Itanagar, Jan. 25: Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Mukut Mithi today said the state was preparing to hold panchayat elections in a couple of months and the state election commission would soon announce the dates. Talking to reporters after a Cabinet expansion, Mithi said his government had provided Rs 4.5 crore to the state election commission towards poll preparations.

J.M. Tangu, a former bureaucrat, has been appointed chairman of the state election commission, he said.

Mithi said his government would soon bring into effect the Anti-Defection Ordinance.

?The delimitation of the three-tier...

Dimapur, Jan. 25: With the Nagaland poll scene hotting up, the NSCN(K) has accused its rival, the NSCN (Isak-Muivah), of issuing death threats to non-Nagaland People?s Front candidates, particularly those belonging to the ruling Congress.

The NSCN(K)?s ?home secretary? Hokato Vushe told The Telegraph: ?At least seven Congress candidates around Dimapur had been telephoned by a deputy kilonser (minister) of the NSCN(I-M) on January 22 and 23, who warned them of dire consequences if they did not quit the Congress and join the NPF. They were warned that their hands and legs would be smashed if...

NEW DELHI, Jan 24? Concluding their forthnight-long tour of Delhi, NSCN(I-M) leaders today left for Amsterdam this afternoon after giving a clarion call to all Nagas irrespective of party affiliations to present their suggestions on the ongoing peace process. The Delhi-round of peace talks that ended without much progress on substantive issues was made up by the farewell given to them at the airport by over 500 Naga delegates belonging to various civil groups. ?We are overwhelmed by the response of the Naga people?, the president of the NSCN(I-M), Isak Chisi Swu told the gathering.

The NSCN...

NEW DELHI, Jan 24 ? The final disposal of the petition seeking scrapping of the controversial IMDT Act is likely to be delayed with the Supreme Court today asking the Central and Assam Governments to file an updated status report on illegal infiltration from across the border. The case has been posted for further hearing in April. A three-member Bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice of India VN Khare today responding to a plea by petitioner Sarbananda Sonowal?s counsel. Ashok Desai asked the two Governments to file an updated status report on the number of illegal migrants and the...

Agartala, Jan. 24: The Congress finally announced its list of candidates for the Assembly elections in Tripura today. The party has put up 42 candidates for the polls, having already allotted the other 18 seats in the 60-member House to its alliance partner, the Indigenous National Party of Tripura.

Tripura PCC president Birajit Sinha, who returned from New Delhi with the list approved by AICC chief Sonia Gandhi today, released the list to newspersons. All 13 sitting MLAs of the party have been re-nominated. The list contains 19 new candidates and six women.

The party manifesto would be...