Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) chief Shibu Soren on Wednesday took oath to become the state's seventh chief minister by Governor K Sankanarayanan at a ceremony held at Morabadi ground in Ranchi. The Governor has asked Soren to prove his majority by January 7.

Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) Jharkhand unit president Raghubar Das and All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) chief Sudesh Mahato were sworn in as ministers along with Soren.

Soren had staked claim to form the government on December 25 with the support of the BJP—Janata Dal(United)combine, AJSU and Jharkhand Janadhikar Manch (JJM) having a total of 44 MLAs in the 81—member Assembly and was invited by the Governor the next day to form the government.

Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) President Shibu Soren will be sworn in as Chief Minister of Jharkhand on December 30. He is heading for a 44-member coalition in the state. Governor K Sankarananaryanan invited Soren on Sunday to form the government.

Raj Bhavan sources confirmed that an invitation had been sent to Soren, for oath-taking at 2 pm on Wednesday.

The JMM and the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) have 18 legislators each, while the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) has five. The combine has a total of 45 MLAs, with Sudha Chaudhuri and Raja Peter of the JD (U) and Adivasi Chatra Sangh leader Chamra Linda announcing their support.

The possibility of a coalition government emerged in Jharkhand after the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) on Friday announced it would form the next government with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The BJP, however, said a decision would be taken only after consulting the party central leadership.

Hemlal Murmu, a senior JMM leader and legislator, said, "We will form the next government in Jharkhand with BJP."

Efforts to cobble up a coalition in the state had been stuck as the JMM refused to accept anything less than the chief minister's post for its chief Shibu Soren.

Karuna Shukla, BJP in-charge of Jharkhand, said state party President Raghubar Das was in talks with the JMM.

She said that any decision on an alliance with the JMM can only be taken after consultation with the party's central leadership.

"The new party MLAs (member of legislative assembly) will meet on Saturday to elect the legislative party leader. They will also give their opinion on formation of the new government," Shukla told the mediapersons.

Assembly polls result on December 23,2009 threw up a fractured mandate with the Congress and its ally, the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Prajatantrik (JVM-P) together winning 25 seats, while the JMM and the BJP won 18 each.

The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) have 5 seats each. The Janata Dal-United (JD-U), a BJP ally, has two seats. The state assembly has 81 seats and the simple majority mark is 41.

Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) chief Shibu Soren on Thursday said that he will be the next Chief Minister of Jharkhand.

Soren addressing the mediapersons said that there will be no compromise on the post of Chief Minister and the JMM will form the government with the help of either the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) or the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) depending on whosoever offers him CM's post.

A fractured mandate leading to a hung assembly in Jharkhand brought the focus back on the regional JMM and its chief Shibu Soren in the state as efforts began for the government formation in Ranchi on Wednesday.

According to the final results, Congress-Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) alliance got 25 seats while the Bharatiya Janata Party-Janata Dal(United) alliance bagged 20 seats. JMM won 18 seats. Lalu Prasad's Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) won 5 seats, while other parties bagged 13 seats.

Jharkhand elections on Wednesday produced a hung assembly placing Congress-Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) alliance in a leading position with 25 seats. Bharatiya Janata Party-Janata Dal(United) alliance got 20 seats with Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and Rashtriya Janata dal (RJD) emerging key players in a possible secular formation to form a government.

Counting of votes for the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly to decide the fate of 1,489 candidates who contested the five-phase elections from November 25 to December 18 began amidst tight security on Wednesday morning.

The counting for Jharkhand Assembly Elections 2009 will take place on 23 December, 2009. The voting for the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly began on 27 November, 2009 and ended on 18 December, 2009.

ECI Announces Biennial Elections Schedule for Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has announced the schedule for the biennial elections to Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council. Keeping in view the due expiry of the term of 36 sitting members on 15th January 2010, the ECI has come up with the election date for 35 local assembly constituencies (ACs). The date of polling has been finalised as 7th January 2010. The counting would take place on 9th January 2010.

Schedule for the Biennial Elections
The biennial elections to the legislative council of Uttar Pradesh would be held for 36 seats in 35 ACs.

Date of issue of notification	14-12-2009 (Monday)
Last date for filing nominations	21-12-2009 (Monday)
Date for scrutiny of nominations	22-12-2009 (Tuesday)
Last date for withdrawal of candidature	24-12-2009 (Thursday)
Date of poll	07-01-2010 (Thursday)
Date before which the election shall be completed	12-01-2010 (Tuesday)
Total no. of ACs	35

Additional Information

• Hours of poll: 8.00 am to 4.00 pm
• Date of counting: 09-01-2010 (Saturday)

The Election Commission of India (ECI), in its notification on 17th November 2009, announced biennial elections to the Legislative Council of Karnataka.

To fill up 25 vacant seats, owing to the retirement of the sitting officers, the ECI has decided to hold elections on 18th December 2009.

The term of office of these seats in the Karnataka Legislative Council from 20 local authorities' constituencies is due to expire on 5th January 2010.

List of local authorities' constituencies

1.	Bidar
2.	Gulbarga
3.	Bijapur
4.	Belgaum
5.	Uttara Kannada
6.	Dharwad
7.	Raichur
8.	Bellary
9.	Chitradurga
10.	Shimonga
11.	Dakshina Kannada
12.	Chikmagalur
13.	Hasan
14.	Tumkur
15.	Mandya
16.	Bangalore
17.	Bangalore Rural
18.	Kolar
19.	Kodagu
20.	Mysore

Schedule of election

Issue of notifications	24th November, 2009 (Tuesday)
Last date of making nominations	1st December, 2009 (Tuesday)
Scrutiny of nominations	2nd December, 2009 (Wednesday)
Last date for withdrawal of candidature	4th December, 2009 (Friday)
Date of poll	18th December, 2009 (Friday)
Hours of poll	8.00 am to 4.00 pm
Counting of votes	21st December, 2009 (Monday) at 8.00 am
Date before which election shall be completed	24th December, 2009 (Thursday)

The Election Commission of India (ECI), in its notification on 17th November 2009, announced biennial elections to the Legislative Council of Maharashtra.

To fill up eight vacant seats, owing to the retirement of the sitting officers, the ECI has decided to hold elections on 18th December 2009.

The term of these seats in the Maharashtra Legislative Council from 7 local authorities' constituencies is due to expire on 1st January 2010.

List of local authorities' constituencies

1.	Mumbai
2.	Solapur
3.	Kolhapur
4.	Dhule
5.	Akola-cum-Buldhana
6.	Ahmednagar
7.	Nagpur

Schedule of election

Issue of notifications	24th November, 2009 (Tuesday)
Last date of making nominations	1st December, 2009 (Tuesday)
Scrutiny of nominations	2nd December, 2009 (Wednesday)
Last date for withdrawal of candidature	4th December, 2009 (Friday)
Date of poll	18th December, 2009 (Friday)
Hours of poll	8.00 am to 4.00 pm
Counting of votes	21st December, 2009 (Monday) at 8.00 am
Date before which election shall be completed	24th December, 2009 (Thursday)

The Election Commission of India (ECI), in its notification on 17th November 2009, announced by-election to the Legislative Council of Maharashtra from the Nashik Division Graduates’ constituency.

Owing to the resignation of Shri Pratap Narayanrao Sonawane on 26th May 2009 from the constituency seat, whose term of office expires on 5th December 2009, a casual vacancy has been created in the Legislative council.

To fill up the seat, the ECI has decided to hold election on 18th December 2009.

Schedule of election

Issue of notifications	24th November, 2009 (Tuesday)
Last date of making nominations	1st December, 2009 (Tuesday)
Scrutiny of nominations	2nd December, 2009 (Wednesday)
Last date for withdrawal of candidature	4th December, 2009 (Friday)
Date of poll	18th December, 2009 (Friday)
Hours of poll	8.00 am to 4.00 pm
Counting of votes	21st December, 2009 (Monday) at 8.00 am
Date before which election shall be completed	24th December, 2009 (Thursday)

The Mayawati brigade, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), held its fort in Uttar Pradesh, winning from 9 of the 11 assembly constituencies in the by-elections held on 7th November 2009.

In Etawah, BSP candidate Mahendra Singh Rajput registered victory over Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate Vimal Bhadauria by approximately 32,000 votes.

In Hainsar Bazar, BSP candidate Dashrath Singh Chauhan defeated Congress rival Neelmani by a margin of 8,000 votes.

BSP's Chandra Bhadra Singh won from the Isauli constituency, defeating Jain Narain Tiwari of the Congress by a margin of over 49,000 votes. BSP retained its hold on the Lalit pur and Rari (Jaunpur) assembly seats by defeating SP candidates. In Lalit pur, Suman Devi Khushwaha scored a 14,000-vote margin, defeating SP candidate Chandra Bhushan Singh, while in Rari, Rajedo Singh defeated Om Prakash Dubey of SP by approximately 12,586 votes.

In Padrouna, BSP's Swami Prasad Maurya won by defeating SP rival Shakir Ali by 50,000 votes.

Continuing its winning streak, the BSP also won the Bharthana assembly seat. Shiv Prasad Yadav defeated Pradeep Yadav of the SP by 15,000 votes.

In Powayan, BSP candidate Virendra Prasad was leading by more than 27,000 votes over his nearest rival Chetram of Congress, with SP candidate trailing at the third place.

The constituency of Jhansi too spelled success for BSP's Kailash Sahu, who won the recounting round after he challenged the vote tally of independent candidate Virendra Vyas.

The Congress bagged the Lucknow (west) seat as Shyam Kishore Shukla defeated BJP's Amit Puri by over 2,000 votes.

Winning the Kolasala seat fourth time in a row (this time as an independent candidate), Ajay Rai maintained his domininon by defeating JP Mishra of BSP by 8,000 votes.

Unable to register any win, the ruling Left Party is trying to hide its face, as the Trinamool Congress (TNC) continues its winning streak. The TNC captured 7 of 10 Legislative Assembly seats in the West Bengal by-elections, while the Left Front won from just one constituency, Goalpokhar.

TNC bagged win in seven---Bongaon, Serampore, Alipore, Egra, Belgachia East, Contai South, and Rajganj---constituencies, while Congress won the Sujapur seat. Scoring a 29,479-vote margin, Abu Nasser Khan Chowdhury (AB Gani Khan Chowdhury's brother) retained the ruling party's old fort in Sujapur.

Defeating Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) candidate Kuastav Chatterjee, TNC's Bobby Hakim lodged victory in Alipore by 27,000 votes. For TNC, Khageshwar Roy wrested the Rajganj seat from CPM's Dhanapati Ray by 15,029 votes, Sudipto Roy won the Serampore seat by 29,678 votes, and Gopal Seth increased the winning margin to 44,348 votes, winning the Bongaon seat.

The constituency of Belgachia East and Contai South spelled success for TNC, with Dibyendu Adhikary clinching the victory in Contai South with a margin of 25,817 votes and Sujit Bose wresting Belgachia East by a record 28,360 votes from CPM's Ramala Chakraborty.

In Goalpokhar, Deepa Dasmunsi, representing the Forward Bloc, won the lone seat for the Left Front.

Gorkha Janamukti Morcha-backed independent Wilson Champamari threw in surprise by winning the Kalichini seat.

By-election 2009
Assam
Assembly Constituency Name	Candidate Name	Won/Lost	Party
Salmara South	Wazed Ali Choudhury	Won	Congress
	Abdur Rahman Ajmal	Lost	Asom United Democratic Front
Dhekiajuli	Bhimananda Tanti	Won	Congress
	Shib Charan Sahu	Lost	Asom Gana Parishad
Himachal Pradesh
Rohru	Khushi Ram Balnatah	Won	BJP
	Manjit Singh	Lost	Congress
Jawali	Sujan Singh Pathania	Won	Congress
	Baldev Raj Chaudhary	Lost	BJP
Kerala
Cannanore	AP Abdullahkutty	Won	Congress
	MV Jayarajan	Lost	CPI-M
Alleppey	AA Shukur	Won	Congress
	G Krishnaprasad	Lost	CPI
Ernakulam	Dominic Presentation	Won	Congress
	PN Seenulal	Lost	CPI-M
Rajasthan
Salumber (ST)	Basanti Meena	Won	Congress
	Amrat Lal	Lost	BJP
Todabhim (ST)	Ramesh Chand	Won	BJP
	Shivdayal Meena	Lost	Congress
Uttar Pradesh
Powayan (SC)	Virendra Prasad	Won	BSP
	Chetram	Lost	SP
Lucknow West	Shyam Kishore Shukla	Won	BSP
	Amit Puri	Lost	BJP
Padrouna	Swami Prasad Maurya	Won	BSP
	Shakir Ali	Lost	SP
Rari	Rajedo Singh	Won	BSP
	Om Prakash Dubey	Lost	SP
Isauli	Bhadra Singh	Won	BSP
	Jain Narain Tiwari	Lost	Congress
Jhansi	Kailash Sahu	Won	BSP
	Virendra Vyas	Lost	Independent
Kolasala	Ajay Rai	Won	Independent
	JP Mishra	Lost	BSP
Hainsar Bazar	Dashrath Singh Chauhan	Won	BSP
	Neelmani	Lost	SP
Lalit pur	Suman Devi Khushwaha	Won	BSP
	Chandra Bhushan Singh	Lost	SP
Etawah	Mahendra Singh Rajput	Won	BSP
	Vimal Bhadauria	Lost	SP
Bharthana	Shiv Prasad Yadav	Won	BSP
	Pradeep Yadav	Lost	SP
Chhattisgarh
Vaishali Nagar	Bhajan Singh Nirankari	Won	Congress
	Jageshwar Sahu	Lost	BJP
West Bengal
Kalchini (ST)	Wilson Champamari	Won	Independent
Rajganj (SC)	Khageshwar Roy	Won	TNC
	Dhanapati Ray	Lost	CPM
Sujapur	Abu Nasser Khan Chowdhury	Won	Congress
Goalpokhar	Deepa Dasmunsi	Won	Forward Bloc
Bongaon	Gopal Seth	Won	TNC
Contai South	Dibyendu Adhikary	Won	TNC
Egra	Das Samares	Won	TNC
Serampore	Sudipto Roy	Won	TNC
Alipore	Bobby Hakim	Won	TNC
Belgachia East	Sujit Bose	Won	TNC
	Ramala Chakraborty	Lost	CPM
Uttar Pradesh
Lok Sabha - Firozabad P.C	Raj Babbar	Won	Congress
	Dimple Yadav	Lost	SP

The actor-turned-politician and Congressman Raj Babbar registered victory by a huge margin of 85,343 votes over his nearest rival and Samajwadi Party's (SP) candidate Dimple Yadav for the Lok Sabha seat from the Firozabad P.C constituency in the by-elections held on 7th November 2009.

In a close contest with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congressman Bhajan Singh Nirankari defeated BJP opponent Jageshwar Sahu by 1,600 votes, clinching the Vaishali Nagar Assembly seat in the Chhattisgarh by-elections held on 7th November 2009.

The ruling Congress party and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) shared honours by winning one Assembly seat each in the by-elections held on 7th November 2009.

BJP's Ramesh Chand won from the Todabhim constituency, defeating Shivdayal Meena of the Congress by 8,200 votes.

Basanti Meena of the Congress won the Salumber seat, defeating Amrat Lal of the BJP by approximately 3,000 votes.

Maintaining its hold in Himachal Pradesh, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) bagged one out of the two Assembly seats in the by-elections held on 7th November 2009. The other seat went to the Congress.

In Rohru, BJP's Khushi Ram Balnatah defeated Congressman Manjit Singh by approximately 8,473 votes, lodging the first-ever win of the party in the district.

Sujan Singh Pathania of the Congress amassed 25,168 votes in the Jawali constituency, defeating BJP rival Baldev Raj Chaudhary by a margin of 5,249 votes.

Assam's ruling Congress party maintained its dominion by winning the South Salmara and Dhekiajulu Assembly seats in the by-elections held on 7th November 2009.

Congressman Wajed Ali Choudhury won from the South Samara constituency by defeating Asom United Democratic Front's (AUDF) Abdur Rahman Ajmal by approximately 6,000 votes.

Bhimananda Tanti defeated Asom Gana Parishad (SGP)'s Shib Charan Sahu in the Dhekiajulu constituency by a 21,000-vote margin.

Congress has started its winning spree by conquering all three legislative assembly seats in Kerala in the by-election held on 7th November 2009.

Congressman AP Abdullahkutty won from the Cannanore (also known as Kannur) constituency, marching ahead by approximately 12,000 votes. The former Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Lok Sabha member defeated MV Jayarajan of the CPI-M.

Dominic Presentation of Congress won the Ernakulam seat, defeating PN Seenulal of the CPI-M by more than 8,000 votes.

AA Shukur of the Congress bagged the Alappuzha (also known as Alleppey) seat, defeating G Krishnaprasad of the CPI by around 5,000 votes.

The counting for the by-elections in the legislative assemblies of Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Rajasthan, Chattisgarh, and West Bengal and in the House of People from 20 – Firozabad P.C of Uttar Pradesh has begun today (10th November 2009).

The votes are being counted for 2 seats in Himachal Pradesh, 11 seats in Uttar Pradesh, 2 seats in Rajasthan, 1 seat in Chhattisgarh, 10 seats in West Bengal, 2 seats in Assam, and 3 seats in Kerala.

The results for all states are awaited by evening.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has modified the schedule of Phase 1 of the General Elections (GE) to the legislative assembly of Jharkhand.

The date of poll has been changed from 27th November 2009 (Friday) to 25th November 2009 (Wednesday).

The date of counting would remain the same, 23rd December 2009 (Wednesday).

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has shifted four assembly constituencies from Phase 1 to Phase 3 of the General Elections in the legislative assemblies of Jharkhand.

Owing to the submission of wrong versions of nomination papers in Hindi by the Returning Officers of Sikripara, Dumka, Jama, and Jarmundi, election in these constituencies would occur in Phase 3 instead of Phase 1.

Date of issue of notification	13-11-2009 (Friday)
Last date of filing nominations	20-11-2009 (Friday)
Date of scrutiny of nominations	21-11-2009 (Saturday)
Last date of withdrawal of candidatures	23-11-2009 (Monday)
Date of poll	08-12-2009 (Tuesday)
Date before which election shall be completed	31-12-2009 (Thursday)

The date of counting would remain the same, 23rd December 2009 (Wednesday).

Congress came up with laurels, after getting the odious result, 3-0, pushing its main competitor, BJP, into the most terrifying political crisis. Nationalist Congress Party came up with full majority, on Thursday, in Arunachal Pradesh and Maharashtra but falling short of absolute majority in Haryana. All the current CM's BS Hooda in Haryana, Dorjee Khandu in Arunachal Pradesh and Ashok Chavan of Maharashtra- are likely to be renominated.

With a full two third majority, the decision in Arunachal Pradesh has been in strong favour of the Congress Party. Out of 60 Congress bagged 42 seats in the state. BJP won 3, Nationalist Congress Party won 5 seats, Mamta Banerjee's Trinamool Congress came up with 5 seats and 4 seats went to People's Party of the state itself.

In, Maharashtra polls the Indian National Congress and Nationalist Congress Party took the lead with 144 seats, that was exactly half of the 288 seat assembly. The most highlighted reason, coming in their victory is said, to be the split in between Balasaheb Thackrey's Shiv Sena and Raj Thackrey's Shiv Sena. Individually, MNS won 13 seats while the BJP- Shiv Sena combine had to keep satisfaction with only 94 seats.

It was the Haryana state, that dulled the enthusiasm of Congress victory edge, as the opposition party Indian National Lok Dal, rushed from 9 seats to 31 this time, leaving the Congress with 40 assembly seats out of 90 assembly seats. This particular state is expected to be a center of focus for the media, for the upcoming days, until the politicians come up with their decision and finally decides who will support whom.

Except the Naxalites firing incident in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district, polling went low and moderate in the three states-Maharashtra, Arunachal and Haryana, in the first few hours of assembly elections.

No one was injured in the firing opened by the Naxalites at a patrol party near Kasansur in Aheri block before commencing the polling. A N Roy, DGP (Elections) said, "over 1.29 lakh state police and central forces have been deployed across the state where voting is being held for 288 Assembly seats."

About 10 % of the voters casted their polls in the first three hours. Union Ministers Sharad Pawar and Vilasrao Deshmukh, Shiv Sena Chief, Bal Thackeray, Cricketer, Sachin Tendulkar and Industrialist, Anil Ambani were among the early electorates. Congress MLA, Janardhan Chandurkar from Bandra was alleged and interrogated by police for adducing money to attract voters.

Over 10% of the electorates casted their votes for 90 assembley constituencies. In fact, election booths in Arunachal Pradesh witnessed long queues. Voters turned up in enthusiasm for the elections to 57 seats in the 60-member Arunachal Pradesh assembly.