The outgoing Lok Sabha had 23 Muslim MPs, the most being from Congress and TMC. The highest number of Muslim MPs were in 1980 when as many as 49 MPs from the community which constitute nearly fifth of Indian population present in the Lok Sabha.
Uproarious scenes were witnessed in Lok Sabha on Wednesday after members raised the issue of violence in Maharashtra.
The BJP's rediscovery of its allies, including the PM touching the feet of Parakash Singh Badal, would be interpreted as the party's efforts to keep its flock together if it falls short of the majority mark on May 23.
Family and politics are often synonymous in India - no matter what party you talk of - and Bihar is no exception.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad on Tuesday said his party would contest the Lok Sabha polls in Bihar in alliance with the Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party and the Lok Janashakti Party, but ruled out conceding more than 13 seats given to the United Progressive Alliance allies in 2004 elections.
The Congress-led grouping has some reasons to feel emboldened over recent political developments.
While Paswan and Singh were stopped at the Delhi-UP border, the LJP chief's younger brother and Lok Sabha member Ramchandra Paswan was taken into custody by the Uttar Pradesh Police. The leaders were going towards Greater Noida to disburse Rs two lakh as relief to the families of the victims of police firing last week.
Amid reports that Naidu is seeking cabinet berths for his MPs, the TDP met Modi in Gujarat Bhawan in the national capital and the meeting lasted for over 30 minutes after which chief minister-designate of Andhra Pradesh left without talking to media.
Kumar insisted that allies should have been given proportional representation in the cabinet.
The statements made by the opposition parties after the preemptive air strike on terror camps have made only people of Pakistan happy, he claimed.
Lok Janashakti Party member of parliament from Balia, Suraj Singh alias Surajbhan Singh on Thursday challenged before the Patna High Court his conviction for a life term in a murder case by a Begusarai fast track court.
'Maybe the BJP believes, in the post-poll scenario, it will have the might to foist, anybody endorsed by the RSS, upon Bihar,' observes Mohammad Sajjad.
Curtains came down on Tuesday evening on campaigning for 57 seats going to poll in the fifth and last phase of bitterly-fought Bihar assembly elections on November five, with acrimonious exchanges provoking showcause notices from the Election Commission to top leaders of rival alliances.
JD-U leaders believe Prashant Kishor's entry would benefit its case for contesting a larger number of seats in Bihar in next year's general election.
Irom Sharmila, the rights activist who formed a party recently, was unable to garner any significant votes.
The talk in a tea stall in the Yadav-dominated village of Mohli in Munger district of Bihar is all about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's exhortations to 'Yaduvanshis' to dump Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad for the Bharatiya Janata Party, which has fielded an unprecedented 22 candidates from the dominant backward caste.
Almost all top Congress leaders were trailing.
A day after Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi hinted at the next Bihar assembly polls being held in September-October, most of the political parties including ruling Janata Dal-United and Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party claimed they were fully ready for it.
Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com gives the lowdown on the 59 seats spread across seven states and one Union territory going to polls in the last and final phase of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections on May 19, 2019.
The polling for the sixth phase on May 12 covers 6 states and one Union Territory.
All the newly elected MLAs have been invited to Patna after the Chhath festival for a joint meeting with Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad Yadav.
Fresh elections are the only solution to the Bihar impasse, CPI National Secretary D Raja said.
"Our organisation in Uttar Pradesh will lend support to the alliance," he said.
The exercise for government formation in Bihar on Saturday gained momentum.
Sanped in Haryana's Faridabad, where a Dalit family was burnt alive leading to the death of two toddlers, on Wednesday erupted in grief and indignation, with the locals blocking Delhi-Agra highway with their bodies in protest as politicians joined them in mourning the horrific killings.
LJP candidates had split the United Progressive Alliance votes but Paswan's party had also lost out in the process, Lalu said.
Releasing the list of LJP candidates, Paswan said his party would contest from around 200 seats leaving 37 and 3 for its electoral allies -- CPI and Forward Bloc.
'...there are people in the NDA, who don't wish to see Narendra Modi as the prime minister. They are the ones circulating misleading news,' he claimed.
Festive atmosphere and bonhomie prevailed in Lok Sabha on Thursday with members donning traditional dress and head gears and many taking oath in their mother tongue.
A day after the dissolution of the Bihar assembly, Paswan claimed that he had been receiving telephone calls from Muslim leaders thanking him for his "tough stand" over having a Muslim chief minister for the state
'The present timing suggests it was done under some political influence,'says Supreme Court lawyer Prasant Bhushan.
The grand old party, which had gone to polls in February this year in alliances with RJD and LJP contesting 84 seats, could secure just ten and finish second in as many, polling a meagre five per cent of votes.
Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan on Saturday stuck to his earlier
"The electorate of Bihar yearn for a change and for this they want the Congress, LJP and JD (U) to unitedly fight the assembly elections," he said.
Assembly polls in Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim and Odisha will be held simultaneously in the first phase.
The former MP is alleged to have murdered CPM legislator Ajit Sarkar in Purnea.
The Lok Janshakti Party chief is unhappy with Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Laloo Prasad Yadav for reportedly denying him the railway ministry.
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