Counting for the assembly elections in 243 seats in Bihar started on Friday. A majority mark of 122 seats is needed to win the election.

Bihar Deputy Chief Minister andBJP candidate Samrat Choudhary is leading from the Tarapur constituency, early trends show.

A Pakistan-backed Jaish-e-Mohammed “white-collar” terrorist network of medics was busted across Haryana, UP, and J&K. They plotted coordinated bombings in six cities on December 6, the anniversary of the Babri Masjid demolition, to “avenge” the 1992 event. Investigators are probing their financial chain and command structure, with potential links to a recent car blast in New Delhi.