Page 10 - Latest Updates on Bihar Elections 2025

Jan Suraaj to release second list of candidates for Bihar polls today

Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraaj Party is all set to release its second list of candidates for the Bihar assembly elections on Monday, four days after the party declared its first list. All eyes are on Raghopur seat, in Vaishali district, where sitting MLA Tejashwi Yadav aims for a hat-trick. Kishor, a former poll strategist, has been dropping hints that he might contest the seat himself. The second list is expected to end the suspense over whether Kishor would make his poll debut from Tejashwi's home turf Raghopur. Party leaders are tight-lipped about whether the candidature for Raghopur will be declared in the second list or not. Sources said the party may come out with another list of candidates in a day or two. Jan Suraaj Party on October 9 released its first list of 51 candidates, but did not confirm whether its founder Prashant Kishor would contest the polls. Prominent names in the first list included former IPS officer of Bihar cadre, R K Mishra from Darbhanga, prominent lawyer

NDA's election plan for Bihar: BJP and JD(U) get 101 seats each

Both get 101 seats. Other NDA allies welcome formula. PM announces farm projects worth ₹35,000 cr on JP's birth anniversary

SBSP to go solo in Bihar polls if BJP does not share seats: Arvind Rajbhar

A senior leader of the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), which is part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), on Sunday said if the BJP does not share seats in the ongoing Bihar Assembly polls, the party will contest the elections alone. He also claimed the party has received an offer from the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) to contest on five seats. Speaking to PTI here, SBSP's national general secretary Arvind Rajbhar, the eldest son of Uttar Pradesh Panchayat Raj Minister Om Prakash Rajbhar, said, "The party will definitely contest the Bihar Assembly elections. If talks with the BJP fail to work out, we will contest the elections alone." Arvind Rajbhar also said he got a call from BJP national president JP Nadda on Sunday, where the latter inquired about the SBSP's influence in Bihar. He has informed Nadda that the party has influence in 32 districts of Bihar, Rajbhar said. The SBSP has shared a list of 29 seats with the BJP leadership for the Bihar elections. Rajbhar said t

Seat-sharing in INDIA bloc may have to wait as Lalu, Tejashwi head to Delhi

Seat-sharing woes may continue to plague the INDIA bloc in Bihar for some time, with RJD president Lalu Prasad, along with son and heir apparent Tejashwi Yadav, leaving for Delhi on Sunday. The party, which recently "authorised" Prasad to take a call on seat distribution and candidate selection, enjoys an overbearing presence in the "Mahagathbandhan", the name by which the RJD, Congress and Left combine was known in Bihar until a nationwide alliance was formed with the catchy acronym. When the father-son duo, accompanied by Prasad's wife Rabri Devi, a former chief minister, left their residence, cries of despair emanated from aspirants who were hopeful of an audience with their benefactors. Security personnel had a tough time chasing them away from 10, Circular Road, the bungalow allotted to Rabri Devi, right across the street from the chief minister's residence. At the airport, the elderly couple chose to take no questions from journalists, but Tejashwi Yadav, who is now eyeing th

Mahagathbandhan partners to fight Bihar polls together: Pawan Khera

Senior Congress leader Pawan Khera on Sunday said there is no hitch in seat sharing in Bihar and Mahagathbandhan partners would fight the assembly elections together. He said every party has the right to express its views. His statement came a day after the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) asked the INDIA bloc to decide on seat sharing for the Bihar polls by October 14 or else the party would take its own decision. "In Bihar, there is no hitch in seat sharing in the Mahagathbandhan, as hoped by the BJP. Every party has the right to express its views. We will fight the election together," Khera, the Congress' Media and Publicity Department head, told reporters at Ranchi's Birsa Munda Airport. Khera is in Ranchi to participate in a discussion on 'tribal rights in Constitution versus ground reality' at St. Xavier's College here. JMM central general secretary and spokesperson Supriyo Bhattacharya on Saturday said the party would take its own decision on the upcoming Bihar assembly electio

Prashant Kishor takes dig at Tejashwi's govt job promise ahead of polls

Kishor warned that if voters choose corrupt leaders again, they should be ready to live in bad conditions for the next five years

JD(U) finalises list of Bihar poll candidates, may drop 4 sitting MLAs

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United) has finalised its candidates for "all the seats" it will be contesting in the upcoming assembly polls and may drop four sitting MLAs, a senior party leader said. The senior JD(U) leader, on condition of anonymity, said that the party was likely to contest 103 of the 243 seats in the state assembly, though a formal announcement will be made "at an appropriate time" by senior leaders of the NDA. "The seats which we would be contesting have been identified. Respective candidates have also been finalised. Four non-performing sitting MLAs will be replaced with fresh faces. A new candidate will also be fielded in Parbatta seat in Khagaria where our MLA Sanjeev Kumar last week crossed over to the RJD. The same will happen in Rupauli assembly constituency, where our multiple-term former MLA Bima Bharti has sided with the opposition parties," the JD(U) leader said. Assembly seats where four non-performing MLAs will be replaced come unde

Long distance, insecure jobs keep Bihar migrants from voting in polls

For thousands of migrant workers from Bihar living across Tamil Nadu, the idea of travelling over 2,000 km home to cast their vote in the two-phase elections this November remains a distant dream, as their insecure jobs barely allow them to take a day off. Families that left their home state and settled in Tamil Nadu for low-paying jobs also do not see travel as an option this poll season. "Most of us in the construction sector stay at the site, cook our own food, and eat there. We rarely go out. We work on holidays and sometimes past sunset to earn a little extra for our families," said Ajay Kumar, a construction worker. "In case I decide to go to Patna, I would need six days for the round trip and a few more to spend with my family. So, I may not go home," he added. Many families from Bihar are now spread across Tamil Nadusome as far as Kanyakumari, bordering Keralaand work in sectors such as rubber glove manufacturing, coir production, domestic work, and other industries. "They

Don't want to contest Bihar Assembly elections: Bhojpuri actor Pawan Singh

Bhojpuri superstar Pawan Singh on Saturday announced that he would not contest the upcoming assembly polls in Bihar, and said he would continue to remain as a "soldier" of the BJP. His announcement comes as speculations are rife that Singh may contest the polls on a BJP ticket from one of the seven assembly seats of Bhojpur district, preferably from the Ara or Barhara seats, after he recently met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) chief and Rajya Sabha member Upendra Kushwaha. In a post on X, Singh wrote, I, Pawan Singh, want to inform my Bhojpuri community that I did not join the party (BJP) to contest the Bihar assembly electionsnor do I want to contest the assembly elections. I am a true soldier of the party and will remain so." He also shared his photograph with Shah on the social media platform. Singh had unsuccessfully contested the 2024 Lok Sabha election as an Independent from the Karakat seat. The Karakat Lok Sabha seat went to Raja Ram Kushwaha

AIMIM to contest 100 seats in Bihar, aims to emerge as third front

The AIMIM, which has been spurned by the INDIA bloc in Bihar, on Saturday said it was planning to contest around 100 seats in the upcoming state assembly polls, five times the number it had fought in the last elections. The party, headed by Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi, claimed that it was aiming to build a "third alternative" in Bihar, where politics has, for years, been all about the BJP-led NDA and the Congress-RJD combine. Talking to PTI-Bhasha, the AIMIM's state president Akhtarul Iman said, "Our plan is to contest 100 seats. Both the NDA and the 'Mahagathbandhan' (the name by which the INDIA bloc is known in Bihar) will be forced to realise our presence." He also claimed that the 'Mahagathbandhan', which had in 2020 accused the AIMIM of splitting secular votes, can no longer do so. "It is now common knowledge that I wrote to (RJD president) Lalu Prasad and Tejashwi Yadav, expressing willingness for a tie-up. But no response came. "Now, we must do all that we can to expand o

NDA seat-sharing talks for Bihar polls not yet over, says Upendra Kushwaha

Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) chief Upendra Kushwaha on Saturday dismissed speculations about rumblings of discontent among NDA constituents in Bihar over seat sharing for the upcoming assembly polls and said that talks have not yet concluded. The former Union minister, in an X post, said, "Don't pay attention to rumours floating around. The talks are not yet concluded. Wait...! I don't know how the news is being circulated in the media. If someone is planting news, it's deceit, it's betrayal." Union minister Jitan Ram Manjhi had earlier said that he was "requesting and not making a claim" that his Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) be given a respectable number of seats, otherwise the party might not contest the election. Another Union minister, Chirag Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), which had earlier settled for around 20-22 seats, is now reportedly asking for at least 25 more. Assembly elections in the state will be held on November 6 and 11, while votes will be counted on ...

Filing of nomination papers for first phase of Bihar Assembly polls begins

Filing of nomination papers began on Friday for the elections to 121 seats in the first phase of the Bihar assembly polls, officials said. The first round of the elections will be held on November 6. Candidates can file their nomination papers til October 17, and the scrutiny of such documents will be held on the next day, according to a notification. The last date for withdrawal of nominations is October 20 for the first phase of the assembly polls. Patna, Darbhanga, Madhepura, Saharsa, Muzaffarpur, Gopalganj, Siwan, Saran, Vaishali, Samastipur, Begusarai, Lakhisarai, Munger, Sheikhpura, Nalanda, Buxar, and Bhojpur districts will go for polls in the first phase. The second and final phase of the poll will take place on November 11 in 122 assembly seats. The counting of votes will take place on November 14. The ruling NDA and the opposition INDIA bloc have not declared their list of candidates so far. Constituents of the NDA and the INDIA bloc are grappling with differences ove

Poll code violation case against Pappu Yadav for giving flood relief money

A case was filed against Bihar MP Pappu Yadav for allegedly violating the model code of conduct after he distributed money among the flood-affected people in Vaishali district, officials said on Friday. The case was registered against Yadav, the Independent MP from Purnea, at the Sahdei police station on Thursday night on the basis of a complaint filed by the district administration, they said. "The case was registered on the basis of CCTV footage and a statement given by an official engaged in poll duty," SP Lalit Mohan Sharma said. The matter is being investigated, he added. Polling for the assembly elections in the state will be held on November 6 and 11, while the votes will be counted on November 14. The model code of conduct comes into effect with the announcement of the poll dates by the Election Commission.

ECI allows 12 alternative IDs for voting, special measure for veiled women

Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said Aanganwadi workers will assist in verifying the identity of 'burqa-clad' or voters in 'ghunghat' at all Bihar polling booths

Bihar Elections: Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraaj Party unveils 51 candidates

The Jan Suraaj Party, led by political strategist Prashant Kishor, has announced its first list of 51 candidates for the Bihar Assembly elections, featuring academics, artists, and retired officials

UK PM in India, cough syrup deaths case, Bihar elections, Israel-Hamas peace deal & more

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Mumbai today. The two leaders reaffirmed the importance of the India-UK trade deal,

Every household to have a member with govt job: RJD's big poll promise

Tejashwi Yadav announced at a press conference, declaring that within 20 days of forming the government, they would pass a new law to ensure the enactment of this guarantee

Liquor ban to land ceilings: Bihar's reform story resurfaces before polls

As Bihar gears up for the 2025 Assembly elections, the 2016 Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act has again taken the spotlight amid criticism over its outcomes and impact on governance

Bihar elections 2025: Key parties, issues, and electoral shifts explained

From Nitish Kumar's 'sushasan' to Tejashwi's job promise, Bihar's elections since 2005 tell a story of shifting alliances, changing issues and the state's long battle between caste and governance

Bihar elections 2025: How the 2000 Jharkhand split reshaped Bihar's economy

Bihar polls 2025: 25 years after the 2000 split, Bihar is still coping with the loss of Jharkhand's mineral base, relying on agriculture, central funds, and migration