report from Governor R S Moosahary about breakdown of the Constitutional machinery in the state and recommended President's rule.
Polling is scheduled in all 20 seats of Kerala, 14 of the 28 seats in Karnataka, 13 seats in Rajasthan, eight seats each in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, six seats in Madhya Pradesh, five seats each in Assam and Bihar, three seats each in Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, and one seat each in Manipur, Tripura and Jammu and Kashmir.
At least 15 miners were trapped in the 370 foot-deep illegal coal mine in Lumthari village of East Jaintia Hills district since December 13 and all efforts to pump the water out of flooded mine have been in vain.
The Meghalaya home department has asked its Director General of Police to conduct an internal probe to find out why policemen are deserting the department and joining militant groups.
Byrnihat in Meghalaya topped the list of most polluted cities in India in 2023, closely followed by Begusarai in Bihar and Greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh, according to a report released on Wednesday.
Julius Dorphang, who was wanted in connection with a sex-racket case involving a 14-year old girl, was on Saturday arrested from his hideout in neighbouring Assam.
People lined up at polling booths well before voting began at 7 am on Monday. Sources said that there was a voter turnout of 75 per cent. The fate of 331 candidates from different political parties, including six former chief ministers of the state -- D D Lapang, Purno A Sangma, Salseng C Marak, E K Mawlong, F A Khonglam and J D Rymbai were sealed in ballot boxes.
A star-studded week of poll campaign awaits Meghalaya with heavyweights Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi set to address election rallies while film star Shatrughan Sinha and Jaya Prada are slated to campaign for the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Samajwadi Party respectively. The Prime Minister will address an election rally in Shillong on February 27, while All India Congress Committee president Sonia Gandhi will campaign at Jowai.
Rat-hole mining may be illegal but the talent and experience of rat-hole miners were used in the rescue operation to save the 41 workers trapped in the Silkyara tunnel, a National Disaster Management Authority member said on Tuesday.
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The ruling Left Front on Friday stormed back to power for the fourth consecutive term in Tripura while Meghalaya appeared to be heading for a hung verdict with the ruling Congress emerging as the single largest party. The election to the 60-member Meghalaya assembly threw up a hung House with the ruling Congress emerging as the single largest party bagging 25 out of 59 seats for which polling was held on March three.
Rigorous pumping of water from the nearby abandoned mines is expected to begin on Friday.
Ashutosh Sharma broke Yuvraj Singh's record by scoring the fastest T20 half-century off 11 balls in Railways' 127-run victory against Arunachal Pradesh.
Authorities in Garo Hills area of Meghalaya have provided the 18-year-old victim of gangrape an interim cash compensation of Rs 25,000. The compensation was handed over to the victim by East Garo Hills District Deputy Commissioner Vijay Kumar Montri in the hospital. The state government is bearing the entire cost of medical treatment of the girl.
Nearly 80% of the inmates are undertrials; UP district jails have twice the numbers they were built for.
While the banned Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council has suffered a series of blows in the past few days, allegations of a nexus between the militants and NGOs have created a flutter among the society.
The Meghalaya State Pollution Control Board on Tuesday held a public hearing on uranium mining despite opposition and a bandh call guven by Khasi Students Union and its allies.
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) general secretary and former Lok Sabha Speaker Purno A Sangma has fielded both his sons in the March 3 Meghalaya Assembly elections from two constituencies in his strong bastion in Garo Hills areas of the hill state.
Surprisingly, the BJP's nearest rival in ad spend was not the Congress, but the Bharat Rashtra Samithi.
Privatise the railway stations and modernise them, urged Modi.
The Meghalaya government has decided to seek a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the firing incident at Langpih, when two people from the state were killed during clashes with the Assam police last Friday.The police resorted to firing following clashes between Khasi villagers and Nepali settlers in a local market. Meanwhile, the Meghalaya police is setting up a border outpost at Langpih, which is a disputed area between Meghalaya and Assam.
The decision to change the leadership in faction-ridden ruling Congress in Meghalaya came just five days ahead of the budget session of the assembly.
Its intensity surpassed that of other quakes in recent times and it was felt in the north Bengal region too.
Operations to rescue 15 trapped miners from a private coal pit in South Garo Hills district of Meghalaya were on Friday officially called off after 14 hours of intense search failed to yield results and as the mission posed a threat to the rescuers.
Rymbai was directed to step down and hand over the mantle to his predecessor D D Lapang.
