• Winning Bihar, 3rd most-populous state, with nearly 130m people crucial.
• Modi’s coalition well ahead of majority mark of 122 seats in Bihar.
• Result would be boost for Modi after national vote setback in 2024.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling coalition is set to comfortably retain power in the poor and populous state of Bihar, a vote count showed on Friday, giving him a boost after a disappointing national vote last year.

Winning Bihar is crucial because it is India’s third-most-populous state with nearly 130 million people and it sends the fifth-highest number of lawmakers to Parliament. Control of the eastern state strengthens any party’s power in the Hindi heartland and often helps to shape national political narratives.

Modi’s National Democratic Alliance coalition could easily cross the majority mark of 122 seats, with data from the Election Commission of India showing it was leading in more than 170 seats. TV channel NDTV said it was ahead in 191 seats, a potential gain of 69 seats from the last election.

“Bihar’s mandate is clear!” Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party said on X. “The people have made it clear — now development is the identity. Not jungle raj, good governance is needed!”

The Bihar outcome would mark a sharp reversal for Modi, who lost his parliamentary majority in last year’s national elections and had to lean on allies to remain in power. Since then, his party has steadily regained ground, winning several key state contests.

Political analysts have said one of the key factors in the Bihar election was Modi’s September transfer of ₹75 billion ($853 million) to millions of women in the state under an employment programme.

Women voters across India have turned out in greater numbers over the past decade and political parties have competed to attract them. Previously, men easily outnumbered women at India’s polling stations.

Political analyst Amitabh Tiwari, who travelled across Bihar during the election — which was held in two phases on November 6 and 11 — said it was “just the women” who were set to give Modi a better result than what he received the last time.

According to a survey this week by Tiwari’s VoteVibe agency, Modi’s alliance secured 48.5% of the female vote, more than 10 percentage points higher than the main opposition bloc.

States including Assam, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu are due to go to the polls next year. Of those states, the BJP is in power only in Assam.

• C-130J “lands” at 13,000 feet Mudh-Nyoma station in Ladakh.
• New airbase capable of fighter operations: Air Marshal (retd) Kapoor.
• airbase will add new challenge for both of “our adversaries”:  Kapoor.
  

NEW DELHI: India’s air force chief made the inaugural landing of a military transport aircraft at a new airbase capable of fighter jet operations close to the disputed Himalayan border with China, a defence official said on Thursday.

The move comes amid a thaw in ties between the nuclear-armed neighbours, following a milestone pact last October to ease military tension along their de facto border and a visit this year to China by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Air Chief Marshal A P Singh landed the C-130J aircraft on Wednesday at the Mudh-Nyoma air force station in Ladakh, perched at a height of about 13,000 feet (4,000m), added the official, who sought anonymity as the matter is a sensitive one.

The Indian Air Force and the defence ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The new airbase, the region’s third such key station, is just 30km (19 miles) from the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China.

“This new airfield in Ladakh, capable of fighter operations, will add a new challenge for both of our adversaries,” retired Air Marshal Sanjeev Kapoor wrote on X, referring to neighbours China and Pakistan.

China has an airfield at a similar height, he added.

Mistrust persists between China and India despite the thaw, Indian analysts and officials say, with the Indian Army chief pointing this year to continued heightened troop presence and infrastructure build-up on the border by both sides.

India and China share a poorly demarcated border that stretches 3,800km (2,400 miles) and has been disputed since the 1950s. They fought a brief but brutal war over it in 1962.

Ties soured after a deadly border clash in 2020, before their 2024 pact brought a thaw and easing of some curbs, allowing resumption of direct flights and two-way visits.

LONDON: Britain’s BBC apologised to Donald Trump on Thursday for editing a speech to make it look like he had advocated violence, seeking to ward off the US president’s threat of legal action, but the broadcaster rejected the basis for a defamation claim.

In a statement, the BBC said its chair Samir Shah sent a personal letter to the White House making clear to Trump that he and the corporation were “sorry” for the edit, adding that the broadcaster has no plans to rebroadcast the Panorama documentary on any of its platforms.

“While the BBC sincerely regrets the manner in which the video clip was edited, we strongly disagree there is a basis for a defamation claim,” the BBC said.

The leaking of internal accusations of bias at the BBC, including in the way it edited a 2021 speech by Trump on the day his supporters overran the Capitol, has forced its top two leaders to quit and for Trump to threaten a $1 billion lawsuit.

That puts the BBC at risk of having to use money paid by its viewers to compensate the US president for an error of its own making, handing more ammunition to critics at a time when growing numbers are cancelling their annual licence fee payment.

Trump’s lawyers had told the BBC to withdraw the Panorama programme, apologise to the president and appropriately compensate him for the harm caused, or face a lawsuit seeking damages of at least $1 billion.