Tripura

Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said that polling will be held in Tripura on February 16 and in Nagaland and Meghalaya on February 27 and the counting of votes is scheduled for March 2. All the three states have 60-member Assemblies.

The 69-year-old dental surgeon-turned-politician was administered the oath of office by Governor Satyadeo Narain Arya during a ceremony at the Raj Bhavan here. No other MLAs from the BJP or its ally, the Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT), took oath on Sunday. When asked about the other ministers, the new Chief Minister did not disclose anything.

After the hurriedly called BJP legislative party meeting, Deb announced Saha's name for the top post, stating that he would extend all kinds of cooperation to the new Chief Minister. Saha, the 69-year-old dental surgeon-turned-politician, was elected to the Rajya Sabha from the lone seat of Tripura on March 31.

Accompanied by Union Minister Bhupender Yadav, Deb went to the Raj Bhavan on Saturday afternoon and submitted his resignayion to Governor Satyadeo Narain Arya. Deb became the Chief Minister on March 9, 2018 after the BJP-led alliance came to power by defeating the Left Front in the Assembly elections. Further details are awaited.

In a statement on Sunday, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said, "Prime Minister will inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of 22 developmental projects worth over Rs 4,800 crore in Imphal. Thereafter in Agartala, the Prime Minister will inaugurate the new integrated terminal building at Maharaja Bir Bikram Airport and will also launch two key development initiatives."

Amid allegations of pre-poll violence by the opposition parties, the ruling BJP had earlier won 112 (34 per cent) seats uncontested in seven urban local bodies in Jirania, Ranir Bazar, Mohanpur, Bishalgarh in western Tripura, Santir Bazar and Udaipur in southern Tripura and Kamalpur in northern Tripura.

In a series of tweets, Modi said: "The people of Tripura have given a clear message - that they prefer politics of good governance. I would like to thank them for the unequivocal support to @BJP4Tripura. These blessings give us greater strength to work for the welfare of each and every person in Tripura."

A Tripura police spokesman said the journalists -- Samriddhi K. Sakunia and Swarna Jha, have been detained by Nilam Bazaar police station of Karimganj district in Assam on the request of the Tripura police. A Tripura police team would to bring them to the state.

"News reports that have been circulating that a mosque in Kakraban area of Gomati district in Tripura has been damaged and vandalized. These news reports are fake and are a complete misrepresentation of facts," the MHA said. The mosque in Dargabazar area of Kakraban has not been damaged and the Tripura Police in Gomati district is working to maintain peace and tranquillity.

Initially, a bench headed by Chief Justice N.V. Ramana asked advocate Prashant Bhushan, representing the petitioners, to move the concerned high court in the matter, but later agreed to it. Bhushan submitted before the bench also comprising Justices A. S. Bopanna and Hima Kohli that the petitioners are also challenging the constitutional validity of certain widely misused provisions of UAPA and the wide definition of 'unlawful activities'.