JD(U) would have been bundled up with 25 seats had it not given Rs 10,000 to women: Prashant Kishor
Patna (PTI): Jan Suraaj Party leader Prashant Kishor on Tuesday claimed that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U) would have been bundled up with just 25 seats had his government not given Rs 10,000 to 60,000 beneficiaries in each constituency just before the assembly elections and promised Rs 2 lakh to 1.5 crore women across the state under self-employment initiatives.
Addressing a press conference here, Kishor said that his Jan Suraaj Party made an honest effort but failed to make a mark in the polls, and that he took full responsibility for the debacle.
Kishor also alleged that 'vote chori' (theft of votes) happens on a pan-India level and urged national opposition parties to hold deliberations on the matter and move the Supreme Court, if needed.
"We received a setback but we will rectify the mistakes, build ourselves and come back stronger... there is no going back for us," he asserted.
Attacking the NDA, he said he has failed to understand Bihar, unlike "Nitish Kumar and BJP leader Samrat Choudhary, who divided people on caste and religious lines and bought votes of people using money".
"To not get votes is not a crime... at least I have not indulged in corruption or divisive politics," he said.
Kishor said he would "definitely quit" politics if the NDA government fulfils its poll promise and gives Rs 2 lakh each to Rs 1.5 crore women under self-employment initiatives.
"People have given the mandate to NDA, now it's on the shoulders of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Nitish Kumar to work on fulfilling their poll promises," he said.
"Self-employment is very important; they must give the Rs 2 lakh they promised. People who don't get the money in six months' time can come to Jan Suraaj, we will fight to ensure they get the amount," he said.
Kishor said as repentance, he would hold a fast for a day at Bitiharwa in West Champaran district on November 20, when the new NDA government is likely to take oath.
The NDA stormed to power in Bihar, winning 202 seats in the 243-member assembly, with BJP bagging 89, JD(U) 85, LJP(RV) 19, HAM 5 and RLM 4. Jan Suraaj Party failed to open its account in its maiden polls.
Under the Mukhyamantri Mahila Rozgar Yojana, the Bihar government gave the first instalment of Rs 10,000 to beneficiaries and promised credit Rs 2 lakh more over subsequent instalments.
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NEET-UG: 2 more held, role of several NTA officers under scanner; CBI focussing on source of leak
New Delhi (PTI): The CBI has arrested two more persons in connection with the NEET (UG) paper-leak case, with the role of several officers of the National Testing Agency (NTA) and other organisations, who had access to the printing press where the papers were printed, coming under the scanner, officials said on Thursday.
The agency has arrested Dhananjay Lokhanda from Ahilyanagar and Manisha Waghmare from Pune and conducted searches at 14 locations across the country in the last 24 hours, they said.
The CBI is focussing on identifying the source of the leak that has caused massive disappointment to lakhs of aspirants eyeing a seat in undergraduate medical courses, which are allotted after the highly-competitive examination, the officials said.
According to the CBI probe so far, the involvement of public servants in the leak cannot be ruled out.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested three individuals from Jaipur -- Mangilal Biwal, Vikas Biwal and Dinesh Biwal -- along with Yash Yadav from Gurugram and Shubham Khairnar from Nashik.
Khairnar was in touch with Yadav and informed him in April that Mangilal Biwal was ready to pay Rs 10-12 lakh for arranging leaked NEET (UG) 2026 questions for his younger son.
Khairnar allegedly provided 500 to 600 questions from the leaked paper to Yadav, the officials said, adding that the questions could have helped score enough marks to get a seat in a reputed medical college.
Mangilal Biwal allegedly procured the paper from Yadav, who was known to his elder son Vikas Biwal from an NEET coaching in Rajasthan's Sikar. The deal between Mangilal Biwal and Yadav was for Rs 10 lakh, if 150 questions from the question bank matched with those in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) paper, the officials said.
Mangilal Biwal shared the paper with his son and further distributed it among relatives.
Yadav also told Vikas Biwal to find additional candidates for the questions to recover some of the money that he had spent on getting those, the officials said.
An analysis of digital devices has given the agency incriminating chats, leaked question papers and other digital evidence. The CBI will subject the devices to a forensic examination to get the deleted data, the officials said.
The federal agency has registered an FIR and formed teams to probe the alleged NEET (UG) paper leak that resulted in the cancellation of the exam held on May 3.
The NEET (UG) 2026 was conducted across 551 Indian cities and at 14 overseas centres. Nearly 23 lakh candidates had registered for the test, which was administered by the NTA at centres across the country.
According to the NTA, information regarding alleged malpractice was received on the evening of May 7, four days after the examination was held. The NTA said the inputs were escalated to central agencies the following morning for "independent verification and necessary action".
The Rajasthan Police's Special Operations Group (SOG) has claimed that a "guess paper" for chemistry, allegedly circulated among students ahead of the examination, had approximately 410 questions, including roughly 120 that appeared in the test.
