Bihar Election 2025 Highlights: Chirag Paswan’s LJP releases second list of 29 candidates

Union Minister Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) released its second list of 29 candidates on Thursday for the Bihar Assembly elections 2025, following the announcement of the first list of 14 candidates on Wednesday.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah arrived here on a three-day visit to poll-bound Bihar on Thursday, during which he is likely to hold discussions on the BJP's organisation, meet leaders of alliance partners and address a few public meetings, a party leader said.

Bihar BJP president Dilip Jaiswal received Shah at Jay Prakash Narayan International Airport here.

The home minister is likely to meet organisational workers of the party later in the evening and is expected to address public meetings in Taraiya and Amnaur assembly seats on Friday, a BJP source said.

Besides, he will address a meeting of intellectuals at Gyan Bhavan in Patna on Friday.

During his three-day stay in Bihar, Shah is likely to be present in the processions before nomination filing by some BJP candidates, the party source said.

"Over the course of the next four days, filing of nomination papers will be completed for all the 243 seats in the state assembly. Instructions will be issued by the home minister to all party leaders to ensure better coordination among NDA partners during the upcoming polls," said a senior BJP leader, who did not wish to be quoted.

Several top BJP leaders, including chief ministers of several states and union ministers, are likely to visit Bihar to "boost the morale of the NDA candidates" at the time of filing of nomination papers, which will continue till October 20 for both phases of polls.

In the days to come, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also hold rallies in the state, the BJP leader said.

The elections in Bihar will be held in two phases, on November 6 and 11, and the votes will be counted on November 14. (PTI)

Amid opposition demands to withdraw its directive for verifying the identity of burqa-clad women voters in Bihar, the Election Commission (EC) on Thursday defended the move, saying it follows a 1994 order issued under then Chief Election Commissioner T N Seshan.

The EC said arrangements will be made for the “dignified identification” of purdahnasheen women in private enclosures by lady polling staff.

Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar earlier said Anganwadi workers will assist in the process at all polling booths.

Bihar BJP president Dilip Jaiswal has also urged verification of burqa-clad voters’ faces. Assembly elections in Bihar will be held on November 6 and 11, with counting on November 14. (PTI)

Head of BJP's National Information & Technology Dept Amit Malviya took a dig at the opposition Mahagathbandhan for still not declaring the seat-sharing formula.

In a post on X, Malviya said, "No agreement yet between RJD-Congress on seat sharing. List stuck, nominations ongoing — how will the alliance proceed now?"

"No candidates finalized, no strategy. Just rhetoric and politics of internal contradictions. On many seats, the alliance's own parties are facing off against each other! The meaning is clear — this is not an alliance, but a bond of distrust," he added.

The Janata Dal United (JDU) Thursday released the second list of 44 candidates, declaring all of its 101 nominees for the elections per the National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA) seat-sharing deal.

Several ministers like Sheila Mandal, Vijendra Prasad Yadav, Leshi Singh, Jayant Raj and Mohd Zama Khan are among the nominees.

The party also fielded turncoats Chetan Anand from Nabinagar and Vibha Devi from Nawad. Both were earlier associated with the RJD.

Three-term North East Delhi MP and Bhojpuri actor-singer, Manoj Tiwari, has been among the BJP’s key Purvanchal faces.

Tiwari, 54, is going to be one of the party’s star campaigners for the November Bihar Assembly elections.

In an interview with The Indian Express, Tiwari speaks on a range of issues related to the Bihar polls.

The NDA’s seat-sharing pact for the Bihar polls was sealed after days of negotiations. And yet, allies like Upendra Kushwaha and Jitan Ram Majhi seem to be upset. Why?

In a coalition, everyone being completely satisfied is a rare thing. This is true of all alliances… In the last elections, LJP was not with us, (Upendra) Kushwaha ji’s party (Rashtriya Lok Morcha) too was not with us. This time, both are contesting together with us. So this alliance has been formed for the first time after a long gap. When it comes to seat-sharing, the two main parties, BJP and JD(U), both will have to let go of a few seats for our allies. Small issues will be solved.

Even BJP does not have complete satisfaction. We had to forgo some seats with a heavy heart. But this is the way of a coalition. But the good thing is that everyone has left these negotiations with satisfaction and are now engaged in seat distribution of their parties.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah will begin his three-day visit to poll-bound Bihar Thursday.

He is likely to hold organisational meetings, meet leaders of alliance partners and address a few public meetings.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday called for booth-level coordination and unity among NDA workers in the Bihar election.

“A party wins when every booth is strong,” Modi said in his virtual address to Bihar’s BJP booth-level workers.

The PM urged the BJP workers to coordinate with alliance partners. “Where there is no BJP candidate, we have to get connected with other NDA candidates. We have to show our full prowess... If an NDA government is formed again in Bihar, it will enhance the respect of every BJP worker,” the PM said.

During the interaction, the PM asked a woman booth worker to address him as brother instead of sir, saying women are his biggest strength, shield and inspiration. He expressed confidence that Bihar would celebrate “another Diwali” on November 14 with NDA’s victory.

The PM also asked BJP workers to host special programmes at the booth level on Bhai Dooj (October 23) for all “sisters” and also honour ‘lakhpati didis’ and ‘drone didis’ in their respective areas. Modi asked BJP workers to reach out to every household to spread awareness about the schemes launched by the Centre and the Nitish Kumar government.

With probable candidates of the Congress growing anxious about getting a ticket for the Bihar Assembly elections as the last date for filing nominations for the first phase on October 17 nears, the party’s sub-committee met Wednesday and is learnt to have put nine seats about which they are undecided in a “pending list”.

The party's Central Election Committee until Tuesday night cleared candidates for 43 seats while the sub-committee, headed by senior Congress leader Ajay Maken, is learnt to have greenlit the names for eight seats on Wednesday.

Late on Wednesday, the Congress announced the names of seven candidates including state Congress chief Rajesh Ram from Kutumba.

Sources told The Indian Express that among the nine seats on the “pending” list are Araria, Supaul and Pranpur (Katihar district). “For Araria, there is a possibility that two-time Congress MLA Avidur Rahman may be dropped. In Pranpur, there is no clarity whether last time’s candidate Tauquir Alam will be repeated or not. Situation is the same with Supaul and Minnatullah Rahmani, who had contested from the seat in 2020,” said a source, who was present during the meeting on Wednesday.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday announced its third list of 18 candidates for the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections. The party has fielded Bina Devi from Kochadhaman seat and Sanjay Pandey from Narkatiaganj.

Union Minister Chirag Paswan's LJP (Ram Vilas), an NDA ally, released its first 14 candidates for the Bihar assembly polls. State chief Raju Tiwary will contest from Govindganj, and Hulas Pandey from Brahampur. Under NDA's seat-sharing, LJP (RV) has 29 seats, BJP and JD(U) 101 each, while HAM and RLM have six each. The remaining 15 LJP candidates will be announced soon. Polls for the 243-member assembly are on November 6 and 11, with counting on November 14.

With the Bihar Assembly elections fast approaching, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday evening interacted with BJP workers from the state through the NaMo app, greeting them in Bhojpuri.

Stressing on the importance of strength, PM Modi said, “The party wins when every booth is strong,” and urged workers to unite under the slogan “Ekjut NDA, Ekjut Bihar --Phirse banegi sushashan ki sarkar.”

He appealed to booth-level workers to reach out to every family in their areas and inform them about the various welfare schemes and benefits provided by the government.

PM Modi also encouraged them to share videos and information about these initiatives to raise awareness among voters.

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav Wednesday filed his nomination papers from his Raghopur Assembly constituency for the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections 2025, which will be voted in the second phase on November 11.

Tejashwi, accompanied by former RJD chief Lalu Prasad and Bihar CM Rabri Devi, left Patna for Raghopur earlier in the day.

He faces Jan Suraaj, candidate Chanchal Singh from the Raghopur constituency.... Click Here

he Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday announced its second list of 12 candidates for the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections. Popular folk singer Maithili Thakur has been fielded from Alinagar, while IPS officer Anand Mishra will contest from Buxar. On Tuesday, the party released its first list of 71 candidates. Former Union Minister and Rajya Sabha MP Ram Kripal Yadav, who recently joined the BJP from the RJD, will contest from Danapur.

AS PER the final electoral rolls following the Election Commission’s (EC’s) contentious Special Intensive Revision (SIR) drive, Bihar has 7.43 crore voters, including 3.92 crore men, 3.5 crore women and 1,725 belonging to the ‘third gender’.

In other words, the women-to-men ratio among voters in Bihar is now 892:1,000. In the last Assembly elections, in 2020, there were 899 women voters for every 1,000 men voters.

Among the 32 out of 38 Bihar districts that have published gender-wise voter data following the SIR, 15 or almost half have seen their gender ratios fall compared to five years ago.

However, this is not the first such fall in voter rolls for Bihar.

Between the 2005 and 2010 Assembly polls in the state, the number of women voters per 1,000 male voters fell from 865 to 859, before showing a jump to 874 in 2015 and to 899 in 2020. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Bihar’s gender ratio stood at 907. Read

Bihar Election 2025 LIVE Updates: RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav arrives at the Hajipur collectorate to file his nomination from Raghopur Assembly seat.

His parents, RJD supremo Lalu Yadav and former CM Rabri Devi accompany him.

Bihar Election 2025 LIVE Updates: Anti-social-turned-politician Anant Kumar Singh, popularly known as 'Chhote Sarkar', who filed his nomination papers as a JD(U) candidate from the Mokama assembly seat in Bihar, declared that he owns movable and immovable assets worth Rs 37.88 crore, according to the affidavit filed by him.

Bihar Election 2025 LIVE Updates: [file-tag: code-generated-file-0-1760513373142968439] The combined list of Janata Dal (United) (JD(U)) candidates is provided below in HTML tabular format. This table includes all 50 candidates from the two pages, with their Serial Number, Assembly Constituency, and Candidate Name. html

Bihar Election 2025 LIVE Updates: Janata Dal (United) releases first list of candidates

Bihar Election 2025 LIVE Updates: Opposition RJD on Wednesday took a dig at poll strategist-turned-politician Prashant Kishor over his decision not to contest the Bihar assembly elections, saying "he had accepted defeat for his Jan Suraaj Party even before going to the battlefield."

Earlier in the day, Jan Suraaj Party founder Kishor announced that he would not contest the polls, a decision, he claimed, was taken by the party in the larger interest.

In an exclusive interview with PTI, Kishor had also said that a "tally of less than 150 seats" for his party would be considered a defeat.

- PTI

Bihar Election 2025 LIVE Updates: Soon after the BJP-led NDA finalised the seat-sharing formula for the Bihar elections, Rashtriya Lok Morcha chief and Rajya Sabha MP Upendra Kushwaha expressed his displeasure over the seat allotment.

After the BJP declared 71 candidates from its quota of 101 seats, Kushwaha and Union Minister Nityanand Rai met BJP leader and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Chaudhary at his home late on Tuesday. Kushwaha’s address to media after the meeting pointed to a rift in the NDA right before the elections.

RLM chief Upendra Kushwaha, after the meeting, said, “This time, nothing is well in NDA.” Samrat Chaudhary could be seen avoiding the media’s questions after the meeting.

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Bihar Election 2025 LIVE Updates: Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor on Wednesday asserted that if voted to power in Bihar, his party will crack down on "100 most corrupt politicians and bureaucrats", and have their ill-gotten wealth confiscated within the first month.

In an exclusive interview with PTI, Kishor also alleged that corruption was rampant under the NDA government, even though the BJP-led coalition did not have as bad a reputation as the RJD headed by Lalu Prasad.

"We have promised to rid Bihar of land mafia, sand mining mafia, and all other types of mafia. To this end, we have made six promises, including the scrapping of the bogus (farzi) prohibition policy", said Kishor.

Within a month of forming the government, a law will be made to identify 100 most corrupt politicians and bureaucrats of the state, who, "I am sure, must be conducting pujas to ensure that we do not come to power".

"These corrupt politicians and bureaucrats will be prosecuted and their ill-gotten wealth will be confiscated and deposited in the state exchequer, where it could be used for Bihar's growth, which has remained stunted because of their misdeeds," he said.

Responding to a query, "I do not think that if charges are framed against Lalu Prasad and Tejashwi Yadav in the 'land for jobs scam', it is news. Everybody knows what they stand for. The case is nothing more than a blot on an already dirty piece of cloth".

"But the real news is the corruption in the NDA. Samrat Choudhary enjoys the Deputy Chief Minister's post despite being an accused in a case relating to the killing of seven persons. He is not out on bail nor has he been acquitted. He escaped trial by furnishing a fake certificate that showed him to be a minor at the time of the massacre," alleged Kishor, who has in the recent past made serious charges against several Bihar ministers, both from the BJP and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U).

"These people wrap a blanket around themselves to hide the ghee that they are consuming secretly (kambal odh ke ghee pinaa)”, said the Buxar-born leader, using a famous Hindi proverb.

Kishor, who claimed to have "no ambitions" to become the next chief minister of his home state, nonetheless, insisted that "60 per cent" of its people were yearning for a change.

"For years, a section of people kept voting for the BJP out of fear that Lalu may be back in power. On the other hand, Muslims kept voting for Lalu out of fear of the BJP. Their reason was that there is no option. This time, they have an alternative", added Kishor.

Replying to another query, he said, "Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi have no stakes whatsoever in the Bihar polls. A reason why they are content with occasionally visiting the state and indulging in slander against each other. They are not suffering like we are”.

"Lalu and Nitish may have been directly responsible for the plight of Bihar, which continues to be at the rock bottom in terms of development. But the Congress and the BJP must also share the blame, as these national parties kept backing inefficient regional leaders, just to ensure that they could get a few Lok Sabha seats from the state”, said Kishor.

- PTI

Bihar Election 2025 LIVE Updates: Enforcement agencies have seized cash, drugs, liquor and freebies worth Rs 33.97 crore from poll-bound Bihar as part of efforts to prevent inducement of voters by political parties.

The state goes to polls in two phases on November 6 and 11. Votes will be counted on November 14.

The Election Commission said on Wednesday that since polls were announced on October 6, a total seizure of Rs 33.97 crore worth of cash, liquor, drugs and freebies has been made by different enforcement agencies.

Expenditure observers have already been deployed to monitor the election expenses incurred by the candidates and have reached their respective constituencies on the day of the notificationa for the two phases were issued.

They will meet all the teams engaged in expenditure monitoring.

Flying squads, surveillance teams, video surveillance teams are working round-the-clock to monitor any suspected instances of money power or other inducements being used to sway the voters, the EC said.

-PTI

Bihar Election 2025 LIVE Updates: The RJD allotted election symbols to several of its candidates. From Siwan, the party’s senior leader Shahabuddin’s son Osama Shahab has been declared a candidate from the Raghunathpur assembly seat.

Bihar Election 2025 LIVE Updates: Deputy CM Samrat Choudhary and Union Minister Nityanand Rai met RLM chief Upendra Kushwaha at his Patna residence late last night. After the meeting Kushwaha said, "This time, nothing is well in NDA."

Bihar Election 2025 LIVE Updates: Racing against time to resolve seat-sharing differences with INDIA bloc allies in Bihar, the Congress on Tuesday cleared names of 18 candidates and formed a sub-committee to finalise names for the remaining seats.

The decisions were made at a Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting that lasted more than three hours. The meeting at the Congress office on Akbar Road was chaired by party president Mallikarjun Kharge, with senior leader K C Venugopal in attendance. The last date for filing nomination for the first phase of elections is October 17, Friday.

Sources told The Indian Express that there were at least 10 seats where there were multiple candidates competing for party tickets, and to resolve the issue the Congress formed a sub-committee which will be headed by Rajya Sabha member Ajay Maken. “There are several seats where there are differences with the RJD, and there are some where there are multiple Congress candidates,” said a source present at Tuesday’s meeting.

“The sub-committee will meet tomorrow (Wednesday) at 9 am to hold discussion on these seats,” the source said.

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Bihar Election 2025 LIVE Updates: Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor said that he won't be contesting the polls and that his party has fielded another candidate from the Raghopur seat in Bihar against RJD's Tejashwi Yadav.

"No, I won't contest. Party has decided... I will continue to do the work I have been doing in the party. I will continue with the organisational work for the larger interest of the party," Kishor told news agency PTI.

"It was a decision we took in the larger interest of the party. If I were to contest, it would have distracted me from the necessary organisational work", he added.