The high-stakes battle in the virtual Presidential-style contest between BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi with a few other regional satraps also in the fray in the Lok Sabha elections begins on Monday in six constituencies in two states in the first of the nine-phased polls.
Self-proclaimed heir of Rani Rashmoni, lottery baron join businessmen in the list of MP-aspirants with assets worth over Rs 100 cr, reports Abhineet Kumar.
Barring Maharashtra, the poll percentage in rest of the states was in excess of 60 per cent while in Puducherry it was 80.47 per cent.
Speaking to reporters at Tezpur, Sarma also said that he would be happy if Gogoi files a case against him for making such a remark.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the state government would recommend a CBI inquiry if the SIT probe into singer Zubeen Garg's death in Singapore is found to be unsatisfactory.
It dropped sitting MP from Guna, Krishnapal Singh Yadav, to field Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia from the seat.
The presence of a rebel Congress candidate Mani Kumar Subba, a former MP, in the fray has complicated equations in Assam's Tezpur parliamentary constituency where Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi's choice Bhupen Kumar Borah is finding the going tough amid 'Modi wave' sweeping across the seat.
The Congress party on Monday expelled former Member of Parliament Mani Kumar Subba from the party for six years with immediate effect for contesting election as an independent candidate from Tezpur Lok Sabha seat after he was denied ticket by the party.
Will Modi 3.0 also see theaterisation of India's armed forces?
The high-stakes battle in the virtual Presidential-style contest between BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi with a few other regional satraps also in the fray in the Lok Sabha elections began on Monday in six constituencies in two states in the first of the nine-phased polls.
The Congress party's traditional bastion among the tea workers in Dibrugarh, Jorhat and Tezpur Lok Sabha constituencies holds the key to the party's fortunes in the first phase polling on April 7 in Assam. The BJP has been trying hard to make inroads here.
A defence ministry public relation officer from Tezpur on Sunday said the Chinese army has communicated to India that they have found a missing boy from Arunachal Pradesh.
A Total 64,41,635 voters are expected to exercise their franchise in the first phase of polling to be held in five parliamentary constituencies Assam namely, Tezpur, Kaliabor, Jorhat, Dibrugarh and Lakhimpur on April 7. The electorate comprise of 33, 21,567 male voters and 31, 20,067 female voters. Campaigning for the first phase has come to an end in the state on Saturday afternoon.
A man was arrested in connection with the incident and questioned.
'After a month of working on the new machine, I realised that the black glass on the VVPAT lets the programmer manipulate not just the electronic system, but the paper vote too.' 'And it will not be detected even during the mock poll or the actual voting because of the black glass.'
The 89-year-old leader was expelled by the CPI-M after he refused to step down from his position as Speaker holding that the post is above any party politics.
The Bharatiya Janata Party also urged Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee to take cognisance of the emerging evidence concerning Subba and his Nepal citizenship and refer the issue to Ethics or Privileges Committee of the House.
The Assam United Democratic Front, a conglomeration of minority political groups, has decided to field a young Adivasi woman, who had hit the headlines in 2007 after being brutally assaulted in Guwahati, as one of its candidates for the forthcoming Lok Sabha election in Assam.The AUDF, led by perfume tycoon Badaruddin Ajmal, will field Lakshmi Orang from the prestigious Tezpur constituency in north Assam.
Re-polling would be held on Thursday in six polling booths of three of the five Lok Sabha constituencies which went to polls on April 7.
"Prima facie there are serious allegations and we have to take serious view," the bench said, adding that the CBI was not proceeding in right direction.
Madhav made the statement when asked why Sarma cannot contest despite being responsible for 25 seats.
Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com gives the lowdown on the constituencies going to polls in the first phase on April 11.
Even as his 79-year-old father is counting his days in active politics after a very long innings, Gaurav Gogoi, son of Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi is now all set to take a plunge in electoral politics. Gaurav has been nominated by the Congress party to contest Lok Sabha election from Kaliabor constituency in Assam.
Throwing security concerns to wind Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday plunged himself amid the masses in Nagaon district of Assam during a road show after seeking blessings of Goddess Kamakhya at the historic Kamakhya Temple in Guwahati earlier in the day.
The bill was passed by Rajya Sabha yesterday. The Act comes into effect with its publication in the official gazette on Thursday.
The Election Commission has expressed "displeasure" over 'hate speech' made by an Assam Cabinet minister and inflammatory statement made by a sitting MP while campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections.
Thirty-five per cent of the 64,41,634 voters exercised their franchise till noon on Monday in five Lok Sabha constituencies of Assam where four persons clashed with CRPF personnel demanding that they be allowed to cast their vote first in Kaliabor constituency.
Criticising BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi for advocating the Gujarat model of development, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi dismissed it, saying the same formula could not be applied to all states in the country.
The agitators belonging to 70 organisations, led by KMSS and Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad, gathered at the secretariat to protest against the passing of the bill in the Lower House of Parliament.
BJP is set to win majority of 32 municipality boards and 42 town committees in Assam
There will be 2,364 counting halls as compared to 1,002 halls in 2016 in 822 assemble constituencies, a more than 200 percent increase, in view of the COVID guidelines, according to the Election Commission which had drawn flak from the courts over the conduct of polls during the pandemic.
While Himanta Biswa Sarma scotched rumours that he would be the king this time, political sources in Guwahati maintained that he, and not Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, had a bigger say in choosing candidates, reports Radhika Ramaseshan.
'The BJP's tie-ups with the Bodoland People's Front and the Asom Gana Parishad have incurred the wrath of local party leaders and workers ahead of next month's assembly elections.'
A day after total shutdown in Assam to protest against the CAB, fresh protests erupted in the state and neighbouring Tripura and other parts of the nation.
'You had earlier sent a Prime Minister from Assam (referring to Manmohan Singh) whom people do not even remember now'
While main political parties especially Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party are engaging in high-voltage campaign in Assam, young voters, especially the first timers, sound at a loss about which party or the candidate to choose, as they are hardly convinced about the poll promises and have not been swayed by histrionics of poll candidates.
From children to the elderly, common people to VIPs, all came out in balconies, lawns and terrace of their homes as the clock struck five, following an appeal by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to show gratitude to doctors, paramedics, police and other personnel associated with essential services when the country was observing an unprecedented 'Janta Curfew' on Sunday to check the spread of the virus.
Amidst a raging controversy over remarks on smoking by a Bharatiya Janata Party MP who is a 'beedi' baron, another Member of Parliament from the party Ram Prasad Sarmah on Friday waded into the row, claiming there is no clear proof yet linking cigarette puffing and cancer while wondering whether tobacco contains "herbal medicine"
The Lok Sabha election will be held in 7 phases, beginning on April 11, 2019 and ending on May 19, 2019.
Very few today realise that without Brigadier John Dalvi's courage, we would never have known what really happened during those tragic days of October/November 1962, reveals Claude Arpi.
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