Bihar Elections

RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on Monday promised a more than three-fold rise in the amount paid to beneficiaries of social security schemes in Bihar, if the coalition headed by his party came to power in the state. The former Bihar deputy chief minister said the amount paid to senior citizens, widows and people with disabilities would be increased from Rs 400 to Rs 1,500 per month. "If we form the government after the assembly polls due next year, people over 60 years of age or with disabilities as also widows will get Rs 1,500 per month by way of the social security schemes in place," said Yadav, who is currently the leader of the opposition in the state assembly. The RJD leader, whose party is a partner in the ruling coalition in adjoining Jharkhand, where social security schemes played a role in helping JMM leader Hemant Soren's return to power, asserted, "we deliver on our promises whenever we get a chance", even as he termed as "meagre" the Rs 400 per month currently paid in ...

Speaking virtually to the Bihari diaspora after inaugurating the US chapter of Jan Suraaj, the former Kishore expressed confidence in his party's chances of winning the 2025 Bihar Assembly elections

The ruling NDA in Bihar on Saturday swept the bypolls to four assembly segments, retaining Imamganj and wresting from the INDIA bloc Tarari, Ramgarh and Belaganj, receiving a boost ahead of the assembly elections due next year. Candidates of the Jan Suraaj, floated recently by former political strategist Prashant Kishor with much fanfare, lost deposits in all but one seat, in a clear indication that the fledgling party, despite claims of taking the political landscape in the state by storm, needs to cover much ground. The biggest setback for the INDIA bloc, helmed by the RJD, came in Belaganj, a seat the party had been winning since its inception in the 1990s, but this time lost to the JD(U) headed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the arch-rival of its founding president Lalu Prasad. The JD(U) candidate Manorama Devi, a former MLC, defeated by a margin of more than 21,000 votes RJD's Vishwanath Kumar Singh who made his debut from a seat that fell vacant upon election to Lok Sabha of

The by-polls will be conducted on November 13 in Tarari, Ramgarh, Imamganj and Belaganj assembly constituencies and the results for the same will be declared on November 23

Prashant Kishor said that 10 state governments currently employ his strategies, while adding that he has ample resources to fund his campaign needs in Bihar

Altogether 38 candidates were on Wednesday left in the fray for Tarari, Ramgarh, Belaganj and Imamganj assembly seats of Bihar where by-polls are scheduled next month. According to a statement from the Election Commission, a total of 50 candidates, including nine women, had filed their nomination papers till October 25, but six of those were rejected during scrutiny and an equal number of persons withdrew from the contest. Of the four constituencies, Belaganj has the highest number of 14 candidates, including RJD's Vishwanath Kumar Singh, son of Surendra Prasad Yadav whose election to the Lok Sabha from Jehanabad has necessitated the by-election. His main rival is Manorama Devi of JD(U), a former MLC while Jan Suraaj's Mohd Amjad and AIMIM's Mohd Zamin Ali Hasan are expected to queer the pitch for the two primary contenders. The lowest number of five candidates are in the fray for Ramgarh where RJD's Ajit Kumar Singh, the son of state party chief Jagadanand Singh, hopes to retain t

Political strategist-turned-activist Prashant Kishor on Wednesday announced the launch of his political outfit Jan Suraaj Party, a much-anticipated move by which he hopes to take the political landscape in Bihar by storm. The party was launched at Veterinary College Ground in the state capital in presence of many renowned figures, including former Union minister Devendra Prasad Yadav, diplomat-turned-politician Pavan Varma and ex-MP Monazir Hassan. The party was floated exactly two years after Kishor had embarked on a more than 3,000-km-long 'padayatra' of the state, from Champaran where Mahatma Gandhi had launched the first Satyagraha in the country, in a bid to mobilise the people for a "new political alternative" that could cure Bihar of its chronic backwardness.

Political strategist-turned-activist Prashant Kishor on Wednesday alleged that after being voted to power by people impressed with his track record in Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has "diverted wealth of the entire country to his home state". The I-PAC founder, whose first claim to fame was his handling of Modi's spectacular Lok Sabha polls campaign of 2014, made the scathing attack on the PM at a public meeting to mark the launch of his own political outfit Jan Suraaj Party. "People like you and me voted for Modi, listening to his speeches, taken in by the impression that he has done a lot for the development of Gujarat. Indeed, Gujarat is progressing. The wealth of the entire country seems to have been diverted to Gujarat where factories are being set up in every village. People from Bihar are flocking to that state in search of employment," Kishor alleged. The 47-year-old leader was underscoring the point that people got from governments what they had voted for in ...

Political strategist turned activist Prashant Kishor on Tuesday exuded confidence about raising at least Rs 200 crore for Jan Suraaj, tipped to become a political party in less than two months, through a system of "decentralised donations". The IPAC founder, who hopes to take the political landscape in Bihar by storm, disclosed his strategy here in reply to queries from journalists about his plans to shore up resources for the new party which will make its debut in assembly polls due next year. "Funding is a question that seems to be weighing down on people's minds for long. Of course, unlike the established political parties, we cannot depend on generous donations from the mafia involved in the illicit liquor trade and sand mining. So we will go for a system of decentralised donations," said Kishor. He said the Jan Suraaj will seek donations of a tiny amount of Rs 100 each from 2 crore people across the state and expressed confidence that they would readily oblige. "We will ask th

As political strategist Prashant Kishor looks to shape his 'Jan Suraj' campaign into a political party, he is keen to shake off any perception linking the new organisation with any particular voting bloc by incorporating proportional number of representatives from various social groups in line with their population share. The new party, which will be formed on October 2 in Bihar, will have a 25-member central committee, with proportional representation from the general category, other backward classes (OBCs), extremely backward classes (EBCs), scheduled castes and minorities, 'Jan Suraj' representatives have said. They had earlier said that equal representation would be made from these communities before revising their statement to say that these social blocks will have their share in line with their population in the overall census. The Bihar government had recently carried out a caste survey to find out the number of different communities. The 25 members will elect a leader of th

Prashant Kishor's coming involvement in the Bihar assembly elections represents a full circle, as he was the strategist of Nitish Kumar's 2015 victory against the BJP in the state

The most significant aspect of his annoucement is that the he would launch his political outfit ahead of Bihar assembly polls

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U) on Saturday said that it wanted to contest the assembly elections in neighbouring Jharkhand in alliance with the BJP. Kumar chaired a meeting of his party at his official residence and it was attended by JD(U) working president Sanjay Kumar Jha, who is in charge of Jharkhand, Bihar minister Ashok Choudhary and Rajya Sabha MP Khiru Mahto, who heads the JD(U)'s unit in the adjoining state, among others. After the meeting, Mahto told reporters, "We are looking forward to contesting the Jharkhand assembly polls in alliance with the BJP." "Among the issues discussed with the party's supreme leader was the inclusion of Kurmis in the list of Scheduled Tribes. Kurmi leaders in Jharkhand have been raising the demand for some time and today it was seconded by delegates from West Bengal. We will now move forward by raising the issue in Parliament and before President Droupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah," he ..

Manjhi was chief minister of Bihar from May 2014 to February 2015

Since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has not secured an outright majority, the pivotal factor for achieving a majority rests with Chandrababu Naidu and Nitish Kumar

Lok Sabha elections exit polls: While the INDIA bloc is expected to perform better than the Lok Sabha 2019 in Bihar, exit poll surveys indicate that Nitish Kumar-led NDA will sail smoothly in Bihar

Lok Sabha polls 2024 Phase 7 voter turnout: At more than 60 per cent, Jharkhand recorded the highest voter turnout at 3 pm, Bihar had the lowest at 42.95 per cent

Lok Sabha polls 2024 Phase 7 voter turnout: Himachal Pradesh had the highest voter turnout at 48.63

Polling commenced on Saturday morning for eight Lok Sabha constituencies in Bihar, along with the by-election to the Agiaon assembly seat, to determine the fate of 134 candidates. Voting began at 7 am in Patna Sahib, Pataliputra, Arrah, Karakat, Jehanabad, Buxar, Nalanda, and Jehanabad Lok Sabha seats and will continue till 6 pm. Over 1.6 crore people in these eight seats are eligible to cast their votes to decide the electoral fate of the candidates, a senior official said. Voting is underway at 16,634 polling stations, with 3,885 situated in urban areas. Several high-profile candidates are in the fray such as Union Minister RK Singh, who is seeking his third term from Arrah, where his principal challenger is Sudama Prasad, a sitting MLA of CPI(ML) Liberation. The Arrah Lok Sabha seat includes six assembly segments, including Agiaon, a reserved seat, where a by-poll is also being conducted simultaneously due to the disqualification of CPI(ML) MLA Manoj Manzil following his convic

Lok Sabha elections 2024: West Bengal recorded the highest voter turnout in Phase 6 at nearly 83%, Uttar Pradesh had the lowest at 54%