Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan has fielded himself and two close relatives including his son and brother, to contest the Lok Sabha polls in Bihar.
Two poll personnel were killed and two injured on Sunday in a landmine blast triggered by suspected Maoists near Chhurchuriya village in Bihar's Jamui district. The poll personnel were going to Chhurchuriya booth on a tractor when the landmine planted by Maoists went off, sources said. Two poll personnel on duty for the ongoing panchayat polls died on the spot and two others were critically wounded, officials said.
As many as 13 people, including a jawan of the Government Railway Police, were injured when armed robbers opened fire and beat the passengers of an express train with rifle butts near Bhalui halt in Bihar early on Friday morning. The robbers also looted cash and other valuables, worth Rs 2 lakh, from the passengers traveling on the Sealdah-New Delhi Lal Quila Express, Railway officials said. The condition of the jawan, who received a bullet injury, is said to be critical.
With the Maoists continuing to elude the police dragnet, combing operations to trace the three policemen abducted by the Naxals were on Saturday expanded to fresh areas in Bihar's Banka, Kaimur, Jamui, Munger and Lakhisarai districts.
Four suspected Maoists carrying 300 kg ammonium nitrate, a chemical used in manufacturing explosives, were on Friday arrested from Chakai in Bihar's Jamui district bordering Jharkhand, said the police. Acting on a tip-off, the police intercepted a vehicle coming from Jasidih in Jharkhand and seized six sacks, each containing 50 kg of the chemical.The chemical was probably being taken to Charka Pathar in Jharkhand for the local Maoists, sources said.
An estimated 14 per cent voters cast their votes in the early hours of polling in 42 assembly constituencies in Bihar on Monday. To disrupt polling, Maoists triggered a blast in Betia forest and unidentified persons set off four explosions in Danapur. Fourteen per cent of the voters had exercised their franchise till 10 am. Director General of Police Neelmani said Maoists had triggered a blast near a bridge on the Chakai-Jamui main road in Betia jungle.
Six passengers of the 3049 Howrah-Amritsar Express were injured as armed robbers assaulted them and looted cash and valuables worth about Rs 1.5 lakh near Simultala railway station in Bihar's Jamui district on Sunday night, official sources said.
Defying a call by Maoists to boycott the polls, an estimated 51 per cent electorate cast their votes in 42 Assembly seats in Bihar, which saw stray incidents of landmine blast and bomb explosion.
Guidelines have been issued by the Commission for safe conduct of the electoral exercise in the midst of the raging COVID-19 pandemic. These guidelines include lowering the maximum number of voters for a polling booth from 1,600 to 1,000, staggering the polling hours and extending postal ballot facility to those above 80.
Maoists blew up tracks on the Jhaja-Jasidih section of the East Central Railway in Bihar's Jamui district and killed an alleged police informer in Orissa's Sundergarh district to enforce a 72-hour bandh in five states, on Sunday.
The death of the 74-year-old leader, who was identified with the state's Dalits for over five decades, so near the polls will mean that none of the LJP's rivals will like to attack the party and its young president strongly.
Over 150 Maoist sympathisers along with several hardcore activists were taken into custody from a forest area in Khaira in Bihar's Jamui district on Tuesday.
Dalits constitute nearly 16 per cent of the vote and 38 seats are reserved for them in the assembly, reports Satyavrat Mishra
According to police sources, Maoist rebels attacked Bamdah Bazaar under Chandramandi police station killing two traders and injuring some others.
Suspected Communist Party of India-Maoist guerrillas blew up railway tracks and a portion of government complex housing the office of the block development officer n Bihar's Naxal-hit Jamui district in the wee hours of Friday to protest the recent arrest of its self-styled area commander.
Counting's underway and the fate of the candidates is awaited. As we wait for the results with bated breath, here's how your heavyweights are faring for now.
In a major explosives haul in Bihar, the police on Saturday seized 6,000 kg of gelatine in Nawada district from a truck bound for Naxalite-hit districts in the state and arrested seven persons.
It is said that the Maoists are even capable of intercepting the wireless communication of the police. They use simple FM radios to intercept the messages.
An estimated 57 per cent of the electorate cast their votes in the first phase of the Bihar assembly election in 49 constituencies on a violence-free note on Monday.
The Bihar government has launched a massive programme to bring over 23 lakh out-of-school children to educational institutions in the state.
The warrant was issued against the member in connection with the case of "illegal escape" of his brother and party candidate in assembly polls, Vijay Prakash.
The minister was eluding the police for a fortnight after a non-bailable arrest warrant was issued against him for allegedly facilitating the illegal release of his brother from custody.
Yadav had been evading arrest in a case regarding his brother, Vijay Prakash.
Yadav has been charged with aiding the escape of his brother.
Additional Director General of Police Manoj Nath was assigned to probe the release of a Rashtriya Janata Dal candidate and brother of Union Minister of State Jaiprakash Narayan Yadav during the Bihar elections.
The ruling coalition won 125 seats in the 243-member state assembly against 110 clinched by the opposition Grand Alliance to pave the way for a fourth successive term for Kumar in office.
Did Nitish Kumar want to return to the Mahagathbandhan 6 months after aligning with the BJP?
In terms of electoral fortunes, in all likelihood, the status quo is not going to change in any significant manner. These six seats from Bihar are unlikely to give any clear signal to UPA, NDA or Federal Front.
With these states imposing lockdowns anew, the health ministry emphasised that the restrictions should be utilised to focus on containment, surveillance and testing in the containment and buffer zones as the key strategy for early detection of cases and fatality management.
On Friday, Paswan had said "any uneducated person becomes chief minister nowadays," in a veiled jibe at Rabri Devi.
The April 11 polling will decide the fate of several political bigwigs.
BJP backed to the hilt Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as its leader in the state and rebuffed a rebellious Chirag Paswan, while acknowledging his Lok Janshakti Party as an ally 'at the Centre'. At a press conference which was attended by top leaders of the JD-U headed by Kumar and the BJP, it was made clear that 'only those who accept the chief ministers leadership will be deemed to be a part of the National Democratic Alliance in Bihar'.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's allies in Bihar Lok Janashakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan and Rashtriya Lok Samata Party chief Upendra Kushwaha on Monday said that the Modi wave is sweeping the state and the ongoing Lok Sabha polls outcome will prove them right.
An unaccounted cash of Rs 12.36 lakh was on Thursday seized from a car registered in the name of a Bharatiya Janata Party MLA's husband in the state capital during a special drive in view of Bihar assembly elections.
Assembly polls in Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim and Odisha will be held simultaneously in the first phase.
Jha, a fearless officer of the country's largest paramilitary force, led a lethal anti-Naxal operation on July 3 last year in Jamui district of Bihar.
The Congress, which had fought nine, lost all but managed to retain Kishanganj.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal with 19 seats, Congress on 9, Rashtriya Lok Samta Party on 5, Hindustani Awam Morcha and Vikassheel Insan Party -- in phases three to seven of the general elections.
A Rediff reader recently travelled to Bihar's remote naxal effected district of Jamui... to attend a wedding! Snapshots from an unforgetful journey
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances