Category: NORTH EAST

• ASSAM
• MANIPUR
• MEGHALAYA
• MIZORAM
• NAGALAND
• ARUNACHAL PRADESH

The Assam Police have seized drugs valued at Rs 105 crore along the inter-state border with Mizoram in Cachar district, an official said on Sunday, adding three persons were also arrested in this connection.

The Railway Protection Force (RPF) of the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) while conducting routine checking at New Jalpaiguri railway station of West Bengal recovered 10 live endangered species of turtles that were being transported illegally, officials said on Saturday.

EVMs with VVPAT machines used for the recently conducted Lok Sabha polls in Assam were kept in about 50 strongrooms across the state under strict security measures, said state Chief Election Officer Anurag Goel on Wednesday.

Several Chief Ministers and leaders from the northeastern states condemned Congress leader Sam Pitroda's remark on the 'colour of citizens' and demanded his apology.

Movement of passengers and transport of goods, including essentials, has been affected in southern Assam, Tripura, Mizoram and Manipur for the past two weeks, due to the restricted movement of trains in the region, officials said on Tuesday.

With the completion of polling in four Lok Sabha seats in Assam on Tuesday, elections in all the 25 parliamentary constituencies in the eight northeastern have been completed now.

Surface links to Assam's Barak Valley and Dima Hasao district and neighbouring states of Tripura, Mizoram, and Manipur remained snapped on Thursday as incessant rains triggered landslides and washed off roads as well as railway tracks in multiple locations of Assam, authorities said.

In view of the restricted and regulated movement of trains, including goods trains between Tripura and the rest of the country, the state government has imposed restrictions on the sale of petrol and diesel from Wednesday.

Quoting the GST data released by the Union Finance Ministry on Wednesday, a Mizoram government official said on Thursday that the state collected Rs 108 crore in GST in April against Rs 71 crore collected in the same month of 2023.

At least one person was killed and many others injured, all candidates of a recruitment exam of a Tripura bank, when their bus carrying the job aspirants overturned in Assam's Dima Hasao district, officials said on Thursday.

Nine persons were arrested by the police in connection with the rape of minor girls in the South West Garo Hills district of Meghalaya, officials said on Sunday.

Police said that several armed cadres of village volunteers opened indiscriminate fire on Koutruk village in the periphery of Imphal Valley from the adjoining hills in Kangpokpi district, and the armed village volunteers of rival ethnic groups retaliated.

Two Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel, including a Sub Inspector, were killed and two others have been injured after armed groups attacked a camp of security forces in Manipur’s Bishnupur district early on Saturday, police said.

Despite the indefinite shutdown call given by the Naga bodies from Thursday evening, the Election Commission made all efforts to conduct polling in the six districts covering 20 of the state's 60 Assembly segments.

Tripura witnessed around 79.83 per cent voter turnout registered till 5 p.m. in the Tripura West Lok Sabha seat on Friday in the first of the seven-phased general polls, as per the data provided by the Election Commission of India (ECI).

Amidst stray incidents of violence, including vandalisation of polling booths, firing, and clashes, around 68 per cent of 15.44 lakh voters cast their votes in two Lok Sabha seats (one partially) in ethnic violence-hit Manipur on Friday, officials said.

Assam has recorded 70.65 per cent voter turnout till 5 p.m. on Friday, officials said. Five Lok Sabha seats in Assam -- Dibrugarh, Jorhat, Kaziranga, Lakhimpur, and Sonitpur -- went to the polls in the first phase.

An estimated 45.12 per cent voter turnout was recorded till 1 p.m. on Friday in the five Lok Sabha seats in Assam in the first of the seven-phased Lok Sabha elections, officials said.

A relative of an executive member of Assam’s North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council (NCHAC) in Dima Hasao district was allegedly kidnapped by a proscribed group.

Like previous Parliamentary elections, there are very few women candidates contesting in the 18th Lok Sabha elections in the six northeastern states, where filing of nominations were completed.

BJP President J. P. Nadda has asserted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi took decisive steps to bring peace in the Bodoland area of Assam by signing the Bodo peace accord.

The campaigning for the first phase of Lok Sabha polls in 15 out of the total 25 Parliamentary constituencies in the eight northeastern states ended on Wednesday, an official said.

The Prime Minister also mentioned that to meet the energy needs of this region, the North East Gas Grid is being build at a cost of Rs 90,000 crore and Barauni Guwahati Pipeline has been dedicated to the country under Urja Ganga Gas Pipeline project.

Addressing a huge public gathering in Assam's Nalbari district, PM Modi said, “Whether it is free ration distribution or the Ayushman Bharat Scheme, benefits have been passed to the people without any discrimination.”

With the Lok Sabha elections inching closer, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to campaign for NDA candidates in Assam and Tripura on Wednesday.