Patna: Condemning the attack on the Dalit family in Haryana, the senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi on Wednesday accused Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad for shedding ‘fake’ tears on the incident apparently with the view of collecting huge amount of Dalit votes in Bihar Assembly polls.

“The incident of Faridabad is condemnable, but the RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav has easily forgotten the incident during the 15 years rule of his party in Bihar, hundreds of Dalit were massacred,” in a series of tweets he said.

Patna: Voting for 49 assembly constituencies in the first phase of Bihar elections has begun today. In this direct contest between the Grand Alliance and the BJP-led NDA, total 1.35 crore voters are eligible to vote.

Most of the constituencies voting in the opening round are JD(U) strongholds which had won 29 seats in 2010 in alliance with the BJP. Under the new alignment, the JD(U) is contesting 24 seats in the first phase.

New Delhi: Out of 456 candidates, around one-third of the candidates for the second phase of Bihar Assembly polls have asserted criminal cases against them. BJP, JD-U and RJD occupy the maximum number of such candidates, the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) said on Friday.

Total 456 candidates are in a battle for the second phase of the Bihar Assembly polls. Polling for 32 seats will be held on October 16.

“Out of the total of 456 candidates, 110 (24 percent) candidates have asserted serious criminal cases which include cases related to murder, communal disharmony, attempt to murder, kidnapping and crime against women. while 142 (31 percent) candidates have asserted criminal cases against themselves,” the ADR said in a statement.

Patna: As the battle is heating up for the Bihar Polls, PM Modi is all set to address four election rallies today in Munger, Nawada, Samastipur and Begusarai districts of the state. On Friday, PM will address few more rallies before the first phase of polling in the state.

The five-phase elections will start from October 12 and will be ending on November 5. The other dates of polling are October 16, 28 and November 1. The counting of votes is scheduled to take place on November 8 and the whole election process will be completed by November 12.

PATNA: A week before the first phase of Bihar Assembly polls, The BJP-led NDA seems to have a clear advantage over the Nitish-led Grand Alliance.

A pre-poll survey which was conducted by Lokniti- CSDS in the last week of September shows NDA would achieve 42 percent votes and the Grand Alliance would end up with 38 percent resulting in clear advantage to BJP-led NDA over Grand Alliance by a margin of at least 4 percent.

PATNA: Referring to the controversial remark of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav that the “Hindus too eat beef”, the senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi on Monday promised that NDA will frame a legislation to ban cow slaughter in the state if it comes to power in Bihar Assembly polls. “The forthcoming assembly elections in Bihar will be a direct contest among those who justify beef eating and those who are seeking an effective ban on cow slaughter,” he said in a statement.

Patna: Union Minister Piyush goyal on Sunday alleged that even after the end of two terms of Nitish government in office, the power situation in Bihar is still as grim as ever. Goyal reminded the CM of his promise made three years ago that he would not seek votes in Assembly polls if he failed to provide electricity to all the households by 2015.

“The Power generation in Bihar with its own plants is at position zero and the case is same with the generation capacity,” says Goyal.

Banka: In his first rally, after the announcement of the schedule of assembly polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi focused on the development of Bihar and urged the Maoists to shun violence and join the mainstream.

“Bullets bring nothing else than destruction while ballots bring development. Have faith in the ballots and shun bullet. On the day of Gandhi Jayanti, I appeal to the Maoists to shun the path of violence and join the mainstream to change the destiny of the constituency,” Modi said.

Patna: At a joint press conference hosted by the RJD, JD(U) and Congress, a 10 minute video clip titled as “Jumlon Ki Jubani, Jhooth Ki Karastani” was released by the Grand Alliance.

The short film showed the failure of Narendra Modi in implementing his key poll promises. The film also highlighted the backtracking of NDA government on important issues like GST and the Land Acquisition Legislation.

New Delhi: The Election Commission has banned the dissemination and the publication or publicising of exit polls of any kind from October 12, with the starting of the first phase of Bihar Assembly polls till November 5, when the fifth and the last phase of the election ends.