The first phase of Assembly elections in Bihar is being held in 71 constituencies. The Opposition led by RJD is leaving no stone unturned to unseat Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who is eyeing his fourth term. Elections to the 243-seat Bihar assembly are being held in three phases.

The elections are the first in the situation created by COVID-19 that has posed new challenges for the participants in the electoral process particularly political parties who could hold a lesser number of rallies and public gatherings.

Union Minister Giriraj Singh on Monday lashed out at Mahagathbandhan chief ministerial candidate Tejashwi Yadav over his jobs' promise and asked how many jobs he had created when his party had over 12 ministers in the administration.

I want to ask Tejashwi Yadav why after flaunting his father's political legacy does he not talk of his father's crimes. I'd like for him to show the number of people whom he's given employment to in 20 months when he had over 12 ministers in administration, Singh told reporters.

With 36,469 new COVID-19 cases, India's total cases surged to 79,46,429, said the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW).

With 488 new deaths, the toll mounted to 1,19,502, as per the Ministry.

The total active coronavirus cases are 6,25,857 after a decrease of 27,860 in the last 24 hours. The total cured cases are 72,01,070 with 63,842 new discharges in the last 24 hours.

At least seven people were killed and as many as 70 were injured in an explosion in Pakistan's Peshawar on Tuesday morning. The development was confirmed by Senior Superintendent of Police (Operations) Mansoor Aman has confirmed, Dawn reported.

The blast occurred at a Madrassah at Kohart Road in Dir Colony in Peshawar. All injured have been shifted to Lady Reading Hospital at Peshawar.

Angered over PDP president Mehbooba Mufti's recent remarks about the scrapping of Article 370, Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel on Monday said the former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir should move to Pakistan with family if she doesn't like India and its laws.

Patel, addressing a bypoll rally in Kurali village of Vadodara district, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah brought in the CAA and scrapped Article 370, which accorded special status to the erstwhile state of J&K, for the safety and security of the country.

Andhra Pradesh on Monday registered 1,901 new Covid positive cases, increasing the state's tally to 8.08 lakh, even as 3,972 more recoveries outnumbered infections.

AP has tested only 51,544 samples for Coronavirus in the past 24 hours, compared to the usual average of around 70,000 tests, resulting in fewer infections.

Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services’ net profit rose by 21 per cent to Rs 304 crore in the second quarter ended September (Q2Fy21), from Rs 252 crore in the same quarter a year ago.

The provisions and write-offs stood at Rs 619.4 crore in Q2Fy21, up from Rs 360.7 crore in the year-ago period. It made higher level of impairment provisions of Rs 433 crore during quarter through management overlay to reflect deterioration in the macroeconomic outlook.

L&T Finance Holdings (LTFH) expects to shrink loan book from defocused businesses from Rs 4,651 crore in September 2020 to Rs 1,000 crore by March 2022 as part of rejig of its assets portfolio.

On the loan portfolio from defocused businesses, Dinanath Dubhashi, managing director (MD) & chief executive officer (CEO), LTFH, said 90 per cent of it is good. It is not that all good books we have to unwind. It will reduce to around Rs 1,000 crore level in another 18-months, he said.

Hyderabad-based Aurobindo Pharma has reached a definitive agreement to sell its US subsidiary Natrol LLC to private equity firm New Mountain Capital and its affiliate Jarrow Formulas in an all-cash transaction valued at $550 mn (about Rs 4,048 crore). This would make Aurobindo a zero-debt company and also help it repay loans, analysts said.

The deal, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals, is expected to close by January.

Riding on a shopping surge in smaller towns and cities, Flipkart Group emerged as overall leader during the week-long festive sales, accounting for 68 per cent of the total sales as the country saw a massive 55 per cent (year-on-year) growth with $4.1 billion (nearly Rs 29,000 crore) goods being sold across ecommerce platforms.

This figure was $2.7 billion for the seven-day festive sales period last year.

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