Lalu Yadav gets bail from High Court right before Bihar elections but will remain in jail

The Jharkhand High Court on Friday granted bail to former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav in a fodder scam case related to Chaibasa treasury. The case involves fraudulent withdrawals amounting to Rs 33.67 crore from the Chaibasa treasury in undivided Bihar when Lalu Prasad was the Chief Minister.

The RJD chief, however, will have to remain in jail as he is serving time in another case related to Dumka treasury. The high court has asked Lalu to submit two personal bonds of Rs 50,000 each, and deposit penalty of Rs 2 lakh which was awarded by a special CBI court to secure his bail. It also sought his medical report and the details of all those he has met during the course of his treatment at Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences in Ranchi. Earlier, he was granted bail in Deoghar treasury case.

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A war of words broke out between RJD and BJP after the verdict. The RJD accused the Nitish government of conspiring to keep Lalu in jail. Responding to the same, BJP said that those in jail are paying the price of the crime they have committed. BJP also said that RJD should not insult the judiciary. 

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Bihar Assembly elections 2020

Bihar goes to polls in three phases for its 243 assembly seats on October 28, November 3 and November 7. Keeping in view the COVID-19 protocol, the voting time has been increased by one hour. The counting of votes will take place on November 10.

The NDA has announced its seat-sharing formula: The BJP will contest 121 seats and the JD(U) will contest 115, while Jitan Ram Manjhi's HAM will contest 7 seats. The VIP party will be incorporated in the BJP's seats. The Mahgathbandhan has announced Tejashwi Yadav as its CM face, and RJD-Congress has agreed on a 144-70 seat-sharing formula along with three other Communist parties contesting on 29 seats. There are three other alliances also that will contest elections this year namely Progressive Democratic Alliance (PDA) - JAP, ASP, SDP, and BMP,  United Democratic Secular Alliance (UDSA) - AIMIM-SJD and BSP-RLSP.

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In the 2015 state polls, the Mahagatbandhan comprising RJD, JD(U) and Congress won a whopping majority with 178 seats under the leadership of Nitish Kumar. On the other hand, the BJP-led alliance won from only 58 constituencies. On July 26, 2017, Nitish Kumar stepped down as the CM citing irreconcilable differences with RJD over corruption allegations against Tejashwi Yadav and joined hands with its former ally BJP.

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