New Delhi, March 3: The Election Commission has decided to issue fresh directions for revision of electoral rolls in Arunachal Pradesh to include the Chakmas and Hajongs as voters for the Lok Sabha polls. The move is likely to kick up a political storm in the state.

The commission had recently despatched a letter to the Prime Minister?s Office (PMO) seeking a ?political solution? to the vexed issue. The PMO referred the matter to the home ministry, saying the state government should be consulted on the issue.

However, as the commission did not receive any reply from either the PMO or the home...

Dibrugarh, March 3: The ambitious Bogibeel rail-cum-road bridge project is likely to be delayed by two years beyond the earlier schedule.

Only 30 per cent of the work has been completed on the Rs 1,762-crore project till date. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, while inaugurating work on the project at the Chowkidingee playground here on April 21, 2001, had appealed to the Railways to complete the construction work by 2006. The then Railway Board Chairman I.I.M.S. Rana had publicly assured that the bridge would be completed in six years.

Talking to a group of reporters at the project site...

Dibrugarh, March 3: The influential Asom Chah Mazdoor Sangha (ACMS) wants all political parties to field candidates from the tea tribe for the Mariani Assembly bypoll, which will be held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha elections in the state. The byelection has been necessitated by the death of Rupam Kurmi, who was also from the tea tribe. Kurmi was a minister in the Tarun Gogoi cabinet.

ACMS general secretary Madhusudan Khandait said here today that since the tea tribe was predominant in the constituency, it was only fair that the candidates are selected from it.

For the record, the ACMS is...

Guwahati, March 2: The BJP today completed its seat adjustments with the party?s allies in the northeastern states, barring Nagaland, but ruled out any truck with the AGP in Assam. Among its National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners, the BJP decided to concede just one seat each to the Trinamul Congress, the NCP, the Mizo National Front and an All Bodo Students? Union (Absu)-backed Independent candidate.

In Assam, the party, however, kept its doors open for some ?minor local-level adjustments?, BJP vice-president and eastern region in-charge Pyarelal Khandelwal hinted that it might...

Guwahati, March 1: The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) is tuning up to a musical campaign for countering Bhupen Hazarika, the BJP?s star campaigner for the Lok Sabha polls in Assam.

?Yes, we are planning an effective campaign to counter Bhupen Hazarika, musically that is. He is a political opponent now and he will have to face the music,? AGP spokesperson Jagadish Bhuyan today said. However, he refused to give the details. ?People will know when the time comes.?

A source in the Congress said there was no need for anything special because Hazarika?s entry into the BJP would not dent the fortunes of...