In Bihar, women outvoted men and, perhaps, became one of the decisive factors behind the NDA's landslide victory in the assembly polls in the state on Friday.
Senior Congress functionary Praveen Chakravarty has questioned the DMK's flagship women's assistance scheme, suggesting it's superstitious to believe it alone will ensure electoral success, citing examples of similar schemes failing to secure victories for other parties.
If women voters are mobilised in big numbers to the voting booths on November 6 and 11 by the Nitish Kumar-led NDA, then it will be quite difficult for the Tejashwi Yadav-led Mahagathbandhan to defeat the incumbent government, points out Sheela Bhatt.
During Valentine's Week, Prabhat Kumar shares the story on how he met his wife, Ranjana.
Several incidents of harassment targeting Russian female tourists have been reported on Goa's beaches, prompting intervention by beach marshals, lifesavers, and the Goa Police. The incidents involved both domestic and foreign tourists and included unwanted filming, photographing, and physical advances.
The Supreme Court of India resumed hearing petitions challenging the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Bihar, addressing the use of Aadhaar and concerns about voter deletions.
A nationwide strike called by central trade unions saw a mixed response across India, impacting various sectors and states differently, with some areas experiencing disruptions while others remained largely unaffected.
"2005 se lekar aaj tak... logon ne dekha hai kaun sarkar chalata hai aur kaun sirf hawa banata hai, (From 2005 till today, people know who actually governs and who just makes noise)," said Ramesh Yadav, a booth worker from Nalanda who claimed he had attended every JD-U celebration since Nitish's debut win.
'Are elections still fair in India, or are we all witness to a macabre style of 'selection' of lawmakers? The jury will be out on this for a long time because there is no definitive evidence on either contention, at least as yet,' notes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, author, Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times.
'Nitish Kumar is the only leader who gave us everything.'
The Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance appeared to register a landslide victory in Bihar, opening up impressive leads in more than 180 of the state's 243 assembly seats, with early trends also indicating that the saffron party was on track to post its biggest tally.
The social media handles of the Bharatiya Janata Party were abuzz with memes and jibes targeted at Congress and Rahul Gandhi on Friday, soon after the bumper performance of the saffron party in the Bihar assembly polls, with the party's Assam unit apologising for upsetting the 'national child' on Children's Day.
The final phase of the two-phase Bihar elections takes place today, November 11.
''Now the roads in Bihar are as good as any other Indian state. The power sector has improved.' 'Connectivity, law and order, gender justice...' 'Bihar now stands for all these things that were totally absent when it was under jungle raj.'
In the recent Bihar elections, a majority of state ministers from the ruling NDA secured victories in their respective constituencies, with only one minister losing their seat.
The National Democratic Alliance was set to sweep the Bihar assembly polls, surging ahead in over 200 of 243 seats on Friday with the Bharatiya Janata Party emerging as single largest party with about 90 per cent strike rate, reaffirming the popularity and campaign clout of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was the face of the ruling alliance through the poll battle in the highly sensitive political state.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi termed the Bihar Assembly results as "truly surprising" and said "we could not achieve victory in an election that was not fair from the very beginning". He added that the Congress and the INDIA bloc will conduct an in-depth review of the poll results.
'Demand to confer the Bharat Ratna on Nitishji is to sideline him in politics and force him to retire from politics.'
The Congress party has issued show-cause notices to 43 leaders, including former ministers, accusing them of anti-party activities during the Bihar assembly elections.
If he cannot do it this term by using his bureaucracy and experts from different fields, it will be a tragedy, asserts Ramesh Menon.
Veteran BJP leader Prem Kumar has filed his nomination for the post of assembly Speaker in Bihar. With the NDA holding a majority, his election is likely.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar expressed anger when a group of women left an event where he was speaking about government initiatives for women's empowerment.
Bihar's opposition Mahagathbandhan is experiencing internal conflict following their defeat in the recent assembly elections. Congress leaders have expressed dissatisfaction with their alliance with the RJD, leading to a blame game and further disarray within the opposition camp.
'This election was won because of Nitish Kumar's face and his policies.'
'This combination of immaturity and desperation somehow becomes lethal; it is unhealthy for democracy'
According to data available from the Election Commission of India, 17 seats in the 2020 Assembly elections had a victory margin of less than 1.5%
A labourer died after falling into an uncovered manhole in Delhi's Rohini area, marking the second such incident in the city within a week.
Internet subscribers, income growth, literacy and dependency ratio are the biggest drivers of growth.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah promised a defence corridor and factories in each district of Bihar if the NDA wins the upcoming elections. He also outlined plans for flood control, infrastructure development, and revival of sugar mills.
After big win in Bihar, the BJP is likely to push harder in Tamil Nadu, where the DMK government and the uneasy BJP-AIADMK alliance are preparing for a tense election filled with seat-sharing fights, changing alliances, and the unpredictable entry of Vijay's TVK party, predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Shivling is 33 feet in height and weighs 210 tonnes.
'Both Rahul and Modi are the same in the way they run their parties. Modi too wants faceless people and so does Rahul Gandhi.'
It was speculated that Rohini was "unhappy" over the expulsion of Tej Pratap Yadav from the party. However, during the assembly elections, she was seen campaigning for Tejashwi.
The swearing-in ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP national president J P Nadda and several other top leaders of the NDA.
The swearing-in ceremony of the new government in Bihar is likely to take place in Patna on November 20. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other top NDA leaders are expected to attend. The outgoing government has authorized the Chief Minister to recommend dissolution of the assembly.
'Without our support Nitish Kumar wouldn't have become chief minister.' 'After the government was formed we became ministers, but our agenda remained the same: Amit Shah had promised reservation for Nishads.' 'He wouldn't listen, so we went to UP and contested 52 seats in the 2022 elections. He didn't like the idea of rebellion.' 'He saw that this man, coming from Bombay, is very sharp. He's made four MLAs now, tomorrow he'll make 40. A time will come when they will make it 125.' 'They bought our MLAs and ousted us from the government.'
Bihar Congress chief Rajesh Ram raised doubts over the integrity of the counting process as Election Commission trends placed the NDA ahead. He alleged serious anomalies and accused the administration of attempting to steal votes, while other Congress leaders urged patience until final results.
A report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) reveals that a significant number of registered unrecognised political parties in Bihar have not made their mandatory financial disclosures public for 2023-24.
Former poll strategist Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraaj expressed disappointment over its poll debacle in the Bihar assembly elections, attributing the NDA's victory to cash transfers to women.
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