Bihar

Patna, Oct 28 (PTI) Polling began Wednesday morning in 71 assembly constituencies of Bihar in the first phase of three-phase elections amid tight security and COVID-19 guidelines in place.

Of the total 2,14,84,787 electors eligible to exercise the franchise, 1,12,76,396 are male voters, 1,01,29,101 are female electors and 599 are in third gender category, according to data provided by the Election Commission

There are 78,691 service electors

Patna, Oct 26 (PTI) Curtain came down on Monday over campaign for 71 assembly segments of Bihar which go to polls on October 28, in the first phase of elections.

Leading the NDA charge, Prime Minister Narendra Modi flew down to address as many as three rallies where he urged the voters to vote Chief Minister Nitish Kumar back to power.

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, whose party is contesting the elections in alliance with Lalu Prasads RJD and three Left parties, also chipped in with two rallies.

Patna/Bhagalpur/Gaya, Oct 26 (PTI) With the campaign for the Bihar assembly election reaching a fever pitch, the Election Commission's warning of stern action for violation of COVID-19 protocol has gone unheeded with people gathering in huge numbers at rallies without wearing masks or caring for social distancing.

Patna, Oct 22 (PTI) Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi on Thursday said that he has tested positive for COVID-19 and was undergoing treatment, while also asserting that his parameters were fine and he was looking forward to hitting the campaign trail soon in the poll-bound state.

Modi, one of the tallest leaders of the BJP in Bihar, had been missing from action for quite some time and was conspicuous by his absence when Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman released the party's manifesto earlier in the day.

Patna, Oct 22 (PTI) Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Thursday released the BJPs manifesto for the Bihar assembly polls which seeks to reach out to the youth with the promise of 19 lakh jobs in the next five years and farmers with the assurance of bringing lentils under the MSP regime.

Carrying the tagline BJP hai to bharosa hai, the party drew heavily upon the trust enjoyed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi among the masses by virtue of pro-people measures like the Jan Dhan scheme and the Ujjwala Yojana.

Patna, Oct 19 (PTI) LJP chief Chirag Paswan on Monday voiced strong displeasure over the use of term 'vote katua' for his party by some BJP leaders to keep Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar happy, and asserted his party will win more seats in the Bihar assembly polls than the JD(U).

'Vote Katua' is an expression used in the Hindi heartland for political parties and candidates in elections who are in the fray to eat into the votes of others without benefiting themselves.

Patna, Oct 16 (PTI) Bihar's Panchayati Raj minister Kapil Deo Kamat succumbed to COVID-19 early on Friday at AIIMS, Patna, family sources said. He was 70.

Kamat is survived by two sons and four daughters. His wife died a few months ago.

"Kapil Deo Kamat died of COVID-19 at 1:50 am (Friday) here at AIIMS, Patna. He was suffering from kidney failure and had been on ventilator over the past few days," Dr Sanjeev Kumar, the COVID-19 nodal officer of AIIMS-Patna, told PTI.

Patna, Oct 12 (PTI) Bihar minister for backward and extremely backward class welfare Vinod Kumar Singh died on Monday at a hospital in Delhi due to post-COVID 19 complications, family sources said. He was 55.

He is survived by wife Nisha and two daughters.

Singh, a BJP MLA from Pranpur constituency in Katihar district, had tested positive for COVID-19 on June 28 and subsequently recovered.

Shortly after, however, he suffered a brain haemorrhage and had to be airlifted to a private hospital in Delhi, where he breathed his last.

Buxar, Oct 12 (PTI) Seven persons allegedly raped a 30-year-old woman after killing her five-year-old son in a village in Bihar's Buxar district, police said on Monday.

One person has been arrested in connection with the incident, while search is on to nab the others, they said.

On Saturday, the accused took the woman to a jungle when she had come to Chaigain village to deposit money at a bank along with her son, raped her and killed the child, her father said in the FIR lodged with Murar Police Station.

Patna, Oct 6 (PTI) Ending days of intense speculation, the NDA on Tuesday announced its seat-sharing formula for Bihar assembly polls under which JD(U) will contest on 122 seats and BJP 121 out of a total of 243 seats.

BJP backed to the hilt Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as its leader in the state and rebuffed a rebellious Chirag Paswan, while acknowledging his LJP as an ally "at the Centre".