Wednesday, 43 of the 81 Assembly seats will go to the polls in the first phase. These seats are spread across the Kolhan coal belt, the tribal-dominated South Chotanagpur and the northern Palamu regions.

Of the seats voting in the first phase, 20 are reserved for Scheduled Tribes (STs) and six for Scheduled Castes (SCs).

In 2019, despite struggling in the Lok Sabha poll just a month prior, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)-led alliance ousted the BJP to return to power helmed by Chief Minister Hemant Soren.

While the BJP-led alliance had won 12 of the state’s 14 Lok Sabha seats, with the JMM and ally Congress winning one seat each, the ensuing Assembly polls saw a reversal. The JMM emerged as the single largest party with 30 Assembly seats, of which 17 were won among the seats going to polls in the first phase on Wednesday. Thirteen of the BJP’s 25 total seats were won from these 43 first-phase seats, followed by the Congress at eight of 16. JMM and Congress ally Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) won its only seat here. Smaller parties, including the erstwhile Babulal Marandi-led Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik), and Independents won the remaining four first-phase seats.

In the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls, while the BJP’s overall tally fell from 2019 to eight, it also led in 26 of the 43 Assembly segments that are voting in the first phase. In the INDIA bloc, the Congress led in 12 segments and the JMM in five.

This time around, both the ruling and Opposition alliances have expanded. While the INDIA bloc has added the CPI(ML)(L), the NDA has roped in the Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (United) and the Chirag Paswan-led Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), beside the AJSUP. However, the INDIA bloc parties are also engaged in friendly fights – in Bishrampur and Chhatarpur.

Meanwhile, bypolls will be held in Kerala, Rajasthan, Gujarat and West Bengal. Kerala will also see the bypoll for the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat, where Congress General Secretary Priyanaka Gandhi Vadra is in the fray after her brother and Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi vacated the seat to retain the Rae Bareli seat.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP national president J P Nadda will be in Maharashtra on Wednesday.

While Shah will address three rallies in Shindkheda, Chalisgaon and Jintur Assembly seats, Nadda will begin the day with a rally in Mumbai South and proceed to Shirdi, where he will visit the Sai Baba temple. He will then address a rally in Ahmednagar.

All 288 seats of Maharashtra go to the polls in a single phase on November 20, the results of which will be announced three days later,

The Supreme Court is scheduled to pronounce its verdict on Wednesday on pleas seeking framing of guidelines on demolition of properties in the country.

A bench headed by Justice B R Gavai had reserved the verdict on October 1.

The top court had said it will lay down pan-India guidelines while making clear that any religious structure in the middle of a road, be it a “dargah” or a temple, “has to go” because public interest is paramount.

A batch of pleas alleged that properties, including of those accused of crime, were being demolished in several states. “Whatever we are laying down, we are a secular country. We are laying it down for all the citizens, for all the institutions, not for any particular community,” the bench had said.

The top court was hearing the petitions filed by Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind and others seeking directions to various state governments to ensure no further demolition of properties of those accused in cases of rioting and violence takes place.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Bihar on November 13 to lay the foundation stone for AIIMS Darbhanga, state Health Minister Mangal Pandey said last week.

Speaking to reporters, Pandey said Modi will be in Darbhanga on Wednesday when “bhumi pujan” for the super-specialty project will also take place in the presence of a host of other dignitaries, including Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Union ministers Chirag Paswan and Jitan Ram Manjhi.

The north Bihar town will become the second place in the state, after Patna, to have an All India Institute for Medical Sciences.

“The project, which involves a cost of Rs 1,700 crore, will be of immense benefit to north Bihar and adjoining areas. AIIMS, Darbhanga is a proof that the NDA, which rules the Centre as well as the state, works for the development of all areas and cares for the most needy sections of society,” Pandey added.

The Haryana Assembly’s winter session will begin here on Wednesday during which the opposition Congress is preparing to corner the new BJP government on the issue of shortage of di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) fertilizer affecting farmers.

State’s Agriculture Minister Shyam Singh Rana, however, assured farmers that the supply of DAP in the state remains adequate and uninterrupted.

After a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee of the Assembly, Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini told reporters on Monday that it has been decided that the session will be held on November 13, 14 and 18 with three holidays in between. “Some bills will also be brought during the session,” Saini said. This will include the one for ensuring job security for contractual employees until the age of superannuation, a move which will benefit about 1.20 lakh such employees, Haryana Minister Krishan Kumar Bedi said.

President Murmu will interact with students and faculty of various educational institutions on Wednesday at the NAMO Medical Education & Research Institute in Silvassa town in Dadra and Nagar Haveli district of the Union Territory.

She will then inaugurate a government school at Zanda Chowk and address a public function at Silvassa. She will also visit INS Khukri Memorial at Chakratirth beach in Diu, officials said.

– With PTI inputs