A total of 1,179 Bru-Reang militants on Monday laid down their arms and returned to the mainstream at arms laying ceremonial programme held in Assam's Hailakandi district.

Guwahati Apr 26 PTI The Congress on Tuesday wrote to the Assam Legislative Assembly Speaker to disqualify its suspended MLA Sherman Ali Ahmed from his membership of the House for alleged anti-party activitiesA delegation of party MLAs led by Leader of Opposition Debabrata Saikia submitted a letter addressed to Speaker Biswajit Daimary seeking disqualification of AhmedThe request was placed as per directions of the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee president and a resolution adopted at an Assam Congress Legislative Party ACLP meeting Saikia saidAhmed was suspended from the party in October for repeatedly violating party disciplineHe was also arrested prior to the suspension over provocative remarks he had allegedly made against an eviction drive in Darrang district of the state in September 2021Saikia also said the Congress has already made requests to the Assembly Speaker to disqualify two other party MLAs Sashi Kanta Das and Siddique Ahmed who have also been suspended PTI SSG RBT RBT

New Delhi [India], April 8 (ANI): Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla will inaugurate the 8th Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) India Region Conference at Guwahati in Assam on April 11.

Guwahati Mar 30 PTI Congress MLA Nurul Huda was on Wednesday suspended from the Assam Assembly for some time after he shouted against Speaker Biswajit Daimary who during the Question Hour had directed him to ask his query stopping a lengthy prelude to itAs he did not leave the House even after being suspended marshals dragged him out All members of the opposition party then staged a walkout Earlier Daimary repeatedly asked Huda to ask his supplementary question regarding his primary query on election to cooperative societies instead of making a long statement Sir I am trying to explain the problem Huda said Dont explain please ask the question the Speaker responded When Huda continued to make an explanation as a prelude to his query Daimary moved to Congress MLA Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha to ask another supplementary question Purkayastha urged the Speaker to allow Huda to ask the question but Daimary did not accept his appeal Aggrieved by this Huda started shouting against the Speaker who then suspended the Congress legislator from the House for the duration of the Question Hour Huda then went to the well from where marshals then dragged him out of the House Following this all the Congress MLAs staged a walkout At the end of the Question Hour the Speaker revoked the suspension and all the Congress legislators including Huda entered the House for the remaining procedures of the day PTI TR NN NN

Guwahati Mar 21 PTI A day after Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma claimed support of suspended Congress MLA Sashi Kanta Das for the Rajya Sabha polls Assembly Speaker Biswajit Daimary on Monday in a controversial statement said there is no bar in seeking votes of opponent legislators for elections to the Upper HouseDaimary claimed after the amendment of the anti-defection law anyone can vote for any candidateEarlier in the day after the Assam Assembly witnessed an uproarious scene over alleged horse trading of opposition MLAs by the ruling BJP Sarma drew Daimarys attention and sought a clarification over several issuesThe Opposition is questioning me for visiting Das house in Raha Speaker sir you please give a ruling on three points today First can a CM or any minister visit the house of opposition MLAs I consider all as equals and visit everyones house while visiting a constituency Sarma saidHe also sought a clarification on whether campaigning is allowed in Rajya Sabha polls and if the elections to the Upper House fall under the criterion of festival of democracyThe chief minister also claimed that the Congress candidate for Rajya Sabha has called him and sought support for the RS pollsReplying to his queries the Speaker said Yes a CM can visit the house of any MLA of the state The CM has no jurisdiction and he can visit any place Even if not invited a CM can visit a place to take stock of the situation Daimary also said that campaigning is allowed in Rajya Sabha elections and there is no bar in a ruling party candidate seeking the votes of an opposition MLA for the sameAs per the latest amendment of the anti-defection law if an MLA votes for the rival candidate of his party then it will not be termed as anti-defection The party may expel him or her from primary membership but legally there is no binding on him to vote in a certain fashion Anyone can vote for any candidate he claimedEarlier during the day the united opposition comprising the Congress AIUDF CPIM and the Raijor Dal staged a walkout after shouting slogans in the well of the House for 35 minutes over alleged horse trading by Sarma and his party colleaguesThe chief minister on Sunday had claimed that Das will vote for BJP-led NDA candidates during the Rajya Sabha election in the state on March 31After meeting Das at his Raha residence in Nagaon district on Sunday Sarma had said Das had earlier announced that he would be with the government for all developmental works Now he has announced that he will vote for a BJP or a BJP-supported candidate in the Rajya Sabha polls Das a first time MLA from Raha constituency on December 20 had announced inside Sarmas chamber at Assam Assembly complex that he joined the government but said he would continue to remain in Congress as he had not joined the BJPHours after that the state Congress had sent a show cause notice to the MLA and subsequently suspended him from the partyThe BJP has nominated Pabitra Margherita as its candidate for one seat while United Peoples Party Liberals UPPL Working President Rwngwra Narzary was named for the second seatThe two seats from Assam are currently held by Ripun Bora and Ranee Narah of the Congress Bora is in the fray this time as the Opposition parties joint candidateAll the three candidates filed their nominations on Monday at the Assembly premises PTI TR MM MM

Guwahati (Assam) [India], March 15 (ANI): Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday said that looking at the importance of ancient wisdom of the indigenous tribal faith and culture, his government has taken the decision to create a department to work for the promotion of faith and culture of anthropologically indigenous and tribal communities.

Guwahati Dec 21 PTI Apparently frustrated by repeated verbal duels between ruling and opposition benches that disrupt proceedings Assam assembly Speaker Biswajit Daimary on Tuesday gave a free-for-all ten minutes to the legislators to talk and debate as they wished The Speaker also started speaking in his mother tongue Bodo later when his pleas to the MLAs to maintain decorum in Assamese fell on deaf ears Bodo an associate official language of the state was included among the languages for transaction of business in the assembly after Daimary a leader of the Bodo community had taken over as the Speaker Uproarious scenes broke out in the House soon after the beginning of the days proceedings when opposition and ruling MLAs hurled allegations and counter-allegations during a reply to a question of Panchayat and Rural Development department Daimary stood up and requested the legislators to maintain decorum and let the proceedings continue When his repeated pleas went unheard the Speaker said he would allow the next 10 minutes for the members to continue with their kajia fight and speak as they wished and he will not interfere As the din refused to die down Daimary once again reminded the MLAs at the end of the fifth minute that if the ruckus grew louder he will not allow any of the proceedings during that period to be put on record The normal proceedings resumed at the end of the 10 minutes and continued smoothly for nearly 30 minutes before the ruckus started once again With verbal duels resuming between the two sides the Speaker started speaking in Bodo as his requests in Assamese to pacify the MLAs met with no success Unable to understand what Daimary was saying a number of MLAs put on their headphones to listen to the Assamese translation The assembly has a provision for that As the noise subsided Daimary again requested the MLAs to cooperate with him in ensuring that the House runs smoothly and the proceedings resumed PTI SSG NN NN

Guwahati Sep 21 PTI Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Tuesday filed his nomination from a Rajya Sabha seat in Assam and is all set to be elected unopposed with the opposition deciding not to put up any candidate against him The Shipping Minister filed his papers before Returning Officer Dulal Pegu at the Assam Assembly The former chief minister is the unanimous candidate of the ruling alliance in the state comprising BJP AGP and UPPL Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma AGP leader and Agriculture Minister Atul Bora UPPL leader and Handloom and Textile Minister U G Brahma Bodoland Territorial Region chief Pramod Bodo BJP state president Bhabesh Kalita and cabinet ministers and saffron party leaders accompanied him The Rajya Sabha seat fell vacant after Biswajit Daimary resigned from the Upper House following his election to the Assam Assembly He is currently its Speaker Sonowal was elected to the Assembly from Majuli for the second consecutive term in May this year The 59-year-old BJP leader was inducted into the cabinet of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in July The last date for the filing of nominations for the Rajya Sabha polls is September 22 while the papers will be scrutinised on September 23 and the results will be declared on October 4 However Sonowals election appears to be certain as the opposition parties have decided not to put up their candidates Sonowal expressed his gratitude to the people of Assam for giving him the opportunity to serve them and sought the blessings of all He also thanked the prime minister and the people of Majuli Sarma thanked the opposition for not putting up any candidates in the Rajya Sabha polls My best wishes are with the Union minister from whose vision and leadership we have gained a lot We hope that he will continue to raise the voice of Assam and the Northeast before the Centre the chief minister told reporters The BJPs strength will come down to 59 in the 120-member House after Sonowals shift to the Rajya Sabha Its allies AGP and UPPL have nine and five seats respectively Five assembly seats are currently vacant with two Congress and one AIUDF legislator resigning their parties to join the BJP and two UPPL MLAs succumbing to COVID-19 After Sonowals resignation as an MLA the number of vacant seats will increase to six There are seven Rajya Sabha seats from Assam of which six are currently occupied two each by BJP Bhubaneswar Kalita and Kamakhya Prasad Tasa and Congress Ripun Bora and Ranee Narah one by AGP Birendra Prasad Baishya and one by Independent lawmaker Ajit Kumar Bhuyan PTI DG ACD ACD