BJP on Thursday released its manifesto for the Jharkhand assembly polls.
The voting will be held on November 30, December 7, 12, 16 and 20.
AICC in-charge for Jharkhand, R P N Singh, said the party is happy for its best performance in the state since its creation in 2000.
Of the total 81 seats, elections to 50 seats concluded in the first three phases held between November 30 and December 12. The fifth and final phase of polling to 16 seats will be held on December 20 and votes will be counted on December 23.
The Election Commission is likely to announce schedule for assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir and Jharkhand on Saturday.
Two political parties having two members in the Jharkhand assembly merged with the Trinamool Congress in Ranchi on Monday.
The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha's vote share in the just-concluded Jharkhand assembly polls has slumped to 18.72 per cent despite the party winning 30 of the total 81 seats in the state. The JMM had won 19 seats in 2014 polls with a vote share of 20.43 per cent. This time the party bagged 30 seats but its vote share came down to 18.72 per cent.
Senior leaders of the party -- Prashant Kishor and Pavan Varma -- have slammed the legislation calling it 'unconstitutional' and urged Nitish Kumar to rethink his support in Parliament.
Altogether 80 out of 81 members of Legislative Assembly in Jharkhand Assembly voted in the presidential elections on Thursday with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party alone among alliance partners backing P A Sangma.
Karnataka, by reposing its faith in BSY, remains a Hindutva stronghold, reports R Rajagopalan.
Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday pulled up senior Congress leaders in Jharkhand for factional politics which was harming the party interests in the state.
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader Hemant Soren, the son of Jharkhand architect Shibu Soren, took the reins of the state as chief minister on Sunday, a week after a three-party coalition, led by him, swept the assembly polls, bagging 47 seats in the 81-member assembly. This will be Soren's second stint as the chief minister of the tribal state. His first had lasted for just about 14 months since July 15 2013.
The Jharkhand assembly was on Saturday adjourned till 2 pm after the opposition created pandemonium demanding a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the alleged horse trading in the run up to the Rajya Sabha polls.
The Jharkhand poll results also show that the caste equations against BJP are consolidating. Cong leaders feel that the BJP is not invincible and can be defeated if like-minded parties get together.
Polling in 15 constituencies of the state on Sunday ended with 61.08 per cent electorate exercising their franchise in the penultimate phase of the assembly elections in Jharkhand as the day passed off peacefully.
Amid tight security, 62.60 per cent of 56,18,267 voters exercised their franchise in 17 to decide the fate of 309 candidates.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday sought answers from Narendra Modi on CNT/SPT Acts, starvation deaths and 'divisiveness',a day after the prime minister threw challenges to Congress on citizenship, Article 370 and triple talaq. She also attacked the prime minister on economic slowdown, Citizenship Act, National Register of Citizenship and alleged assaults on women in different parts of the country.
Counting of votes for the 81-member Jharkhand assembly will be taken up on Wednesday to decide the fate of 1,489 candidates who contested the five phase elections from November 25 to December 18.
Warning against canvassing for the December 18 phase of Jharkhand assembly polls, Maoists on Tuesday burnt the campaign vehicle of an Independent candidate contesting from Panki assembly constituency in Palamau district, the police said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday declared its first list of 58 candidates for the forthcoming Jharkhand assembly elections and said the remaining names would be finalised after details of seat-sharing with ally Janata Dal-United are completed.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday appointed observers for Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir a day after the party's good show in the assembly elections in the two states.
He also accused the Congress of delaying a solution to the Kashmir issue for seven decades.
Citing the upcoming assembly elections in Jharkhand, the Indian Olympic Association on Friday postponed the 34th National Games for the fifth time in two years.
A party, which is recognised as a 'state party' in four or more states, would be declared a 'national party', provided it keeps up that position in subsequent general election to the Lok Sabha or the assembly. The party, which has a lantern for its symbol, may lose its national party status following its poor show in last year's Jharkhand assembly polls.
A Jharkhand court on Monday directed Chief Minister Shibu Soren to appear before it on February 3 in connection with a 35-year-old double murder case. Soren, who will seek a trust vote in the Jharkhand assembly on January 7, is the sole accused in the case, in which eight others were acquitted in 1986. Soren was made one of the accused in the double murder case which had occurred on April 15, 1974 over the killing of a goat at Kudko under Pirtand police station in Giridih.
There are reports that Jharkhand Mukti Morcha chief Shibu Soren may meet the Haryana governor on Friday to discuss the formation of the new government in the state.
Every student of Classes 9 and 10 will receive Rs 2,200 and that of Classes 11 and 12 Rs 7,500 as scholarships, said the manifesto, which was released by Prasad in Ranchi, in the presence of Chief Minister Raghubar Das, Union Tribal Minister Arjun Munda and BJP's state unit president Laxman Gilua.
Jharkhand Governor Syed Ahmed on Wednesday recommended to the Centre revocation of President's rule, a day after Jharkhand Mukti Morcha staked claim to form a new government in the state.
The second phase of polling began Saturday morning on 20 constituencies in Jharkhand, which votes in five phases to elect 81 members of the legislative assembly.
Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav on Wednesday claimed the support of 43 legislators in the 82-member Jharkhand Assembly and asserted that the United Progressive Alliance will provide a stable government.
It is unfortunate that the Congress has taken a decision of contesting the elections in alliance with the JMM without even consulting allies in the UPA government, he said.
The Jharkhand high court on Thursday asked Jharkhand Mukti Morcha chief Shibu Soren to surrender before the sub- divisional judicial magistrate in Jamtara before August 2.
The NDA will raise its apprehensions in both Houses about the possibility of Shibu Soren government nominating an Anglo-Indian before the March 15 trial of strength in the Jharkhand Assembly, BJP deputy leader in Rajya Sabha Sushma Swaraj said.
Noted constitutional expert Rajeev Dhavan said no prima-facie case was made out for the apex court to interfere with the decision of the governor who had fixed the date for the trust vote.
The decision was taken after the Speaker suggested a Presidential reference on the Supreme Court directive to hold a confidence vote in the Jharkhand assembly on Friday.
Assembly elections in 288 seats in Maharashtra and 90 seats in Haryana will be held on October 15 and counting will take place on October 19, the Election Commission announced on Friday.
A woman police constable, on her way with family members to cremate her brother-in-law, was allegedly gang raped by a gang of dacoits on National Highway 75 near Jagaldaga in Latehar district of Jharkhand, police said on Saturday.
The NRC has been discussed neither in Parliament nor in the Cabinet, Modi said on Sunday.