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.
The situation is now under control in the area, which is on the border between the Kolasib district of Mizoram and Cachar district of Assam.
Surprisingly, the BJP's nearest rival in ad spend was not the Congress, but the Bharat Rashtra Samithi.
The CPI-M leader was the chief minister of the state from 2000 to 2011.
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.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar's wife Sunetra Pawar on Thursday filed papers as an NCP candidate for Rajya Sabha elections.
With the CAA rules being issued, the Modi government will now start granting Indian nationality to persecuted non-Muslim migrants -- Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians -- from the three countries.
From the word go, Bihar growled its needs out when an MP from the state said aloud: "Give something for Bihar also, Madam." Every time the Budget mentioned cities and towns in Andhra Pradesh, "Kursi Bachao" was the call from Congress MPs.
The prime minister was apparently referring to Swedish environmentalist Greta Thunberg's controversial 'toolkit', which she tweeted and then deleted, outlining ways in which people can participate in the farmers protest.
'We are pleased to announce the candidature of @sagarikaghose, @SushmitaDevAITC, @MdNadimulHaque6 and Mamata Bala Thakur for the forthcoming Rajya Sabha elections,' the party said in a tweet.
A maximum of 92,000 personnel of CAPFs are likely to be deployed in politically volatile West Bengal, where elections will be held in seven phases, followed by 63,500 personnel in militancy-hit Jammu and Kashmir, where polling will be held in five phases.
Modi, in his rally just days ahead of the last phase of the Lok Sabha election, also said that "well-wishers of Naveen babu are worried over his deteriorating health condition."
This is the fourth incident since the commencement of the conflict in Manipur wherein soldiers while on leave, on duty or their relatives have been targeted for nefarious interests by inimical elements.
Purohit's resignation came a day after he met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi.
Kejriwal also said such threats by Sarma are unbecoming of a chief minister. Sarma had on Friday threatened to file a defamation case against Kejriwal if the AAP leader alleged corruption cases against him outside the assembly.
The state police on Thursday appealed to the people not to believe in rumours as some elements are trying to create confusion.
Addressing a big rally in Kolkata to launch the Bharatiya Janata Party's Lok Sabha campaign, Shah launched a blistering attack on Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on the issues of appeasement, infiltration, corruption and political violence, alleging she has "destroyed" the state.
He was on Friday initially barred from campaigning related activities till April 4 for allegedly making threatening remarks against Bodoland People's Front chief Hagrama Mohilary.
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.
While the BPF and the UPPL are considered rivals in the Bodo-dominated areas, there was no pre-poll alliance among other parties as well.
Addressing a press conference, BJP Assam president Ranjeet Kumar Dass said that the government will bring in a legislation to safeguard the Indian citizens if the Foreigners Tribunals deliver adverse judgements against the appeals.
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.
The IMD has warned of heatwave to severe heatwave conditions in parts of West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh during the next five days.
In the last five years, 480 candidates with declared cases related to hate speech have contested elections to state assemblies, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, the ADR said.
Amritpal Singh, the chief of the 'Waris Punjab De' outfit, who is lodged in Assam's Dibrugarh jail under the National Security Act, has thrown his hat into the ring as an Independent.
The Uttarakhand assembly on Wednesday passed the Uniform Civil Code Bill, which may serve as a template for other Bharatiya Janata Party-run states to enact similar legislation.
Sarma, who heads the Bharatiya Janata Party-led North East Development Alliance (NEDA), met Sangma at a hotel in Guwahati on Tuesday night, they said.
The rules for the CAA are likely to be issued before the MCC comes into effect, sources privy to the development said.
The poll panel has also ordered the sealing of the inter-state border with Assam till March 2, he said.
Modi can abandon the path of Hindutva only at risk to his position within his own fraternity. But if he pursues a hard line, he faces the risk of being hauled up by his coalition-partners. For the first time in a decade, Modi is not in enviable situation, observes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
Assembly elections in Assam used to be a quiet affair and people outside the state would take little interest in the outcome. This time, even in faraway Delhi, people are keeping tabs on political developments in Assam.
Assam minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said this while comparing the two leaders' capability in politics.
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.
Another Telengana is brewing in Assam with the state's largest tribal group, Bodos reviving their old demand for statehood and it is official now, thanks to the raging Telengana movement in Andhra Pradesh.
The Congress 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra', led by Rahul Gandhi, is scheduled to enter West Bengal from Assam on Thursday, amid political ripples within the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) in the state.
Doctors have advised the 85-year-old politician to stay in home isolation.
Security measures have been tightened as the anti-talks faction of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Assam has called for Assam bandh on April 20 in protest against the visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Guwahati to kick-start the platinum jubilee celebrations of Assam assembly.
The Congress leader said he had warned the people of Assam before the Assembly elections in 2016 that hard earned peace would be hampered if the BJP came to power.
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.
