It’s a new chapter in Bihar politics. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led NDA bagged 84 per cent seats in Bihar. Kumar chaged the political grammar of the state. It is a landslide win and seems to be a grand victory of development over caste.

Battle for Bihar

JDU + BJP – 206 seats (swing – 63 up)
RJD + LJP – 25 seats (swing – 39 down)
Cong – 4 seats (swing – 5 down)
Other – 8 seats (swing – 19 down)

JD(U) alone won 115 seats that is a swing of 27 seats in its favour. Below are the list of prominent winners:

Rajiv Ranjan (Islampur), Shravan Kumar (Nalanda), Prabhat Ranjan Singh (Bagha), Manorama Prasad (Nutan), Rajesh Singh (Valmikinagar), Md Sarfuddin (Sheohar), Sunil Kumar (Biharsharief), Harinarayan Singh (Harnaut), Lalit Yadav (Darbhanga Rural), Abhiram Sharma (Jehanabad), Izhar Ahmed (Gaura Bauram), Gopal Mandal (Gopalpur), Pradip Kumar (Warsaliganj).

> More women voted in Bihar this time.
> NDA also wins Muslim seats.
> Congress charges BJP for double standard.
> Rahul magic failed
> Lalu’s wife Rabri Devi lost both the seats she contested, Raghopur and Sonepur.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh congratulated Kumar and assured that Centre will work with the state government in the development process of the state.

Nitish Kumar thanked Bihar people for handing him second term in office.

The JD(U) and BJP aligned in 1996 and had made substantial gains in the 2005 election.

New Delhi, August 10 — An early elections have been called by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to local bodies in Jammu and Kashmir, stressing the reinvigorating peaceful political activity ‘s need in the valley for enhancing popular participation in governance.

Dr. Singh said in his Urdu televised speech, “I believe that local body elections should be held early to increase peoples’ participation in democratic governance and to ensure political empowerment at the grassroots level.”

This is the first time a statement been given by the PM for J&K after the clashes in the valley, which broke on June 11, killing fifty people.

Dr. Singh called this election to be a new begining and said the centre has been very supportive of the state government’s efforts of renewing contact with the locals.

He added, “I believe that all of you have the solemn duty of reaching out to the people and reinvigorating peaceful political activity on the ground, which is lacking today.”

PM, in his speech, even called for activating youth wings of the political parties in the valley.

Bal Thackeray-led  Shiv Sena alleged the Congress of assisting its arch rival, the Raj Thackeray-led MNS. It is a point worth noting that in the recent Lok Sabha polls too, the Sena had played the same game of accusing the MNS of helping the Congress. To add fuel to the Sena’s allegations, one could see the desolate scene in the Congress camp. At many places, Congress booths shut shop by as early as 2 pm, though a Congress leader from the area denied these charges.

In Sewri, two heavyweights – Sena’s Dagdu Sakpal and Bala Nandgaonkar of the MNS – with the Congress candidate Smita Chaudhari Dhruva, contested in a tough competition. No one is yet tipped to be the winner. 

“Division of votes will help me win,” said Dhruva, while Sakpal said that he was confident of a third win this time.

Putting the dirty games aside, the Sewri voters turned out in good numbers to vote, unlike the lacklustre performance in the Lok Sabha polls. There were technical glitches in the EVMs in at least 3 booths, but the problem was rectified in less than half an hour.

In Haryana’s Kaithal district a polling agent Jyoti Ram was killed in a clash between Dillu Ram’s (Congress nominee) supporters and Kulwant Bazigar (Independent candidate) in the Gulha assembly constituency. Jyoti Ram represented Bazigar.

Air force, paramilitary forces and navy guarded Mumbai, not forgetting the attack by Islamist attack last year that killed 166 people.

Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu, sitting legislator Tsewang Dhondup from Tawang constituency and Jambey Tashi from Lumla was elected unopposed.

The enthusiasm of voters were seen tremendous in both young and old slamming the dissatisfaction shown by Beijing at PMs visit this weekend.

According to sources overhaul of the party’s leadership structure is high on the agendas of the Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.

Many senior functionaries of the party will be replaced because they have joined the council of ministers. Induction of few first-term MPs are now being considered to give the organisation a dynamism and younger look.

Apart from the changes, the leadership is toying with the idea of effecting a small ministerial reshuffle, sources reports. The main reason and also the compelling one is the issue of accommodating young MP to the Andhra CM’s chair, Jaganmohan Reddy.

There is a high pressure on the Congress high command to allow the son of late Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, Jaganmohan Reddy, to inherit the CM chair. Hence, the question arises of accommodating Reddy somewhere.

The canvassing of four long weeks saw high profile leaders of national and regional parties hitting the campaign trail on a large scale. Personal attacks were very much seen in the campaign.

Though the Naxalites struck in Gadchiroli in Maharashtra but as a whole the campaign was peaceful.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and party general secretary Rahul Gandhi undertook whirlwind tours of these states. The party is making full effort to retain the power in the three states.

BJP senior leaders L K Advani, Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, and M Venkaiah Naidu also campaigned vigorously. L K Advani also raised Ram Mandir issue while seeking votes.

Rajendra alias Raosaheb Shekhawat, President Pratibha Patil’s son, is pitted against from Congress against Sunil Deshmukh, the party rebel from Amravati constituency in Maharashtra.

Congress is seeking second term in office in Haryana. Congress also appears to be on a strong wicket in Arunachal Pradesh as CM Khandu Dorjee is among the 3 party candidates elected unopposed.

Voting will be on October 13 and counting on October 22.

This proposal of making Rahul Gandhi a minister without portfolio comes from senior Congress leaders who feel that Rahul should be in the cabinet following the party’s big win in the 15 Lok Sabha Elections.

It is due to Rahul Gandhi’s bold move that Congress got a good result in UP and Bihar.

In fact the “Rahul doctrine” has now come to dominate Congress’s thinking. Now it has become Congress party’s part of the strategy to expand the party’s footprint in areas where it has ceded space to national or regional rivals.

She said while expressing gratitude, “the election is now behind us and hard work must begin. We can now start to restore the Congress party to its former historical role as the natural party of governance in India”.

She was addressing the Congress Working Committee meeting. She also added, “We meet at a moment of great significance and a time of great responsibility and of course great satisfaction”.

Gandhi congratulated the party workers and also appreciated their sincerity and dedication. She mentioned that the results would not have been possible without the hard work of the party workers at all levels. She said further that this was not a moment merely for jubilation but it is a moment for sober introspection.

• Choudhary Lal Singh (Congress) wins from Udhampur-Doda
• Congress candidate K C Singh Baba wins Nainital seat by defeating Bachi Singh Rawat of BJP by 88412 votes
• Jitender Malik of Congress wins Sonepat seat by defeating Kishan Singh Sangwan of BJP
• Deepinder Singh Hooda of Congress wins Rohtak seat
• Navin Jindal of Congress wins Kurukshetra seat
• Varun Gandhi of BJP wins the Pilibhit seat
• Lalu Prasad (RJD) loses from Pataliputra but wins the Saran seat
• L K Advani wins Gandhinagar seat by 1 lakh votes
• Mohammed Azharuddin wins from Moradabad
• Sharad Pawar wins Madha seat
• Kapil Sibal wins from Chandni Chowk
• Renuka Chowdhury loses in Khammam
• Jaswant Singh of BJP wins Darjeeling seat
• Akhilesh Yadav of SP wins Kannauj seats by 1.11 lakh votes
• SP candidate Jaya Prada wins Rampur seat by defeating Noor Bano Begum (Congress)
• Priya Dutt of Congress wins Mumbai North-Central seat by 319352 votes
• Rajnath Singh of BJP wins from Ghaziabad
• Navjyot Singh Sidhu (BJP) wins in Amritsar
• Farooq Abdullah (NC) wins by 30,000 votes in Srinagar
• Sushma Swaraj (BJP) wins in Vidisha
• Kamal Nath (Congress) wins in Chhindwara
• Sachin Pilot (Congress) wins in Ajmer
• Maneka Gandhi (BJP) loses by 22,000 votes in Aonla
• Ram Vilas Paswan loses in Hajipur
• Praja Rajyam Party chief Chiranjeevi wins from Tirupati, AP
• Chidambaram loses in Sivaganga to Raja Kannappan (AIADMK)
• M K Azhagiri, CM Karunanidhi’s son, win from Madurai
• P.K. Biju (CPI-M) wins Alathur seat in Kerala by 20,000 votes
• H.D. Kumaraswamy wins Bangalore Rural seat by 130,275 votes
• Francisco Sardinha (Congress) defeats BJP’s Narendra Savaikar in Goa
• BJP Jayshree Patel wins in Mehasana; leads in 18 others
• CP Joshi (Congress) wins Bhilwara seat by 89,643 votes
• Jayshreeben Patel (BJP) wins by about 21,000 votes in Mehasana
• Arun Yadav (Congress) wins Khandwa Lok Sabha seat
• Lalu Bhai Patel (BJP) wins in Daman & Diu
• Udayanraje Bhosle (NCP) wins from Satara in Maharashtra
• E. Ahamed of CPI-M records sixth straight win in Malappuram (Kerela)
• Lalubhai Patel (BJP) wins Daman seat
• Shashi Tharoor of Congress wins Thiruvanathapuram seat
• Hamdulla of Cong wins against Pookunji Koya (NCP) in Lakshadweep
• Congress candidate K Sudhakaran wins in Kannur, Kerala

The UPA alliance is leading in 250 constituencies. Congress alone is leading in 198 seats. The magic figure to form government is 272 in the 543-member Lok Sabha.

The Congress said it was a vindication of its policies. BJP spokespersons are still unwilling to concede the defeat but they admitted that the UPA was ahead in early trends.

After Jawaharlal Nehru, Manmohan Singh will be the first Prime Minister to return to power after a full 5-year term.

Congress has done good in Kerala. It routed Left Front and also had given a severe blow to the Marxists in West Bengal with help from the ally Trinamool Congress.

Congress also swept Delhi. It has done exceedingly well in Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab and Uttarakhand. It has more than doubled its tally in UP leading in 20 of the 80 seats there.

BJP showing good in Karnataka, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. It is leading in 18 of the 28 seats in Karnataka, 19 out of the 29 seats in MP and 15 out of 26 in Gujarat.