Amid rising coronavirus cases, the Election Commission on Friday flagged instances of star campaigners and political leaders not wearing masks while campaigning, and asked them to follow in all seriousness the guidelines on COVID-appropriate behaviour issued by it last year.
'They have no incentive to be part of either the NDA or INDIA at this stage, but they may hedge their bets towards the winning coalition in the post-poll setting.'
Dynastic politics may not have been witnessed in Assam's earlier elections, but it has become a dominant feature in the 2011 Assembly polls with 26 kins of political leaders throwing their hats in the poll ring.
Raut also said the "ongoing Mahabharat" in West Bengal is more fierce than the real Mahabharat.
'Most senior Congress leaders in Assam have a secret understanding with the BJP.' 'They are hobnobbing with the chief minister for their self-interest.'
Union Home Minister Amit Shah has convened an all-party meeting on June 24 in New Delhi to discuss the situation in Manipur which has witnessed sporadic violence since May 3.
'Jairam Mahto's new party dented the NDA because he pulled a lot of the OBC vote.'
The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it will consider whether the pleas challenging the validity of the electoral bond scheme for political funding of parties can be referred to a Constitution bench for an "authoritative pronouncement".
The BJP secured a runaway victory in the Municipal Board elections in Assam, pocketing 72 civic bodies out of 80. The Congress, the principal opposition party of the state, could not even win a single civic body.
As political parties and the All Assam Students Union protest against the India-Bangladesh land pact signed on September 6 in Dhaka, the governor of Assam has called for a special one-day session of the Assam assembly on October 17 to discus the issue, as demanded by the opposition parties.
The Assam government announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh and a job for the next of the kin of the deceased.
Independent MLAs might approach Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari very soon.
The Election Commission is deploying 'flying squads' in poll-bound Assam to monitor the expenditure of all political parties and to prevent the practice of bribing voters. These squads have the power to file FIRs and seize 'bribe' material including cash.These flying squads would not only monitor the campaign but also take direct action, apart from reporting the matter to accounting teams.
Here are some of the famous faces queued up to get ink mark on their fingers.
Frequently under attack from various elements while discharging their duty in the troubled state, Assam journalists have called upon the government and all the political parties to take steps to enact a special law for protection of media persons on duty. It was decided at a meeting of various journalists unions at the Guwahati Press Club.
'The State uses identity politics as part of divide and rule; the militant groups too use identity politics and civil society groups are also divided along ethnic groups.'
In its complaint against Shah, the Congress told the EC that the home minister claimed in a speech in Chhattisgarh's Rajnandgaon on October 16 that "...Bhupesh Baghel's government, for appeasement politics and vote bank politics, lynched Chhattisgarh's son Bhuneshwar Sahoo and got him killed..."
The senior JMM leader, who briefly held the chief minister's post after Hemant Soren's resignation, said only the saffron party seems serious over the issue of tribals, while others are indulging in vote bank politics.
A case was registered against Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in Hyderabad for his alleged remarks on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, the police said on Wednesday.
Congress's Assam president Ripun Bora resigned on Sunday after the party's defeat in the state elections.
Helicopters are anticipated to be more in demand compared to fixed-wing aircraft as choppers will help in providing accessibility to rural and remote areas in a shorter time.
Conrad Sangma on Friday evening submitted the letter of support to Meghalaya Governor Phagu Chauhan at Raj Bhawan signed by 32 MLAs of NPP, BJP, Hill State People's Democratic Party and two Independents.
The Congress leader compared Assam's BJP leadership with 'Dritarashtra' and 'Shakuni', characters in the epic Mahabharata, without naming whom she meant.
Gogoi and Sarma have been locked in a war of words on 'X' since Wednesday on the issue of the chief minister's wife's company allegedly being given a credit subsidy of Rs 10 crore.
The Congress appeared to have bounced back in the state's political landscape after suffering a humiliating defeat at the hands of the AAP in the 2022 Punjab assembly polls.
The govt asserted the Centre has no role in the preparation of the draft list.
Once people throw out the Congress, they do not let it come back. They put 'no entry' boards for the Congress, he said. It always thought power was its birthright but it has now been exposed, the prime minister said
Electoral bonds have been pitched as an alternative to cash donations made to political parties as part of efforts to bring transparency in political funding.
Leading the protest against 'India-Bangladesh Land Pact' that was signed on September 6 in Dhaka in presence of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina, the All Assam Students Union on Thursday brought out a protest rally in the city.
'He's (Modi) asked CMs of different states to work together as 'Team India'. He even made an appeal to Vote India!'
A bench of Justices V Ramasubramanian and Pankaj Mithal, which extended the protection from arrest to Gogoi till March 3, said it would hear the matter on Friday.
A video of the attack which went viral on social media showed that a person, apparently looked like the doctor, was being assaulted by a group of people, including women.
A forum of families of victims of insurgency in Assam has called upon the Election Commission not to entertain nominations filed by former militants to contest the ensuing assembly election in the state.
Amid the political blame game over Bengal's potato ban, which led to shortages in Jharkhand and Odisha, Uttar Pradesh farmers are the unlikely winners.
The Congress MP representing Barpeta Lok Sabha Constituency in Assam, AF Golam Osmani who is known for his running feud with the state party leadership, has dropped enough hints that he may abstain for casting his vote during the trust vote. It may prove disastrous for the UPA government if the MP plays truant on July 22.
The ULFA anti-talks faction triggered a blast at Assam Pradesh Congres Committee headquarter on March 14 in which three Congress leaders were injured. But Gogoi on Friday tried to make light of the ULFA threat saying that the threat had been there since a long time.
Upholding principles was a luxury when there were charismatic leaders capable of winning elections without stooping low to indulge in identity politics, observes Virendra Kapoor.
Moitra's electoral triumph not only secures her seat in Parliament, but also serves as a defiant retort to attempts to sideline her from the political arena.
The CPI(ML) took out a protest march in Patna on Sunday. After the march the party demanded action against ULFA.
The Bharatiya Janata Party government's move to provide refugee and citizenship status to Hindu Bangladeshi migrants, who came to India to escape persecution, has evoked sharp reactions in Assam where illegal migration is a burning problem.
