Newly-elected leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party legislative party in Bihar, Samrat Choudhary, met Governor Lt Gen Syed Ata Hasnain (retd) at Lok Bhavan on Tuesday and staked a claim to form the government in the state.
What lessons opposition parties need to learn post defeat of Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal elections? The election saw spectacular victor of BJP which rose from 3 seats in 2016 to 206 seats in 2026 assembly elections.
The JD(U) stated that it supported the BJP for the Bihar chief minister's post to reciprocate past support, as the new government prepares for a vote of confidence.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed BJP workers after the party's performance in assembly elections, urging an end to political violence in West Bengal and a focus on the state's future.
'They want to know more about him. They want to see his films. Even those who were earlier not interested in his films want to see him now.'
'The next five years are crucial because Assam, West Bengal and Bihar are either governed by or politically aligned with the BJP.' 'This gives us a strong platform to take decisive steps to secure our borders.'
'If the Opposition associates itself too much with the minorities, then it becomes easy for the BJP to get Hindu consolidation votes.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi criticized the Congress party following the NDA's victory in the Bihar assembly elections, accusing them of divisive politics and highlighting the rejection of casteism and communalism by the people of Bihar.
'The nepotism, corruption, bad governance and 15 years of rampant crime that has happened across West Bengal under her rule led to her ouster.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee engaged in a war of words during election rallies, with Modi accusing the TMC of supporting divisive forces and Banerjee alleging the BJP plans to divide the state.
TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee accuses political rivals of being BJP agents and promises to restore voting rights to disenfranchised citizens in West Bengal. He also criticises the BJP's poll promises and highlights the TMC's Lakshmir Bhandar scheme.
'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.'
According to official records, Kishor is enrolled as a voter in West Bengal at 121, Kalighat Road, the address of the Trinamool Congress headquarters in Kolkata's Bhabanipur assembly constituency, which is Chief Minister and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee's seat, he said.
If he cannot do it this term by using his bureaucracy and experts from different fields, it will be a tragedy, asserts Ramesh Menon.
Former IPS officer Shivdeep Lande, the popular Maharashtra-born 'supercop' calls Bihar his 'karmabhoomi.'
'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.
BJP national president Nitin Nabin announced the party's plan to replicate Assam's 'detect, delete and deport' model to expel alleged Bangladeshi infiltrators in West Bengal if voted to power.
As the election nears, political positions on prohibition are shifting.
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.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed NDA parliamentarians, emphasizing that laws and regulations should serve the convenience of the common people and not cause harassment.
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) has announced a 60-day mass outreach program targeting Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe-majority assembly constituencies in West Bengal, accusing the BJP of depriving the state of funds and disrespecting marginalized communities.
'Some states have become more populous, while others have become less populous. Those who became less populous became economically strong. Those where population increased, they became economically weak
BJP leaders say Nitin Nabin's low-profile image has made him a favourite of Amit Shah, who was in search of such a leader to appoint to the top party position -- someone who follows the Modi-Shah line as BJP president without "ifs and buts".
Voters in Bihar's Jehanabad and Ghosi express their hopes for change, particularly regarding job creation and development, in the upcoming government following the state elections.
'...the electoral playing field is tilted significantly in its favour.'
A string of welfare schemes and promises tests the state's budget, which is already heavily dependent on central support and spends little as capital outlay.
Raghopur assembly constituency in Bihar prepares for a high-stakes election where voters may be deciding the next chief minister. Tejashwi Yadav, the RJD's CM candidate, seeks a third term, facing a strong challenge from BJP's Satish Kumar.
Voters are weighing a stark trade-off -- between preserving a socially driven policy and reversing course to revive revenue, restore fiscal balance, and rein in the underground liquor economy.
As it gains commercial viability, the food will likely become a powerful political currency.
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.
The BJP's MoSha leadership are past masters in encouraging defections from their allies if it helped their party capture the chief minister's chair. In Bihar, they are not sure if JD-U MPs and MLAs would be willing to cross over to the BJP if the Nitish leadership came on top -- and the NDA crossed the halfway mark together, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday claimed that the Congress had been unwilling to accept Tejashwi Yadav as the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) chief ministerial candidate and relented only after the Rashtriya Janata Dal pointed a 'katta', an unlicensed country-made gun, at its head.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a sharp critique of the RJD, emphasizing the hardships faced by women in Bihar under its governance. He highlighted the current government's initiatives for women's empowerment and urged them to prevent the RJD's return to power.
Abdullah emphasised the 24x7 model of politics pursued by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his team, and said that "no sooner has one election finished, they've already moved into the next territory... We will move into those states two months before the elections. We will be lucky if we sew up our electoral alliances before the last date of filing nominations".
Priti Kinnar, a transgender social worker, is set to contest the Bihar assembly elections from Bhorey seat on a Jan Suraaj ticket, challenging the incumbent Education Minister. Her entry into politics has sparked mixed reactions, with some seeing it as a potential boost for the transgender community and others questioning its impact on the election outcome.
Hardworking people who toil from dawn to dusk and beyond speak about their everyday lives and what they want from the sarkar as Bihar prepares to vote.
All along, we were told SIR was an essential exercise carried out as part of the Election Commission's regular duties. But now that the ideological mentor of the ruling party has declared that SIR is a means of detecting infiltrators, one understands the unseemly haste with which it is being carried out, notes Jyoti Punwani.
'Rahul Gandhi has promised me to give a Congress ticket to contest the polls.'
His inheritance was a double-edged sword because the NDA was understandably interested only in highlighting that part of the RJD's tenure in government that evokes kidnapping, extortion, and lawlessness.
During the presser, Gandhi showed a picture of a woman who appears on the voter list 22 times in 10 booths in the Rai assembly constituency, and said this shows that this was a 'centralised operation'.
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