Bihar Elections

w'sho do Andhra Pradesh and Bihar deserve special economic packages?

UP, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Rajasthan and hilly states including northeastern region also suit some of those criteria

Assembly Election 2023 for MP

Securing absolute majority in Assembly polls top priority: Bihar BJP chief

The BJP's new Bihar unit chief Samrat Chaudhary on Thursday asserted that securing all 40 Lok Sabha seats of the state next year and ensuring an "absolute majority" for his party in the assembly polls of 2025 will be his top priority. Currently the Leader of the Opposition in the state legislative council, Chaudhary, who was a minister in the Nitish Kumar government till the JD(U) leader remained with NDA, also did not deny that by hedging its bets on him, the BJP has sought to make a dent in the "Luv-Kush" base of the Bihar chief minister. "The BJP cares for all. But, of course, where else would Luv Kush go except the place where Lord Rama abides", Chaudhary replied, tongue in cheek, to questions from journalists about the "Kurmi-Koeri" combine, known by the name of the mythical twins in Bihar's political lexicon. The development is an indication of the challenges faced by the BJP in a state where it has become a force to reckon with but feels hamstrung by the "pro-upper caste ...

Bihar bypolls: RJD takes lead in two assembly seats, BJP trailing

The RJD has established a lead in the two assembly seats of Mokama and Gopalganj in Bihar after the first round of counting, with BJP nominees found trailing, Election Commission trends revealed. In Mokama, Neelam Devi garnered 4,159 votes after the first round, and BJP's Sonam Devi 3,508 votes. Mohan Gupta of the RJD is leading in Gopalganj with 2,713 votes. He is followed by Kusum Devi of the BJP with 1,798 votes. Of the 6.10 lakh voters -- Gopalganj (3.31 lakh) and Mokama (2.70 lakh) 52.3 per cent had exercised their franchise in the two seats on November 3, he said. A total of 619 polling booths were set up in the two constituencies. Fifteen candidates are in the fray -- nine in Gopalganj and six in Mokama. This is the first electoral face-off between the ruling Grand Alliance (GA) and the opposition BJP in Bihar after the change of government in August this year, when Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's party JD-U snapped ties with the saffron party and aligned with Lalu Prasad's

Assembly by-elections: More than 45% voter turnout recorded till 3 pm

An average voter turnout of 45.60 per cent was recorded till 3 pm Thursday in the by-elections to seven assembly constituencies underway in six states, including Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. The polling is being held in Mokama and Gopalganj assembly constituencies of Bihar, Andheri (East) of Maharashtra, Adampur of Haryana, Munugode of Telangana, Gola Gokarannath of Uttar Pradesh, and Dhamnagar of Odisha. Among the seven seats where bypolls are being held, the BJP held three seats and the Congress two, while the Shiv Sena and the RJD had one each. The contest is symbolic of the fierce turf war between the BJP and the regional parties. For the bypolls in Bihar, the main contest is between the BJP and the RJD, and the saffron party's main contenders in Haryana are the Congress, INLD and the AAP. In Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha, the main contests are between the BJP and the TRS, SP and the BJD respectively. The Munugode assembly bypoll recorded the highest turnout till 3 pm of 59.9

Grave governance challenges await Bihar's new coalition government

Committed expenditures of the state, which has the lowest per capita income, exceed its own revenue by 47% in FY23

Parallel meetings of JD(U), RJD begin amid soaring political temperatures

Parallel meetings of the JD(U) which helms the Bihar government, and the opposition RJD are on here Tuesday amid speculations of a major political move by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar

BJP remains a complaining ally, but cannot do without Nitish Kumar

The number of MLAs in the ruling coalition is 127 -- BJP: 77, JD(U): 45, HAM (Secular): 4, and Vikassheel Insaan Party: 1. Also, it has the support of one independent MLA, who is a minister

Political analyst Prashant Kishor hints at new beginning in Bihar

Political strategist Prashant Kishor on Monday caused ripples in the choppy waters of Bihar politics with the cryptic announcement of a fresh shuruat (beginning) from his home state. Kishor came out with a tweet in which he called a roller coaster ride his spectacularly successful decade of political consultancy which saw him working with clients as diverse as Narendra Modi, Mamata Banerjee and Jagan Mohan Reddy. My quest to be a meaningful participant in democracy and help shape pro-people policy led to a roller-coaster ride! As I turn the page, time to go to the Real Masters, THE PEOPLE, to better understand the issues and the path to Jan Suraaj people's good governance, tweeted Kishor, adding the hashtag shuruat Bihar se (Beginning from Bihar). The Twitter post indicated his turn towards active politics in his home state. According to I-PAC, the political consultancy firm founded by Kishor, he is likely to come out with more details about his future project at a press conferenc

Counting underway for Bochahan by-election in Bihar's Muzaffarpur

Counting is underway for the by-election to the Bochahan assembly seat in Bihar's Muzaffarpur district, officials said.

Bihar MLC Polls: Counting of votes underway, JD (U) bags first seat

The counting of votes for Bihar legislative council elections began on Thursday, with the ruling JD (U)'s Dinesh Singh winning from Muzaffarpur

Bihar: Mahagathbandhan on verge of split, RJD can contest MLC polls alone

Ahead of the Legislative Council elections in Bihar, the 'Mahagathbandhan' of Congress-Rashtriya Janata Dal is on the verge of a split as Tejashwi Yadav refused to contest the elections together

FIR against Tej Pratap Yadav for hiding property details in poll affidavit

A FIR has been registered against RJD leader Tej Pratap Yadav over allegedly hiding details of property in the affidavit filed during the Assembly elections in Bihar in 2020, the police said

Modi, Shah, Sonia among those tested, jabbed for Covid-19 in Bihar!

Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, Sonia Gandhi, Priyanka Chopra and Akshay Kumar these are the names of residents of a non-descript rural area of an impoverished south Bihar district. If the state health department is to be believed, they are all villagers who have been "tested and vaccinated" for COVID-19 in Karpi panchayat of Arwal district. "This embarrassing matter came to our notice about 20 days ago when the civil surgeon was inspecting the records. The two data operators concerned have been sacked and FIRs lodged against them," said Arwal's District Magistrate J Priyadarshini. "Instructions have been issued to closely examine records of other parts of the district. If more such anomalies come to the fore, more action shall follow since lapses of this kind reduce the drive against the pandemic to a farce," she added. Notorious for maintaining irreconcilable records, one of the most famous example of which was cattle having been shown transported on scooters during the fodder scam of

Issue of Dalit dignity leaves Jitan Manjhi and Bihar BJP at loggerheads

Former Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi on Thursday lashed out at dharm ke thekedaar self-appointed guardians of faith whom he squarely blamed for Dalits being deprived of a life of dignity. Manjhi, whose Hindustani Awam Morcha is a part of the ruling alliance in the state, expressed his anguish on his Twitter handle, sharing a heart-wrenching news report of a Dalit couple in Karnataka being penalized after their two-year-old child inadvertently stepped into a temple. Incidentally, Karnataka is ruled by the BJP, which is also the largest partner in the ruling coalition in Bihar. I am giving voice to the pain that has been experienced for centuries. So far, I have been shy of expressing the anguish. Now nobody will say a word. The dharm ke thekedaar go silent on such matters...... they cannot brook Dalits entering the temples or offering their views on religious works (dharmik kavya), Manjhi tweeted. For the politically savvy citizens of the state, which Manjhi ruled for a ...

Meet LJP leader Pashupati Kumar Paras, who led coup against Chirag Paswan

Paras is Chirag's uncle and Lok Janshakti Party founder Ram Vilas Paswan's younger brother

Polling in Covid time: Bihar model to be followed in Bengal, says official

ECI will follow the Bihar model, taken up last year for conducting the assembly polls amid the coronavirus pandemic, during the upcoming election in West Bengal

Shahnawaz Hussain, Mukesh Sahani file nomination for Bihar council by-polls

BJP leader Syed Shahnawaz Hussain and Bihar minister Mukesh Sahani on Monday filed their nomination papers for by-elections to two seats of the state legislative council.

Rising quietly, organically

Shiv Sena and AIMIM are growing without engineering splits or defections

2020 wrap: Bihar went to polls amid Covid-19; NDA scraped through

In a year that left the world in the throes of the Covid-19, Bihar pulled off a mammoth electoral exercise which saw the NDA retain power but a reinvigorated opposition snapping at its heels