The land-locked region sends 25 members to the lower house of parliament, and the electorates exercised their franchises through electronic voting machines in all three phases, with more than 10 per cent more voter turnout than the national average.
It was raining very heavily on the night of 27 April, and a storm had lashed along to make matters worse. It was also going to be the first light soon, and the sentries at that moment had just let their guards down.
A total of 1,351 nominees will seek electoral mandates in this phase, where the counting of votes will take place on 4 June (after four more phases of polling scheduled for 13, 20, 25 May and 1 June) and the results of the general elections in 2024 are expected the same day.
The problem is not confined to the decades-old matters related to the indigenous communities living in different parts of the region.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is banking heavily on clinching victory in nearly all 25 seats, underscoring its concerted bid to solidify its hold in the region and diminish the long-standing dominance of the Indian National Congress.
The Assam police seized many contraband drugs from a truck in the Dokmoka area in Assam's Karbi.
They would regularly round up tipplers and make them confess in the local newspapers to express regrets for their actions. This move had also given rise to many anecdotes, the most famous one being when the cadres would make drunkards do four laps of the local ponds in winter. Then it so happened that a particular gentleman was asked to come ashore after four laps, but he had replied “brothers let me gift you with one more lap of backstroke.” Then the PLA resorted to shooting the hardcore tipplers on their legs
Apart from the cow protection law, population control, shutting down of madrasas, financial aid to temples, namghars etc. leaving out mosques, eviction drive, demolition of madrasas -- the long list has made the Sarma's intentions clear, he wants Assam to be a highly polarised state.
Mohendro recalls his long trek from Demagiri (now in South Mizoram) to Aizawl (the capital of Mizoram) to Anipur in Assam and finally back to Agartala (Tripura) that spanned several years with stays at several refugee camps.
The MLSS literally translates into House of Skill Empowernment for the Meetei Women. In existence since 1983, the group’s birth coincided with the outbreak of the HIV/AIDS virus and the drugs scourge both of which exploded like an epidemic in Manipur at almost the same time.
