Among the major political parties, chief minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal-United is contesting in 35 of the 71 seats, followed by its ally Bharatiya Janata Party (29), while the opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal has fielded its candidates in 42 and its coalition partner Congress is in the fray in 20 assembly segments.
The BJP's quest for dominance over the states political scene, evident from a seat-sharing deal as part of which it clinched nearly as many constituencies as the Janata Dal-United its senior partner so far- resonated during the election campaign.
The new law will have penal provisions of Rs 50 lakh and five year imprisonment for celebrities promoting sale of items without verifying the quality.
Many eyebrows were raised in Bihar on Monday as news broke of a meeting between Communist Party of India's rising star Kanhaiya Kumar and Ashok Choudhary, a minister and key aide of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
Here's how political leaders across the country celebrated the festival of colours.
'We have done what we needed to do on behalf of the consumers'.
ED files money laundering case. Fadnavis, Paswan want case transferred to CBI. Mumbai police will investigate on basis of evidence: Minister. Friend alleges he is being pressured to nail Rhea. Bihar government to oppose Rhea's SC plea.
A statement to this effect was made in Patna by RCP Singh, a close aide of Kumar, amid buzz on cabinet expansion at the Centre.
This year, former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been conferred Padma Vibhushan for his achievement in the field of public affairs.
"We will also approach the Election Commission with the claim that we represent the real RLSP and we enjoy the support of most workers and office-bearers in the party," Shyam said making it clear that the RLSP was heading towards a split.
The Bharatiya Janata Party in Bihar is in trouble ahead of the upcoming state assembly polls as two of its ally the Lok Janshakti Party and the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party on Sunday played pressure game to bargain for more seats.
These decisions are aimed at helping mills in clearing part of over Rs 22,000-crore arrears to cane farmers.
The state government has announced a compensation of Rs 4 lakh to each of the victim.
First Goa, now Gujarat!
It was a day of mayhem for the main opposition party as S M Qamar Alam, a national general secretary of the RJD, walked to the chamber of Vidhan Parishad Acting chairman Awadhesh Narain Singh along with four others to tender their resignation. The other MLCs who resigned are Sanjay Prasad, Radha Charan Seth, Ranvijay Kumar Singh and Dlip Rai.
'If the BJP continues with Nitish as CM, it will not consolidate its position further in future.'
After spending nine years in a prison in Pakistan, Indian prisoner Khushbu Paswan has reached his native village in Bihar's Rohtas district, a senior police officer said on Sunday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday tore into the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance, blaming its "appeasement politics" for the failure of law enforcement agencies to rein in terror activities when it was in power and claiming it raised the "bogey of Hindu terror" to "misdirect" investigation.
Azad was elected to the Upper House from Jammu and Kashmir, which does not have an assembly currently after it was made a Union Territory with the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution.
In an embarrassment to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, a senior Janata Dal-United Legislator Chhedi Paswan met Bharatiya Janata Party prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi following which the party suspended him for six years.
Given the controversy over Uttar Pradesh's population control moves, Hemant Shivsaran/Rediff.com digs deep to find out how many children BJP MLAs in UP have.
In a season of political deal-making, it would seem the BJP is not only keener to win new friends but is ahead of rival Congress in the game. Its only competition, if at all, has come from regional satraps and the Left parties, which on Tuesday resolved to fight the elections together against both the Congress and BJP.
Lok Janshakti Party president Ram Vilas Paswan on Friday said that the President's rule in Jharkhand was a temporary solution and elections were the only way out if no party or combination was able to form a government soon.
Among the panels announced on Thursday is the Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) to be headed by the prime minister with Shah as the other member.
Meraj Khalid Noor, who is popularly known as Bihar's Osama bin Laden for his uncanny resemblance with slain most-wanted Al Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden, has said that he will contest the Lok Sabha polls against the Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi from Varanasi.
always say the same thing at the last rally in every election that 'ant bhala to sab bhala', says Nitish.
Rashtriya Lok Samata Party MLA Lallan Paswan has stirred a controversy by purportedly asking objectionable questions to girls of a residential Dalit school in Bihar's Vaishali district where he had gone in connection with death of a Class X girl allegedly after being raped.
'In Bihar, the Dalits are not a consolidated socio-political constituency,' says Mohammad Sajjad.
The development can change the power dynamics within the ruling alliance, even if it manages to retain power in the state and Kumar continues to be chief minister.
With four seats each won by junior allies Hindustani Awam Morcha-Secular and Vikassheel Insaan Party, the NDA bagged 125 seats in its kitty, three more than the number required for a simple majority.
The Congress, which had fought nine, lost all but managed to retain Kishanganj.
Bharatiya Janata Party leaders Sarbananda Sonowal, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Narayan Rane, all of whom are being seen as probables for induction as ministers in the Modi government, arrived in the national capital on Tuesday amid indications that the Union Council of Ministers is likely to be expanded on Wednesday.
A police spokesperson said two of the four recent cases of target killings in Srinagar and Bandipora have been solved with the elimination of the terrorists involved in these incidents.
The series of meetings are being seen as an attempt by the Bharatiya Janata Party to reach out to allies who have either been criticising or expressing their dissent with the party and also to strengthen the National Democratic Alliance ahead of the Lok Sabha polls next year.
Nitish Kumar will be the chief minister only till the time the BJP wishes, points out Ramesh Menon.
No one in Bihar will deny Nitish Kumar's contribution to governance, notes Aditi Phadnis.
Lalu Prasad Yadav's wife Rabri Devi and daughter Misa Bharti lost from Saran and Pataliputra seats respectively in Bihar to BJP candidates. MI Khan reports.
The JD(U)-BJP alliance also lambasted the actress for lodging a 'baseless' first information report against the sisters of the deceased actor and questioned the 'support' extended to her by the Uddhav Thackeray government in Maharashtra, for 'reasons the Shiv Sena knows better'.
The 94 constituencies which are going to poll on November 3 are in 17 districts: West Champaran, East Champaran, Sheohar, Sitamarhi, Madhubani, Darbhanga, Muzaffarpur, Gopalganj, Siwan, Saran, Vaishali, Samastipur, Begusarai, Khagaria, Bhagalpur, Nalanda and Patna.
Dalits constitute nearly 16 per cent of the vote and 38 seats are reserved for them in the assembly, reports Satyavrat Mishra
