Khaira (Bihar), Mar 17 : Armed Maoists attacked Khaira village in Bihar''s Lakhisarai District and killed three persons on Monday night to avenge the murder of one of their men last week.

"They targeted three houses and were on a look out for people who had helped the administration ,"Anoop Yadav, a relative of the victim, said.

The attackers have taken a group of women from the village hostage, threatening to kill them if their enemies are not brought to them.

New Delhi, Mar 17 : Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) Chief Lalu Prasad Yadav faced revolt within his party on Tuesday when his brother-in-law, Sadhu Yadav, declared that he would contest from a seat left for Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (LJP).

Sadhu’s challenge came after the RJD announced a seat-sharing deal with the LJP in Bihar on Tuesday morning, where his name did not figure in the list of nominees.

Sadhu lashed out at Lalu and said he would declare his future strategy later.

New Delhi, Mar 17 : Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) chief Ram Vilas Paswan and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, on Tuesday strongly pitched for a secular form of government in Bihar while announcing the seat sharing arrangement between the two parties in the state.

Out of the 40 seats, the RJD will contest 25 seats and the LJP will contest 12 seats. The remaining three seats have been left for the Congress.

New Delhi, Mar 17: The Election Commission has demanded the immediate transfer of two senior Bihar Government officials for permitting Union Minister for State Shakeel Ahmed to hold a public rally in a school in Darbhanga District while students were appearing for an examination.

The commission ordered Bihar Chief Secretary to post District Magistrate Arun Prasad and Superintendent of Police P K Darad to non-poll related assignments.

The Commission said that it had been brought to its notice that the public meeting addressed by Ahmed in the premises of Khirma High School at Darbhanga on March 14 affected students appearing for a practical examination.

New Delhi, Mar 17: United Progressive Alliance (UPA) allies Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and Rashtriya Janata Dal have arrived at a seat-sharing formula for 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar on Tuesday.

The formal announcement is expected to be made later today at a joint press conference here.

According to sources, the Ram Vilas Paswan led-LJP will field its candidates in 12 constituencies. Talking to the reporters before the meeting with RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, Paswan indicated a climbdown in his party''s earlier stand on contesting either 16 seats or going alone in all forty seats in the state.

The RJD-LJP deal is likely to encourage the Congress to bargain for eight seats that it is demanding from Lalu.

Patna, Mar 15 : The Bihar unit of Nationalist Socialist Party (NCP) declared on Sunday that it