The ruling National Democratic Alliance on Friday secured a thumping majority in the Bihar Assembly, winning 202 seats in the 243-member House, as results for all the constituencies were declared by the Election Commission.
In the first phase, a total of 3.75 crore voters will decide the electoral fate of 1,314 candidates, including top leaders such as INDIA bloc's chief ministerial face Tejashwi Yadav and Deputy CM Samrat Choudhary of the BJP.
Yadav died at Khushhalchak village three days ago during election campaigning. An assailant reportedly shot him, and an SUV crushed him, officials confirmed.
The stage is set for the crucial first phase of the assembly elections in Bihar on Thursday, as 3.75 crore voters will decide the electoral fate of 1,314 candidates, including top leaders such as Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance's (INDIA's) chief ministerial face Tejashwi Yadav and Deputy CM Samrat Choudhary of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Gangster-turned-politician Dular Chand Yadav, once known for rubbing shoulders with the who's who of politics in Bihar, was allegedly shot dead near the state capital during an election campaign on Thursday, police said.
Despite recent underperformance, MNC funds have delivered over longer time frames.
Bookstore owners were cautioned against keeping or distributing the books. Police personnel briefed the bookstore owners about the legal consequences of violating the ban.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi met the family of Navy officer Lt Vinay Narwal, who was killed in the terrorist attack in Pahalgam, on Tuesday. Gandhi reached Karnal in Haryana in the afternoon and was accompanied by Congress' Rohtak MP Deepender Singh Hooda. The Congress party posted on X that Gandhi would meet the family of the Navy officer who was martyred in the Pahalgam terror attack.
Social media influencer Orhan Awatramani, known as Orry, and seven others were booked for allegedly consuming alcohol at a hotel in Katra, the base camp for the pilgrimage to Mata Vaishno Devi shrine. The FIR was registered for violating the law and hurting religious sentiments. The hotel reportedly prohibits alcohol and non-vegetarian food due to its proximity to the shrine.
With the fourth and fifth lists, the party has declared candidates on 88 of the 90 seats.
Chhaava deserves 2 stars for the historically half-baked film that it is, but 4 stars just for its attempt on making a film on Sambhaji, observes Prasanna D Zore.
'The problem is that the bubble may not only be in valuations, but also in investors' minds.'
Besides Hooda, Bhan and Phogat, the Congress has fielded Mewa Singh from Ladwa to take on Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini.
The Congress on Wednesday demanded a thorough probe into 'discrepancies' found in some Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) during the counting of votes of the Haryana assembly polls and demanded that such EVMs should be sealed and secured pending the inquiry.
The Congress has said the assembly polls results were "unexpected" and have alleged discrepancies in the EVMs in some seats.
Sources said the leaders during the meeting discussed the possible reasons for the "unexpected" results in Haryana and decided to set up the team to ascertain the reasons behind such results and also look into complaints of "discrepancies" in EVMs, as alleged by party candidates.
The Jammu Development Authority (JDA) demolished a dozen shops belonging to displaced Kashmiri Pandits in Jammu city, allegedly without issuing notices, sparking protests from various sections demanding action against the officials. The shops were located on JDA land and had been built by displaced Kashmiri Pandits near the Muthi camp three decades ago. The demolition drive sparked outrage from political parties, including the BJP, PDP and Apni Party, and several Kashmir Pandit organisations, who condemned the JDA's action and called for the construction of new shops to help the displaced community sustain their livelihood.
Ahead of the Haryana Assembly polls, the Congress on Wednesday announced seven guarantees, including the promises of a legal guarantee for minimum support price (MSP) and a caste survey, if voted to power.
The party has fielded sitting MLA Rajendra Singh Joon from the Bahadurgarh seat.
Babaria said he offered his resignation to the high command soon after the result of the Haryana assembly polls came out last week but no decision has been communicated to him over the matter.
Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini has reached out to the SCs and the poor with the accelerated implementation of various schemes, especially the B R Ambedkar housing scheme.
The Congress top brass headed by party chief Mallikarjun Kharge held a review meeting on Thursday on the party's shock defeat in the Haryana assembly polls and discussed the possible reasons for the 'unexpected' results.
In a bid to prevent a split in the LJ legislature party in Bihar, party national general secretary Suraj Bhan Singh arrived in Patna on Sunday morning to take back the available party MLAs to Delhi to attend a meeting called by Paswan.
'For decades, we have heard only lofty claims. We have become accustomed to empty assurances, and it seems that political leaders see us merely as voters'
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Monday hit out at the Election Commission for the 'tone and tenor' of its recent letter to his party while also urging the poll body to act against 'communal and incendiary rhetoric' allegedly used by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma during poll campaigns.
The Congress on Friday hit out at the Election Commission after it rejected allegations over irregularities in the Haryana assembly polls, saying if the poll panel's goal is to 'strip itself of the last vestiges of neutrality', then it is doing a 'remarkable job' at creating that impression.
The Bharatiya Janata Party, which pulled off a hat-trick of wins in Haryana by bucking anti-incumbency, managed to make significant inroads into the Dalit seats and Jat strongholds.
After hectic parleys and much back and forth with the INDIA bloc allies, the Congress also ended up going into the polls with its original plan of largely going solo.
The three MLAs -- Sombir Sangwan, Randhir Gollen and Dharampal Gonder -- also said that they have decided to extend support to the Congress during the elections.
Bucking anti-incumbency, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party pulled off a hat-trick of wins in Haryana to retain power and halt Congress' comeback attempt in the assembly elections, results of which were announced on Tuesday.
'Arithmetic could decide the Haryana election given the presence of multi-cornered contests.'
She's one of the most recognised faces on television. She has interviewed the who's who of Indian business and then some. She was voted FICCI Woman of the Year in 2005 and has been oft described as one of the few TV journalists to add a touch of glamour to the field. CNBC's Shereen Bhan gets candid.
This is the first campaign ban imposed by the poll body in this Lok Sabha election cycle.
Phogat and Punia joined the party in the presence of Congress general secretary KC Venugopal, spokesperson Pawan Khera and Haryana Congress chief Uday Bhan.
If CAS rules in Vinesh's favour, she will be awarded a joint-silver in the women's 50kg freestyle category.
'Unlike in the sporting arena, where sports federations moved from partisan to impartial referees, in Indian democracy's biggest festival, it appears we are moving backward from unbiased and objective to one-sided and partisan,' observes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
Justices G S Sandhawalia and Harpreet Kaur Jeewan also held the Haryana State Employment of Local Candidates Act, 2020 "ultravires" and said it will become "ineffective from the date it came into force".
"Fresh elections to the assembly should be held to enable people to elect a popular government in the state in accordance with law," the memorandum to the Haryana governor read.
"Looking at the films come to life on set was a lot of fun. The lensing, the art direction and Prakash Sir's detailed eye. It felt like something special was brewing," says Naina Bhan.
Retail investors now own a larger share of smallcap companies than they did a year ago, thanks to their conviction in mutual fund (MF) schemes focused on this segment. Data from Capitaline shows that MFs' average holding in the National Stock Exchange Nifty Smallcap 250 Index stood at 9 per cent at the end of the October-December quarter of 2023-24 (FY24), up from 7.76 per cent in the same quarter of 2022-23.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances