The BJP parliamentary board made the decision in an hour-long meeting attended among others by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party chief Amit Shah.
They handed the apology letter to Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh at the Akal Takht Secretariat at the Golden Temple in Amritsar. The Akal Takht is the supreme temporal seat of the Sikhs.
Expected to end four years of administrative turmoil in Indian boxing, the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) was elected to office with businessman Ajay Singh winning the Presidential poll by an overwhelming margin.
The BJP, however, denied the former three-time state chief minister's assertion on Ranjan Gogoi who was nominated as a Rajya Sabha member by the government in March.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi will launch her nationwide election campaign in Assam along with party Vice president Rahul Gandhi and Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh by the end of the month.
Gogoi says BJP will suffer the same fate as Bihar in Assam if secular forces unite.
The latest extension will allow Bhalla to stay in the post during the general elections due early next year.
'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.'
Mudslinging and verbal attacks will definitely surge once the poll dates are announced, but as with any state, there are some crucial issues which will play a significant role in influencing voters in Assam too, says Devanik Saha.
'Not just Maharashtra, the Congress has not fielded even one Muslim candidate from Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Goa.'
'If the Citizenship Bill passes, then the very principle of Indian citizenship, which is called jus soli (right of birthplace) will convert to principle of jus sanguinis (right of blood) on the basis of religion.' 'Citizenship is being given on the basis of religion and it is against the Constitution.'
The states and union territories where the elections are being held in this phase are Assam (4), Bihar (5), Chhattisgarh (7), Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (2), Goa (2), Gujarat (25), Karnataka (14), Maharashtra (11), Madhya Pradesh (8), Uttar Pradesh (10) and West Bengal (4). The BJP has bagged the Surat seat unopposed.
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.
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 AGP had in January withdrew its support to the BJP government in Assam in protest against the Centre's decision to go ahead with the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill.
The Trinamool Congress registered a decisive victory in West Bengal on Sunday, contrary to results of most exit polls which predicted a tight race between the BJP and the TMC with an edge to the Mamata Banerjee-led party.
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.
A beam of sunlight fell directly on Ram Lalla's idol at the new temple in Ayodhya on noon Wednesday, marking the 'Surya Tilak' of the idol on the first Ram Navami since its consecration.
The constitution of a committee by the Centre to explore the feasibility of "one nation, one election" has opened up the possibility of Lok Sabha polls being advanced so that they could be held with a string of state assembly polls.
The Committee of Administrators instructed Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) to appoint a new electoral officer in place of DN Chaudhari and conduct the state elections by stipulated deadline of September 28.
The real brilliance of this RSS campaign, therefore, lies in building a dominant power base with, and for, a mostly non-RSS leadership. That is why the rise of the BJP in Assam is their stand-out victory, says Shekhar Gupta.
Lok Sabha constituencies that sprung a surprise in the 2024 polls.
'For the last two elections, the Congress manifesto has been thrown into the dustbin.' 'This manifesto will also be thrown into the dustbin.'
'Is it not a fact that all good leaders in the Congress have left the party?'
'There is a design of fundamentalists that the north east must become an Islamic country.'
The Election Commission of India has decided to seize both licensed and illegal weapons before the Lok Sabha election and will reject requests from political parties for change of poll dates because of festivals in Assam.
Mamata asserted that she has not spoken to anyone in the Congress on seat-sharing in the state for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Keeping an eye on the upcoming assembly elections, Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah on Wednesday promised the people of Assam that if his party comes to power it will put an end to unabated infiltration in the state from Bangladesh.
FIR was registered against Assam CM Gogoi for poll code violation for holding a press conference when the second and final phase of assembly polls in the states were on
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.
'If the BJP does not change its stand, we will hope that those who are in favour of protecting Ladakh come to power.'
'People feel concerned about the future, whether it is the land or the jobs.' 'The BJP came to power in Assam with promises of maati, bheti (home, hearth and identity), land, jobs and culture.' 'Are these going to taken care of? I think those are real concerns.' 'The Assam chief minister (Sarbananda Sonowal) was one of the leaders of the All Assam Students Union which fought for and is one of the signatories to the Assam Accord.' 'Today, his comrade-in-arms (Samujjal Bhattacharya, chief advisor, AASU) is leading the opposition in the streets.'
'The significance and timing of the PM's start of the campaign journey from Silchar is a clear message that the Barak valley is a priority in his scheme of things,' notes Subimal Bhattacharjee.
Experts recommend awaiting the findings of the 2021 Census, which is yet to be conducted, before introducing population control policies.
A direct contest between nominees of the BJP-led NDA and Congress-headed Grand Alliance is on the cards in 20 constituencies
Six decades and more later, we are now captives of our identities. Every poll is based on elaborate calculations of electability of candidates on the basis of their castes and other narrow definers. That, along with voter promiscuity, is what defines our political culture, which remains stubbornly resistant to any change, asserts Shreekant Sambrani.
Political parties in Assam, barring the Congress, and the state government employees have voiced unhappiness over the poll dates announced by the Election Commission for the ensuing Lok Sabha elections as those coincide with celebration of Rongali Bihu, the Spring Festival in the state.
Monday is the last date for filing nominations.
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.
Displaying a washing machine on its press conference dais, the Congress on Saturday taunted the Bharatiya Janata Party over the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filing a closure report in a 2017 corruption case against Nationalist Congress Party leader Praful Patel and said the ruling party's 'fully automatic washing machine' works on the principle -- 'join BJP, case closed'.
