The rumours have primarily been about the impending resignation of JD-U national president Rajiv Ranjan Singh 'Lalan', for alleged proximity towards ally Rashtriya Janaat Dal at the expense of loyalty to his own party.
Bihar Assembly Deputy Speaker Maheshwar Hazari on Wednesday accused outgoing Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha of having "insulted Dalits" by denying him the opportunity to conduct proceedings of the House after stepping down.
"I am now a free citizen of India like you. I am no longer the DGP. So, no service rules apply to me anymore. Thousands of people are coming from Buxar, Begusarai, Jehanabad, Aurangabad and other districts. I will take a decision after talking to them. Contesting elections is not illegal," he told journalists.
Voters include 8.4 crore men, 8.23 crore women and 11,371 from third gender. There are as many as 35.67 lakh first time voters, besides 3.51 crore young voters in the age group of 20-29 years.
'I have serious doubts about the longevity of the NDA government and the longevity of the 18th Lok Sabha itself.'
Ten to 20 days of heatwave are expected against the normal of four to eight days in the entire April-June period.
The elections will begin on April 19 followed by subsequent phases on April 26, May 7, May 13, May 20, May 25 and June 1.
Is it is necessary to play divisive politics to succeed in the next general elections? asks Dr Sudhir Bisht.
'The lack of a majority isn't the issue. He has enough in 240, especially as none of his allies can pull down his coalition.' 'That's why he's started as if this were just another, normal term. That pretence is vital for him.' 'The change for Modi 3.0 comes not from numbers, but from the new environment of contestation,' points out Shekhar Gupta.
'Villages are much better prepared than towns as far as COVID-19 is concerned.'
What some of our leaders were up to on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Kumar will be administered the oath of office by Governor Phagu Chauhan at a simple ceremony inside the Raj Bhavan at 2 pm.
'The BJP's numbers in this government are almost the same as those enjoyed by the Congress under P V Narasimha Rao when the reform process was kicked off in 1991.' 'As before, the only constraints on the prime minister's actions are internal, not external.' 'They come from his own assessment of the political consequences of any action,' points out Mihir S Sharma.
The people of West Bengal have lost faith in the state police and therefore their demand for deployment of central forces, Nayak said.
Rumblings of discontent in the Bharatiya Janata Party followed the party's disastrous performance in Bihar assembly elections on Sunday.
He was administered the oath of office by Governor Rajendra Arlekar at the Raj Bhavan in Patna.
Party's chief spokesperson K C Tyagi said Kumar has agreed to take over the mantle from Lalan Singh.
This was the first major election in the country amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Obviously, the women of Bihar were not intimidated by the pandemic and came out in large numbers to vote.
The arrest, the first of a sitting chief minister, came hours after the Delhi high court refused to grant protection to the AAP national convenor from any coercive action by the agency.
Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik met Sports Minister Anurag Thakur to once again request him to stop anyone related to former WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh from contesting the upcoming polls.
The Nitish Kumar government appeared to be heading for a showdown with Bihar Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar as the Raj Bhavan reversed an order of the state administration to freeze bank accounts of two officials of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Bihar University in Muzaffarpur.
'Commentators have said that dealing with allies as equals will make Modi more sensitive.' 'Remember that the people Modi is dealing with are equally autocratic in their own lairs.' 'Further, Modi always has handy the threat of dissolving Parliament and calling for fresh polls.' 'Most of his own party, and certainly his allies and opponents having blown their budgets of efforts and resources in the just concluded elections, have no stomach for this.' 'They are all greatly looking forward to the loaves and fishes of office on offer.' 'That gives Modi an unbeatable advantage in any push-comes-to-shove situation,' explains Shreekant Sambrani.
Observing that it was dealing with a case which was an "exceptionally painful episode of our criminal justice system", the Supreme Court on Friday convicted former Lok Sabha MP from Bihar Prabhunath Singh in a 1995 double murder case, overturning the orders of the trial court and the Patna high court acquitting him.
Both Khera and Suman joined the saffron at its headquarters in Delhi in the presence of senior leaders, including BJP national general secretary Vinod Tawde and national media department in-charge Anil Baluni.
Despite its harmful effects, leaders and party workers consume khaini to keep them going during the election campaign.
'Does a political or social worker ever retire? Is Nitish Kumar himself contesting the assembly elections'
The Congress on Tuesday suffered a major upset in Himachal Pradesh at the hands of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Rajya Sabha elections which were marred by cross-voting in all the three states though it won three seats in Karnataka while the saffron party pocketed an extra seat in Uttar Pradesh.
The election in Bihar will never be the same, reports Aditi Phadnis
The Election Commission is making sure that the winds of potential change cause no disruption in the counting process.
Pandey had hit the headlines recently for his vocal condemnation of the non-cooperation meted out to the Bihar police team that had visited Mumbai to probe the death of Patna-born actor Sushant Singh Rajput.
The BJP will enter this election, as it does every election, as if it is fighting to prevent a 2004-style defeat. This is a party that wins big because it always behaves as if its back is to the wall, predicts Mihir S Sharma.
Five of the six Lok Janshakti Party MPs in Lok Sabha have joined hands against their leader Chirag Paswan and elected Pashupati Kumar Paras, the youngest brother of Paswan's late father and party founder Ram Vilas Paswan, in his place, causing a big churn in Bihar politics.
The Supreme Court on Friday sentenced former Lok Sabha MP from Bihar Prabhunath Singh to life imprisonment for killing two people on the day of polling for assembly elections in Bihar's Saran district in 1995.
'For Nitish Kumar the message is to be democratic. With the support of the BJP, he had suppressed criticism in Bihar. He would also need to change his highly authoritarian way of governance.' 'The Grand Alliance, given the decisive mandate in its favour, cannot afford to fail the people. They have a duty to make it a model for the rest of India,' says Apoorvanand.
In continuing operations to enforce the Model Code of Conduct, more than Rs 10.5 lakh unaccounted cash and 3,112 litres of illegal liquor were seized from different parts of the state on Saturday.
A senior JD-U leader said Lallan Singh has expressed his desire to give up the top party post.
The rear windscreen of a car carrying Rahul Gandhi was damaged during the ongoing 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra', with West Bengal unit president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury alleging that the vehicle was "pelted with stones" in Malda district, while Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee claimed the incident took place in adjoining Bihar.
Plans for a 500-car road show were abandoned after the controversy surrounding his release.
If the Congress comes to power in the state, it will not allow his government to work, Modi claimed.
In India elections are never fought in a straight line. It's fought on many issues, at many levels, with multiple emotions and with a bit of good luck, too. Sheela Bhatt reports from Rajasthan.