The NDA is expected to apply the same formula for portfolio allocation that it used during ticket distribution, coalition insiders indicated. Under the emerging arrangement, Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) will continue to hold the Chief Minister’s post. Meanwhile, the BJP and Chirag Paswan’s LJP (Ram Vilas) are each likely to secure one Deputy Chief Minister position, signalling a balanced power-sharing structure within the alliance.
The Opposition Mahagathbandhan on Tuesday released its manifesto for the Bihar Assembly polls, promising a government job to one member of every family, restoration of the old pension scheme, 200 units of free power to each household, lift ban on toddy and a monthly allowance of Rs.2,500 under Mai Bahin Yojna for women. The NDA alliance termed the manifesto a “bundle of lies”.
The principal rival fronts in Bihar have finally announced incumbent Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav as their respective chief ministerial candidates after weeks of speculation and haggling. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA), around the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-Janata Dal (United) axis, and the Mahagatbandhan, or Grand Alliance, around the Indian National Congress-Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) axis, are caught in their internal games of one-upmanship.
Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor on Wednesday donned the political strategist’s hat to predict a certain defeat for the ruling NDA in Bihar, citing the inability of the BJP-led coalition to finalise seats and candidates.
The ruling NDA on Sunday announced its seat share deal with BJP and JD(U) bagging 101 seats each, while union minister Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) will contest 29 seats in the elections to the 243-member Assembly. Union minister Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) and former union minister Upendra Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) will contest six seats each.
In a major announcement ahead of the assembly elections, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav on Thursday said that if the RJD-led Opposition INDIA bloc came to power in Bihar, it would bring an Act to ensure that every family in the state has at least one member with a government job.
A political dispute has arisen in Bihar after RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav accused Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Kumar Sinha of holding two voter ID cards, one for each of the Lakhisarai and Bankipur Assembly constituencies.
A new report by India’s top government auditor, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), has found serious problems in how Bihar used public money in 2023–24. According to the report, the State government spent over ₹70,000 crore without giving any proof of how or where the money was used.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) on Thursday served a show-cause notice to its MP Girdhari Yadav his inflammatory comments on the current special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state. The notice alleged that the comments “inadvertently lent credibility to the baseless and politically motivated allegations made by the Opposition.”
Close circuit television footage at a leading hospital in Patna revealed some men walking in gun in hand and leaving after shooting a convicted criminal on parole. This is the latest incident of violence in Bihar where elections are round the corner and is a reminder to the voters that enough is enough.
