Post–poll, post-counting violence in Panchayat elections in Bihar: a very worrying trend indeed! Patna: according to latest reports, the husband of a newly elected woman village head was shot dead by unidentified gunmen Thursday in Bihar’s Begusarai district. Anil Singh, husband of Ranju Devi, elected the mukhiya from Govindpur in the recent panchayat polls, was shot to death in Suro village of Begusarai. Angered by the incident, villagers protested and blocked National Highway-28 and demanded the immediate arrest of people behind the killing. The Bihar panchayat polls that began on April... 

Young Bihar: a 22-year-old engineering student elected as Mukhiya in Bihar!   Patna: according to latest reports, a 22-year-old engineering student has been elected as the head of a panchayat in Bihar, almost certainly the youngest person to be chosen for the post as the counting goes on for Bihar panchayat polls.   Ajay Kumar, a student of engineering at an institute in Jamshedpur, was elected mukhiya (village council head) of Haradaspur Diyara panchayat in Patna district. Ajay defeated his grandfather Vasudev Rai and outgoing mukhiya Jagdip Rai.   According to Ajay, ‘People... 

Ratnakar Tripathy Bat-Ras [बतरस] Are you tense about panchayat results? : So am I, so let’s laugh and cry together depending… By Ratnakar Tripathy These are tense days in Bihar. As the counting of votes for the Panchayat elections goes on along with the last phase of voting, candidates and their supporters must be sitting and rehearsing the various outcomes and hopping with crazed anticipation. From what little I saw, there is much at stake for the candidates who have employed all the tricks used in the legislative and parliamentary elections. Some of it is consciously learnt and the... 

Whither Bihar panchayats: two telling tales from the sixth phase election! By Ratnakar Tripathy Patna: a high of 62.37 per cent electorate cast their votes in the sixth phase of panchayat elections in Bihar. Altogether 1,024 persons were arrested from across the state, 218 vehicles impounded and Rs 83,325 in cash recovered on charge of indulging in poll-related violence and attempt at booth capturing. Katihar and Kishanganj districts recorded the highest voter turnout at 75 per cent each, while Sheikhpura registered the lowest turnout at 51.5 per cent. The sixth-phase of panchayat polls were... 

बिहार पंचायत चुनाव में नेपाल सीमा पार से सस्ते में रेडियो द्वारा प्रचार: क्या आईडिया है , सर जी ! रत्नाकर त्रिपाठी इस पार प्रिये मैं हूँ, तुम हो, उस पार... बिहार के पंचायत चुनाव समाज के लिए एक दूरगामी समाधान है, ये तो सबको पता है. ये भी... 

Egypt and the panchayat elections in Bihar: Tunis, Cairo, Rome, Patna! Patna: global events in the last few weeks have proved that the world is both a very big and a very small place. It is unimaginably big, but it may on occasions shrink into a very finite Tahrir square of Cairo, which looks somewhat smaller and cramped on the TV compared to our own Gandhi maidan. It has also proved that the ability of human beings to tolerate oppression for long stretches of time is as mysterious as their ability to choose moments to decide enough is enough – and it is this spirit that has turned... 

2011 Panchayat elections not to be fought on party basis: a welcome decision Patna: the uncertainty over whether the forthcoming panchayat elections would be fought on party basis is now over. Finally, soon after the Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi’s statement that his party was not in favour of fighting Panchayat elections on party basis in 2011, CM Nitish Kumar confirmed that he had no such intention either. This has brought a prolonged state of indecision to an end. Nitish in his elaborate explanation of his position spoke of the narrow time frame and the difficulties of selecting candidates...