2015 Belizean municipal elections
Municipal elections were held in Belize on 4 March 2015. Voters elected 67 representatives, 18 on city councils and 49 on town councils. The elections were a decisive victory for the ruling United Democratic Party, which won 62 out of the 67 seats nationwide. The opposition People's United Party won the remaining seats, losing control of town councils in Dangriga and Punta Gorda, maintaining a majority only in Orange Walk Town.


2015 Belizean municipal elections, Results, Belize City
Belize City Mayor Darrell Bradley was re-elected to a second term on the UDP ticket with 63 percent of the vote, defeating PUP nominee Yolanda Schakron and independent candidate Eustaquio "Ernesto" Torres. The UDP also swept all 10 seats on the Belize City Council.


2015 Belizean municipal elections, Results, Belmopan
In Belmopan, UDP mayoral candidate Khalid Belisle defeated the PUP's Jose Amilcar Chacon and the VIP's Hubert Dennis Enriquez. The UDP also won all six city council seats.


2015 Belk Bowl
The 2015 Belk Bowl a college football bowl game that was played on December 30, 2015 at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina in the United States. The fourteenth annual Belk Bowl, it matched the NC State Wolfpack and the Mississippi State Bulldogs. The game started at approximately 3:30 p.m. ET and was nationally televised by ESPN. It was one of the 2015–16 bowl games that concluded the 2015 season. It was sponsored by Charlotte-based department store Belk.


2015 Belmont Stakes
The 2015 Belmont Stakes (known as the 147th Belmont Stakes presented by DraftKings for sponsorship reasons) was the 147th in the Belmont Stakes series. The 1+1⁄2-mile (2,400 m) race, known as the "test of the champion" and sometimes called the "final jewel" in thoroughbred horse racing's traditional Triple Crown series, was held on June 6, 2015, three weeks after the Preakness Stakes and five weeks after the Kentucky Derby. The Belmont Stakes was the 11th race of a 13 race card which included 10 stakes races. Post time for race 11 was 6:52 pm EDT.


2015 Belmont Stakes
After winning both the 2015 Kentucky Derby and the Preakness, American Pharoah won the Belmont and became the first horse to win the Triple Crown since Affirmed in 1978. As the 12th Triple Crown winner, American Pharoah ran the race in 2:26.65 which was the sixth-fastest of all time and the second-fastest (following only Secretariat in 1973) amongst Triple Crown winners.


2015 Belmont Stakes, Pre-race
The New York Racing Association, which runs Belmont Park, located in Elmont, New York, announced that attendance for the event would be limited to 90,000. By Friday, June 5, all tickets had been sold out. To ease congestion at Belmont Station from racing fans leaving the venue, which led to hours-long waits the previous year, the Long Island Rail Road invested $4 million to improve mass transit in the area, and the New York Racing Association put in another $1 million.


2015 Belmont Stakes, Pre-race
The LIRR added platforms to accommodate 10-car trains, positioned additional empty trains along the branch line to allow more trains to move out of the station, and upgraded staircases and signs. They also altered the schedule at other stations along the branch line to move more trains through Belmont Station. To slow down the flow of people leaving at the same time, the NYRA also brought in the Goo Goo Dolls to perform a post-race concert. On May 29, 2015, the NYRA announced that the daily fantasy sports service DraftKings had acquired presenting sponsorship rights to the race. The deal, whose financial terms were undisclosed, included branding across the event site, the awarding of VIP tickets to a league winner through a promotion, and advertising exclusivity during NBC's telecast of the event.


2015 Belmont Stakes, Pre-race
Two weeks before the event the connections for several horses announced that they would be entering the race after bypassing the Preakness Stakes. These included the following participants of the 2015 Kentucky Derby: Frosted, who finished fourth; Materiality, sixth; Keen Ice, seventh; Mubtaahij, eighth; Carpe Diem, tenth; Frammento, eleventh; and War Story, who was sixteenth. When the field was ultimately drawn for the race on June 3, Carpe Diem and War Story were not entered.


2015 Belmont Stakes, Pre-race
A total of eight horses were to participate, all but one of whom had run in either the Derby or, as was the case of Tale of Verve, in the Preakness. The exception was Madefromlucky, who won the Peter Pan Stakes and had last faced American Pharoah in the Arkansas Derby. Every horse entered was a descendant, through his sire, of Mr. Prospector.


2015 Belmont Stakes, Pre-race
American Pharoah had previously defeated every horse entered, but he was also the only horse to contest all three legs of the Triple Crown and had run four races in the preceding eight weeks. Of the group, Frosted, who ran wide on the turn in the Kentucky Derby but rallied strongly to finish fourth, just three lengths from the lead, was considered by some commentators to pose the strongest challenge to American Pharoah. While acknowledging that a Triple Crown win "is something every single person is rooting for", Justin Zayat, of Zayat Stables, LLC, which owns American Pharoah, anticipated a strong run from Materiality.


2015 Belmont Stakes, Race description
The day began with a rainstorm early in the morning which stopped after about an hour. The inner two-thirds of the track were sealed by the maintenance crew, and the track was rated fast by the 11:35 a.m. post time of the first race. The Belmont took place under sunny skies.


2015 Belmont Stakes, Race description
American Pharoah, ridden by jockey Victor Espinoza, was leaning back in the starting gate when it opened and was a touch late at the start, but he soon pulled out to an early lead, which he maintained for a gate-to-wire win. American Pharoah steadily increased his lead throughout the race. He was challenged by Materiality until the top of the stretch when Materiality faded, ultimately finishing last, and Frosted pulled into second. Keen Ice ran in the middle of the pack until a late rally brought him into third over Mubtaahij, who was fourth.


2015 Belmont Stakes, Race description
American Pharoah crossed the finish line leading by 5+1⁄2 lengths, with a winning time of 2:26:65 for the 1+1⁄2-mile (2,400 m) race, the second fastest among Triple Crown winners. His margin of victory was the fourth-largest for a Triple Crown winner at the Belmont Stakes. American Pharoah was also the first Belmont winner since Afleet Alex in 2005 to have run all three Triple Crown races.


2015 Belmont Stakes, Race description
... “And they’re into the stretch, and American Pharoah makes his run for glory as they come into the final furlong! Frosted is second with one-eighth of a mile to go! American Pharoah's got a two-length lead! Frosted is all out at the sixteenth pole! And here it is! The 37-year wait is over! American Pharoah is finally the one! American Pharoah has won the Triple Crown!”—Larry Collmus, NBC


2015 Belmont Stakes, Race description
The win was the fourth attempt at a Triple Crown for trainer Bob Baffert, who at age 62 was the second-oldest trainer to win a Triple Crown. It was the third attempt for jockey Victor Espinoza, who was the first Latino jockey to win the Triple Crown, and, at age 43, the oldest.


2015 Belmont Stakes, Chart
Source:Times: 1⁄4— 0:24.06;  1⁄2— 0:48.83; 3⁄4— 1:13.41; mile—1:37.99; 1+1⁄4—2:02.33;   final—2:26.65. Fractional Splits: (:24.06) (:24.77) (:24.58) (:24.58) (:24.34) (:24.32)


2015 Bemidji Axemen season
The 2015 Bemidji Axemen season was the team's second and final season as a professional indoor football franchise and second in the Indoor Football League (IFL). One of ten teams competing in the IFL for the 2015 season, the Bemidji, Minnesota-based Axemen are members of the United Conference.


2015 Bemidji Axemen season, Roster
Rookies in italics updated June 10, 201525 Active, 4 Inactive


2015 Bendigo Women's International
The 2015 Bendigo Women's International was a professional tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the ninth edition of the tournament and part of the 2015 ITF Women's Circuit, offering a total of $50,000 in prize money. It took place in Bendigo, Australia, on 9–15 November 2015.


2015 Bendigo Women's International, Singles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2015 Bendigo Women's International – Doubles
Jessica Moore and Abbie Myers were the defending champions, but both players chose to participate with different partners. Moore partnered Storm Sanders but lost in the semifinals, whilst Myers partnered Pia König, but lost in the first round.


2015 Bendigo Women's International – Doubles
Lauren Embree and Asia Muhammad won the title, defeating Natela Dzalamidze and Hiroko Kuwata in the final, 7–5, 6–3.


2015 Bendigo Women's International – Singles
Liu Fangzhou was the defending champion, but chose to participate in Hua Hin instead.


2015 Bendigo Women's International – Singles
Misa Eguchi won the title, defeating Hiroko Kuwata in an all-Japanese final, 7–6(7–5), 6–3.


2015 Beninese parliamentary election
Parliamentary elections were held in Benin on 26 April 2015.


2015 Beninese parliamentary election, Electoral system
The 83 members of the National Assembly are elected in 24 multi-member constituencies, based on the country's departments. Seats are allocated using proportional representation based on the simple quotient, with remaining seats assigned using the largest remainder method.


2015 Beninese parliamentary election, Conduct
Observers from the African Union stated that the elections were generally transparent, despite some organisational challenges.


2015 Beninese parliamentary election, Aftermath
When the National Assembly began meeting for its new term, Adrien Houngbédji was elected as President of the National Assembly on the night of 19–20 May 2015; as the candidate representing the opposition, he received 42 votes, while the candidate representing President Yayi Boni's supporters, Komi Koutché, received 41. Members of the opposition dominated the Bureau of the National Assembly, obtaining six of its seven posts.


2015 Benue State gubernatorial election
The 2015 Benue State gubernatorial election was the 8th gubernatorial election of Benue State. Held on April 11, 2015, the All Progressives Congress nominee Samuel Ortom won the election, defeating Terhemen Tarzoor of the People's Democratic Party.


2015 Benue State gubernatorial election, APC primary
APC primaries was supposed to be held on December 4, 2014, but it was shifted to December 5, 2014. On December 5, 2014, Steve Ugbah went to court and secured an injunction to stop the primaries because his name was excluded from the primaries. The injunction was later vacated on December 9, 2014. Days later, Samuel Ortom became APC candidate after other governorship aspirants stepped down for him and his name was submitted as the consensus candidate on December 11, 2014.


2015 Benue State gubernatorial election, APC primary
This happened at the end of a close door meeting in Makurdi, Benue State brokered by former governor of the state (1999 to 2007), George Akume. APC governorship aspirants that stepped down are Emmanuel Jime, Mike Iordye and Akange Audu. Later, Steve Ugbah, Mike Iordye, JKN Waku and Akange Audu wrote to the APC national secretariat urging it to reject any name forwarded to it, because they didn't agree on a consensus candidate or conduct any primaries in Benue State.


2015 Benue State gubernatorial election, APC primary
The case was later tabled to Abuja Federal High Court in suit number FHC/ABJ/ CS/1057/14, against the party leadership by Steve Ugbah, Emmanuel Jime, Mike Iordye and JKN Waku. During the court case, Mike Iordye told the court that he didn't authorise the filing of the suit and his name was struck out as a party. However, Steve Ugbah also notified the court about his withdrawal from the suit after he became the Director General of the Ortom/Abounu Governorship Campaign Organization, leaving only Emmanuel Jime and JKN Waku in the suit. In August 2015, Emmanuel Jime and JKN Waku finally withdrew their case in the court after the intervention of President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari.


2015 Benue State gubernatorial election, PDP primary
PDP candidate Terhemen Tarzoor defeated 7 other contestants to clinch the party ticket. He won with 517 votes to defeat his closest rival and the deputy governor of the state, Steven Lawani, who received 311 votes. Samuel Ortom, former Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment received 111 votes, Sam Odeh received 48 votes, Ada Chenge received 47 votes, Mike Kaase Aondoakaa received 25 votes, Mathias Oyigeya received 5 votes, Terhemba Shija received 3 votes. During the election, ten aspirants withdrew from the exercise due to personal reasons. Their names are Felix Atume, Andy Owouku, Alex Adum, James Mbachiantim, Tivlumun Nyitse, David Ker, Hinga Biem, Simon Anchaver, Eugine Aliegba and Terhemba Nongo.


2015 Benue State gubernatorial election, Results
A total of 8 candidates contested in the election. Samuel Ortom from the APC won the election, defeating Terhemen Tarzoor from the PDP.


2015 Benue State gubernatorial election, Aftermath
After the election, Terhemen Tarzoor from the People's Democratic Party challenged the outcome of the election at the Benue State Governorship Elections Petitions Tribunal. The PDP candidate told the tribunal that the APC candidate and the winner of the election, Samuel Ortom was not qualified because he was not validly nominated to contest the election by his party, the APC. He also told the tribunal to declare that all votes scored by Samuel Ortom were invalid and that he should be declared the winner after certificate of return is withdrawn from Samuel Ortom. The tribunal upheld the election of Samuel Ortom. The case was also taken to the Appeal court and Supreme court, which also upheld the victory of Samuel Ortom in the election.


2015 Berlin Marathon
The 2015 Berlin Marathon was the 42nd edition of the Berlin Marathon. The marathon took place in Berlin, Germany, on 27 September 2015 and was the fourth World Marathon Majors race of the year.


2015 Berlin Marathon
The men's race was won by Kenyan athlete Eliud Kipchoge in 2:04:00 hours and the women's race was won by Gladys Cherono of Kenya in a time of 2:19:25 hours.


2015 Berlin ePrix
The 2015 Berlin ePrix, formally known as the 2015 DHL Berlin ePrix, was a Formula E motor race that took place on 23 May 2015 on the purpose-built Tempelhof Airport Street Circuit in Berlin. It was the eighth round of the 2014–15 Formula E season. A special anti-clockwise track was built for the race next to the terminal building of the closed airport, including 17 turns over a distance of 2.469 km (1.534 mi).


2015 Berlin ePrix
Prior to the ePrix, Lucas di Grassi was leading the Drivers' Championship by four points over Nelson Piquet, Jr., while e.dams Renault led the Teams' Championship in front of second placed Audi Sport ABT.


2015 Berlin ePrix
Jarno Trulli started the race from pole position, but eventually retired. The race was initially won by championship leader Lucas di Grassi. After di Grassi's car was found to have used a modified front wing, the victory was handed to second-placed Jérôme d'Ambrosio. As a result of the race, Nelson Piquet, Jr. took the lead in the drivers' championship.


2015 Berlin ePrix, Background
On 11 July 2013, it was announced that the newly founded Formula E, a class of auto racing for one-make, single-seater, electrically powered racing cars, was set to race in Berlin on the apron of Tempelhof airport, which was closed in October 2008. In April 2014, the race was included in the FIA's final calendar. Prior to the ePrix, Formula One had visited Berlin in 1959 for the German Grand Prix held at the AVUS highway track, a race marred by the death of Frenchman Jean Behra, who died in an accident during a Formula Two support race.


2015 Berlin ePrix, Background
Local politicians in Berlin supported the race, with the Senator for Economy, Technology and Research, Cornelia Yzer saying that Berlin "as the capital of electric mobility" was predestined for such an event. However, the Senate of Berlin did not agree to the organiser's plea to be allowed to hold the race at the central Straße des 17. Juni street overlooking the Brandenburg Gate.


2015 Berlin ePrix, Background
Coming into the race from Monaco two weeks earlier, Lucas di Grassi (Audi Sport ABT) was leading the championship with 93 points, four ahead of his compatriot Nelson Piquet, Jr. (NEXTEV TCR). Another six points adrift, third placed Sébastien Buemi (e.dams Renault) was the only driver who scored two victories over the course of the season, but less consistent outings prevented him from placing higher up in the standings. In the teams' championship, e.dams Renault on 160 points had a 45-point lead over Audi Sport ABT.


2015 Berlin ePrix, Background, The circuit
The 2.469 km (1.534 mi) anti-clockwise circuit was designed by Rodrigo Nunes, featuring 17 corners. It was described as a "twisty and challenging circuit" by Formula E driver Nick Heidfeld (Venturi), who also stated that "overtaking will not be easy" due to the nature of the course. Construction of the track started 14 May, nine days prior to the race.


2015 Berlin ePrix, Background, World record
Between qualifying and the race, a new world record was set for the largest parade of electric vehicles, when 577 cars and scooters took to the track. The parade surpassed the previous record set in September 2014 in Silicon Valley, United States.


2015 Berlin ePrix, Report
All sessions took place on Saturday, 23 May 2015, in contrast to Formula One, where all sessions are divided up over a three- to four-day period.


2015 Berlin ePrix, Report, Free practice
Two free practice sessions were held before qualifying, running for 45 and 30 minutes respectively. The first session started at 08:15 local time, with Sébastien Buemi topping the timesheets for e.dams-Renault in a time of 1:23.158. The track got faster as the temperatures rose and more cars drove around the circuit; lap times improved by more than a second in the second session, which started at 10:30. This time, it was championship leader Lucas di Grassi who topped the timesheets with a lap time of 1:22.032.


2015 Berlin ePrix, Report, Qualifying
In contrast to other racing series such as Formula One, Formula E has a specific qualifying mode, in which the twenty drivers are divided up into four groups, leaving enough space on track for everyone to produce lap times without interference by other drivers. Each group had ten minutes on track and the fastest time of each driver determined the grid position. A lottery determined which drivers started in which group. With five-minute breaks between the groups, qualifying had an overall length of 55 minutes.


2015 Berlin ePrix, Report, Qualifying
Racing veteran Jarno Trulli (Trulli GP) started in the first group, as qualifying began at 12:00, and posted a strong time of 1:21.547 early in the session, being the first to lap the course in under 1:22. Also in the group was Nelson Piquet, Jr. – second in the championship – who ultimately managed only 13th place on the grid. As qualifying progressed, championship leader Lucas di Grassi and Monaco winner Sébastien Buemi came close to beating Trulli's time, but proved unable to do so, handing Trulli a surprising pole position, his first in Formula E.


2015 Berlin ePrix, Report, Race
A special feature of Formula E was the "Fan Boost" feature, an additional 30 kilowatts (40 hp) of power to use for five seconds during the race. The three drivers, who were allowed to use the boost, were determined by a fan vote. For the Berlin race, Nelson Piquet, Jr., Sébastien Buemi and Charles Pic (NEXTEV TCR) were handed the extra power. For Piquet, it was the third boost in a row, while both Buemi and Pic were able to use it for the first time.


2015 Berlin ePrix, Report, Race
At the start of the race, Lucas di Grassi challenged Jarno Trulli for the lead, but Trulli closed the racing line into turn one. As Trulli lost the rear end of the car going into turn three, di Grassi took the lead. The other Audi Sport Abt of Daniel Abt was less fortunate, being sent into a spin at the same corner, dropping to the back of the field. Nelson Piquet, Jr. immediately made up for ground lost in qualifying, gaining three positions during the first lap, running in tenth place.


2015 Berlin ePrix, Report, Race
At turn six on the following lap, he went past Stéphane Sarrazin (Venturi) for ninth. While di Grassi built an early lead, several manoeuvres were made behind him, with Nicolas Prost (e.dams-Renault) losing two positions to Jérôme d'Ambrosio (Dragon Racing) and Vitantonio Liuzzi (Trulli GP), dropping back to seventh. Pole sitter Jarno Trulli looked to be in trouble with his car and lost positions continuously, running in thirteenth after lap twelve. Third placed Nick Heidfeld was also unable to hold onto his podium position, being overtaken by d'Ambrosio on lap thirteen.


2015 Berlin ePrix, Report, Race
The mandatory pit stops, during which all drivers needed to change into a second car, started on lap 17. Everyone came in at this point except the two NEXTEV TCR drivers Piquet and Charles Pic. D'Ambrosio managed to get ahead of Buemi into second place thanks to swift work from his crew. Piquet benefited from his late stop by moving ahead into eighth after everyone had pitted and having more power left to use towards the end of the race.


2015 Berlin ePrix, Report, Race
Heidfeld ran into additional trouble during the second half of the race, losing two positions during the final laps to both Loïc Duval (Dragon Racing) and the fast running Piquet, who managed to finish fifth from thirteenth on the grid, even closing on Duval on the final lap. Meanwhile, di Grassi won comfortably from d'Ambrosio, the gap being more than twelve seconds.


2015 Berlin ePrix, Report, Race, Post-race
After the chequered flag fell, Lucas di Grassi's car stopped on the way back to pit lane. Once his car returned to parc fermé, it failed post-race scrutineering, and was found to have a modified front wing, leading to his disqualification. This meant that Jérôme d'Ambrosio was handed his first Formula E victory, moving him into fifth place in the drivers' championship. Nelson Piquet, Jr. recovered from his "dismal" qualifying performance to finish an eventual fourth, taking the championship lead.


2015 Berlin ePrix, Report, Race, Post-race
While e.dams Renault retained their lead in the teams' championship, the strong result for the Dragon Racing squad meant they moved up into second. The Abt team decided not to appeal the decision against Di Grassi, while emphasizing that the front wing did not lead to a performance advantage. Di Grassi himself responded on Twitter, writing: "They are trying to make me win this championship in the hard mode. Don't worry, we will be back to kick some Piquet and Buemi ass on track."


2015 Berlin ePrix, Report, Race, Post-race
D'Ambrosio was delighted with the result, commenting: "It was a great weekend for us overall. I think in the last four races we've had the pace to be on the podium but we didn't always manage to put it all together in the race. [ ...] This time we did it and it paid off!" He however added regret about the fact that he and the team were unable to celebrate the win and a double podium at the respective ceremony.


2015 Berlin ePrix, Standings after the race
Drivers or teams listed in bold were still able to take their respective titles.


2015 Best of Nollywood Awards
The 2015 Best of Nollywood Awards was the 7th edition of the ceremony and took place in Ultra Modern Dome, Ondo State, Nigeria on December 13, 2015. The event was anchored by Nollywood actors, Bimbo Akintola and Gideon Okeke.


2015 Bethune–Cookman Wildcats baseball team
The 2015 Bethune–Cookman Wildcats baseball team represents Bethune-Cookman University in the sport of baseball during the 2015 college baseball season. The Wildcats competed in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Southern Division of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC). The team is coached by Jason Beverlin, who is entering his fifth season at Bethune-Cookman.


2015 Bethune–Cookman Wildcats football team
The 2015 Bethune–Cookman Wildcats football team represented Bethune-Cookman University in the 2015 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by first-year head coach Terry Sims and played their home games at Municipal Stadium. They were a member of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC). They finished the season 9–2, 7–1 in MEAC play to finish in a three-way tie for the MEAC title with North Carolina A&T and North Carolina Central. 2015 was the first year the MEAC champion abstained from the FCS Playoffs. Due to their head-to-head loss to North Carolina A&T, they were not invited to the newly formed Celebration Bowl and also did not receive an at-large bid to the FCS Playoffs.


2015 Bharuch riots
The 2015 Bharuch riots took place in Hansot village of Bharuch district, Gujarat state in India. It was caused by communal tensions from a number of events between the Hindu majority and the Muslim minority. The riots resulted in the deaths of three people, an unknown number of injuries, as well as several homes and businesses being burnt down.


2015 Bharuch riots, Probable causes
1) 9-11 December 2014 Regarding pornographic cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad circulated on the internet by Sunil Patel (Sunil Mansukhbhai Patel) of Ambheta village.


2015 Bharuch riots, Probable causes
2) 14 December 2014 - 5 January 2015 The attempted forcible conversion and ethnic cleansing of the family of Mohammed Gulam Hafiz Danavala in Katpore village by a Hindu fundamentalist mob. Numerous district wide attacks and threats to the minority Muslim community, in particular the villages of Sajod, Ilav, and Shera.


2015 Bharuch riots, Probable causes
3) 14 January 2015 Kite-flying incident in Ambheta village, where a Muslim boy was beaten by a Hindu mob, which later turned into a communal riot in the village.


2015 Bharuch riots, Casualties, Deaths
The riots left three people dead. One victim died on the spot and two died in hospital.


2015 Bharuch riots, Casualties, Deaths
Two men of the majority Hindu community and one man of the minority Muslim community, were brutally murdered in the infamous Sunevkhurd village Ambulance Attack, where an ambulance under police protection was surrounded and attacked by a Muslim mob, resulting in the Hindu patient inside the ambulance, who had already had his skull hacked open and exposed, being left stranded and later dying to his injuries.


2015 Bharuch riots, Casualties, Injuries
Multiple victims of both the minority Muslim and majority Hindu communities.


2015 Bharuch riots, Casualties, Destruction/damage to assets including property and livestock
Initially, a shop belonging to a Hindu and a shop belonging to a Muslim were burnt in Hansot. Later on, houses of Hindus were burnt by angry rioting Muslim mobs.


2015 Bharuch riots, Aftermath
Families were forced to take refuge in the neighbouring Surat district.


2015 Bharuch riots, Aftermath
State Police had to fire tear gas to control the rioting mobs.


2015 Bharuch riots, Aftermath
The cremations took place after police deployed six companies of the Central Reserve Police Force and one company of the Rapid Action Force  in the district.


2015 Bharuch riots, Aftermath
Afterwards, the tension between the two parties eased and the riots came to an end.


2015 Bhutan National League
The 2015 Bhutan National League was the fourth season of national football competition in Bhutan, having replaced the A-Division (Bhutan) in 2013. Again, the A-Division provided the qualifiers, with the top three teams in that competition being awarded places in the National League alongside three regional teams. The league was sponsored by the Bank of Bhutan.


2015 Bhutan National League
Terton were crowned champions of the national league after beating Thimphu City, who were then the top team in the league, in their final game 4–2 on 23 September.


2015 Bhutan National League, Thimphu League
The 2015 season of the Thimphu League, called the Yanmar Thimphu League for sponsorship reasons, and previously the Bhutan A-Division, started on April 4, 2015 and ended on May 13. Terton won the competition in their inaugural season, and were joined in the National League by Thimphu FC and Thimphu City.


2015 Bhutan National League, Thimphu League, Format and rules
The Thimphu League is a regional competition for teams from Thimphu. the competition consists of seven teams, each plays the others twice – home and away – for a total of 12 games each, over 14 game weeks. 3 points are awarded for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 points for a loss. the league table is decided firstly on points won, then on goal difference and finally on total goals scored if the previous two are equal. The first three teams automatically qualify for the National league, the bottom two teams compete in relegation playoffs with the top two teams from the B-Division for two places in the next seasons's competition.


2015 Bhutan National League, Thimphu League, Results
Note 1: The notion of home and away fixtures in the A-Division is moot as all games are played at Changlimithang Stadium. As such, for the purpose of this table, the first result chronologically has been deemed that team's "home" game and the second the "away" game. Note 2: The Druk Pol v Thimphu FC match was also reported as a 4–2 win for Thimphu.


2015 Bhutan National League, National League, Format and rules
The competition consists of six teams competing for the national league championship, the winner of which gains a place in the next season's. AFC Cup. Each plays the others twice – home and away – for a total of 10 games each, over 10 game weeks. 3 points are awarded for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 points for a loss. the league table is decided firstly on points won, then on goal difference and finally on total goals scored if the previous two are equal. There is no promotion or relegation from this league.


2015 Bhutan National League, National League, Teams
A total of six teams competed in the league: three teams representing Thimphu, who qualified as a result of their final positions in the 2015 A-Division, and three teams representing other districts.


2015 Big 12 Conference Baseball Tournament
The 2015 Big 12 Conference Baseball Tournament was held from May 20 through May 24 at ONEOK Field in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The annual tournament determines the conference champion of the Division I Big 12 Conference for college baseball. The winner of the tournament will earn the league's automatic bid to the 2015 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament.


2015 Big 12 Conference Baseball Tournament
The tournament has been held since 1997, the inaugural year of the Big 12 Conference. Among current league members, Texas has won the most championships with five, winning again in 2015. Among original members, Baylor and Kansas State have never won the event. Iowa State discontinued their program after the 2001 season without having won a title. Having joined in 2013, TCU won their first title in 2014 while West Virginia has yet to win the Tournament.


2015 Big 12 Conference Baseball Tournament, Format and seeding
The top eight finishers from the regular season will be seeded one through eight, and will then play a two-bracket double-elimination tournament leading to a winner-take-all championship game.


2015 Big 12 Conference Women's Basketball Tournament
The 2015 Big 12 Conference Women's Basketball Tournament is the postseason women's basketball tournament for the Big 12 Conference to be held from March 6 to 9, 2015, in Dallas, Texas at the American Airlines Center.


2015 Big 12 Conference Women's Soccer Tournament
The 2015 Big 12 Conference Women's Soccer Tournament was the postseason women's soccer tournament for the Big 12 Conference held from November 4 to 8, 2015. The seven-match tournament was held at the Swope Soccer Village in Kansas City, Missouri with a combined attendance of 2,812. The 8-team single-elimination tournament consisted of three rounds based on seeding from regular season conference play. The Texas Tech Red Raiders defeated the Kansas Jayhawks in the championship match to win their first conference tournament.


2015 Big 12 Conference football season
The 2015 Big 12 Conference football season is the 20th season of college football play for the Big 12 Conference. It is part of the 2015 NCAA Division I FBS football season.


2015 Big 12 Conference women's soccer season
The 2015 Big 12 Conference women's soccer season was the 20th season of women's varsity soccer in the conference.


2015 Big 12 Conference women's soccer season
The West Virginia Mountaineers claimed their fourth consecutive outright regular season championship, becoming the first time in Big 12 history to do so. The Texas Tech Red Raiders won their first Big 12 Tournament title with a 1–0 victory over the Kansas Jayhawks in the final.


2015 Big 12 Conference women's soccer season, Postseason, Big 12 Tournament
Texas Tech claimed its first Big 12 Tournament championship in 2015. Following an overtime win over Oklahoma, the Red Raiders eliminated the two-time defending tournament champions West Virginia, 1–0. Texas Tech outlasted Kansas in the final by the same score, claiming the league's automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.


2015 Big 12 Men's Basketball Tournament
The 2015 Big 12 Men's Basketball Tournament was the postseason men's basketball tournament for the Big 12 Conference. It was played from March 11 to 14 in Kansas City, Missouri at the Sprint Center. Iowa State won the tournament for the 3rd time and received the conference's automatic bid to the 2015 NCAA Tournament.


2015 Big 12 Men's Basketball Tournament, Seeding
The Tournament consisted of a 10 team single-elimination tournament with the top 6 seeds receiving a bye.


2015 Big East Conference Baseball Tournament
The 2015 Big East Conference Baseball Tournament will be held at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska from May 21 through May 24. The event, held at the end of the conference regular season, determines the champion of the Big East Conference for the 2015 season. The winner of the double-elimination tournament will receive the conference's automatic bid to the 2015 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament.


2015 Big East Conference Baseball Tournament, Format and seeding
The tournament will use a double-elimination format and feature the top four finishers of the Big East's seven teams.


2015 Big East Conference Men's Soccer Tournament
The 2015 Big East Men's Soccer Tournament, was the third men's soccer tournament of the new Big East Conference, formed in July 2013 after the original Big East Conference split into two leagues along football lines. Including the history of the original conference, it was the 20th edition of the Big East tournament.


2015 Big East Conference Men's Soccer Tournament, Qualification
The top six teams in the Big East Conference based on their conference regular season records qualified for the tournament.


2015 Big East Conference Softball Tournament
The 2015 Big East Conference softball tournament was held at The Ballpark at Rosemont in Rosemont, Illinois. The tournament, hosted by DePaul University, ran May 8 through May 9, 2015 and determined the champion for the Big East Conference for the 2015 NCAA Division I softball season. Top-seeded St. John's won the tournament for the first time and earned the Big East Conference's automatic bid to the 2015 NCAA Division I Softball Tournament. The entire tournament was broadcast on Fox Sports 2. Eric Collins and Brooke Weisbrod served as the broadcasters for Fox.


2015 Big East Conference Softball Tournament, Format and seeding
The top four teams from the conference's round-robin regular season qualified for the tournament, and were seeded one through four. They played a single-elimination tournament. Villanova claimed the fourth seed by tiebreaker over Butler.


2015 Big East Conference Softball Tournament, All-Tournament Team, Most Outstanding Player
Krystal Puga was named Tournament Most Outstanding Player. Puga was an infielder for St. John's.


2015 Big East Men's Basketball Tournament
The 2015 Big East Men's Basketball Tournament, officially known as the 2015 Big East Tournament, was a tournament played from March 11–14, at Madison Square Garden in New York City.


2015 Big East Men's Lacrosse Tournament
The 2015 Big East Men's Lacrosse Tournament took place April 30 to May 2 at Villanova Stadium in  Villanova, Pennsylvania. The winner of the tournament received the Big East Conference's automatic bid to the 2015 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship. Four teams from the Big East conference will compete in the single elimination event. The seeds were based upon the teams' regular season conference record.


2015 Big East Men's Lacrosse Tournament, Standings
Only the top four teams in the Big Ten conference advanced to the Big East Conference Tournament.


2015 Big East Women's Basketball Tournament
The 2015 Big East Women's Basketball Tournament, officially known as the 2015 Big East Championship, was a tournament March 7–10, 2015, at Allstate Arena in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, Illinois.


2015 Big League World Series
The 2015 Big League World Series took place from July 28 - August 4 in Easley, South Carolina, United States. Guayama, Puerto Rico defeated Thousand Oaks, California in the championship game.


2015 Big Sky Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
The 2015 Big Sky Conference Men's Basketball Tournament was held March 12–14, 2015. All games were hosted by the Montana Grizzlies, which won a tiebreaker with regular season co-champions Eastern Washington, at Dahlberg Arena. The champion, Eastern Washington, received an automatic bid to the 2015 NCAA Tournament.


2015 Big Sky Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
This was the final Big Sky Tournament to be held at a campus site, and also the last one in which certain teams were excluded due to poor performance. From 2016 forward, the tournament will involve all conference members (barring NCAA sanctions), and will be held at a predetermined neutral site, with the first neutral-site tournament to be held at the Reno Events Center in Reno, Nevada.


2015 Big Sky Conference Men's Basketball Tournament, Format
With the addition of Idaho in all sports except football, the league now has 12 men's and women's basketball programs. The 2015 tournaments expanded from seven to eight teams each, with no byes. Four quarterfinals were played on Thursday, followed by two semifinal games on Friday, and the championship game on Saturday. In addition, the top seed no longer has a bye in the tournament.


2015 Big Sky Conference Softball Tournament
The 2015 Big Sky Conference Softball tournament will be held at Miller Ranch Stadium on the campus of Idaho State University in Pocatello, Idaho from May 7 through May 9, 2015. The tournament will earn the Big Sky Conference's automatic bid to the 2015 NCAA Division I Softball Tournament. The entire tournament will air on  with Jason Ashcraft describing the action.


2015 Big Sky Conference Women's Basketball Tournament
The 2015 Big Sky Conference Women's Basketball Tournament was held from March 11–14, 2015. The champion of the tournament received an automatic bid to the 2015 NCAA Tournament.


2015 Big Sky Conference Women's Basketball Tournament, Format
Unlike most Division I conference tournaments in basketball, the Big Sky tournament did not involve all of the conference's teams. With the addition of Idaho to the conference for the 2014–15 season, expanding the number of teams from 11 to 12, the tournament expanded from seven teams to eight. As in previous years, qualifying is based on overall conference record. The number of teams that failed to qualify stayed at four. All tournament games were played at the site of the regular-season champion.


2015 Big Sky Conference Women's Basketball Tournament, Format
The women's tournament ran this year with a Wednesday-Friday-Saturday format because Montana hosted both tournaments, having won the women's regular-season title outright and earned men's hosting rights by winning a tiebreaker with regular-season co-champion Eastern Washington. With the move to an 8-seed schedule, the Big Sky also chose to go with the regular 8-seed tournament most other conferences use.


2015 Big Sky Conference Women's Basketball Tournament, Format
The 2015 tournament was the last to be held at campus sites, and the last in which certain teams were excluded for poor performance. Starting with the 2015–16 season, the Big Sky men's and women's tournaments both expanded to include all conference members (barring NCAA sanctions or self-imposed postseason bans), and both tournaments will be held at a predetermined neutral site. For 2016, both tournaments will be held at the Reno Events Center in Reno, Nevada.


2015 Big South Conference Baseball Tournament
The 2015 Big South Conference Baseball Tournament will be held from May 19–23. The top eight regular season finishers of the conference's twelve teams will meet in the double-elimination tournament to be held at  John Henry Moss Stadium on the campus of Gardner–Webb University in Boiling Springs, North Carolina. The tournament champion will earn the conference's automatic bid to the 2015 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament.


2015 Big South Conference Baseball Tournament, Seeding and format
The top eight finishers of the league's eleven teams qualify for the double-elimination tournament. Teams are seeded based on conference winning percentage, with the first tiebreaker being head-to-head record.


2015 Big South Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
The 2015 Big South Men's Basketball Tournament was the postseason men's basketball tournament for the Big South Conference that took place March 4–8, 2015, at the HTC Center in Conway, South Carolina. Quarterfinals and semifinal games were broadcast on ESPN3, with the championship game was televised on ESPN2. All 11 teams were eligible for the tournament. Teams were seeded 1-11, with the top five teams earning a first round bye. Previously, teams were split into two divisions.


2015 Big South Conference Men's Soccer Tournament
The 2015 Big South Conference Men's Soccer Tournament was the 32nd edition of the tournament. It determined the Big South Conference's automatic berth into the 2015 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship.


2015 Big South Conference Men's Soccer Tournament
The Winthrop Eagles won the tournament, besting the High Point Panthers in the championship match.


2015 Big South Conference Men's Soccer Tournament, Qualification
The top eight teams in the Big South Conference based on their conference regular season records qualified for the tournament.


2015 Big South Conference Softball Tournament
The 2015 Big South Conference Softball tournament was held at Amanda Littlejohn Stadium in Buies Creek, North Carolina from May 7 through May 10, 2015. The tournament winner, Longwood, earned the Big South Conference's automatic bid to the 2015 NCAA Division I Softball Tournament, where they defeated Virginia Tech but were eliminated by Tennessee and Utah.


2015 Big South Conference Softball Tournament, Format
The Big South has two single elimination games. An 8 vs. 9 play-in game is held as single elimination. The championship is also single elimination. All other games are double elimination.


2015 Big South Conference Women's Basketball Tournament
The 2015 Big South Women's Basketball Tournament was the postseason women's basketball tournament for the Big South Conference that took place from March 3–8, 2015, at the HTC Center in Conway, South Carolina. All rounds after 1st were broadcast on ESPN3, 1st Round on Big South Network.


2015 Big Ten Baseball Tournament
The 2015 Big Ten Conference Baseball Tournament was held at Target Field in Minneapolis, Minnesota from May 20 through 24. Michigan won their 9th tournament championship to claim the Big Ten Conference's automatic bid to the 2015 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament. The event was aired on the Big Ten Network.


2015 Big Ten Baseball Tournament, Format and seeding
The 2015 tournament was an 8 team double-elimination tournament. The top eight teams based on conference regular season winning percentage earned invites to the tournament. The teams played a double-elimination tournament leading to a single championship game.


2015 Big Ten Conference football season
The 2015 Big Ten Conference football season was the 120th season of college football play for the Big Ten Conference and was a part of the 2015 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The conference began its season on Thursday, September 3, with Michigan and Minnesota opening their seasons. The remainder of the teams in the conference began their seasons on September 4 and 5.


2015 Big Ten Conference football season
This was the Big Ten's second season with 14 teams. The league was home to the defending national champion and inaugural winner of the College Football Playoff in Ohio State.


2015 Big Ten Conference football season
The Big Ten also welcomed four new head coaches for the 2015 season. Jim Harbaugh replaced Brady Hoke as head coach at Michigan, Mike Riley took over for Bo Pelini at Nebraska, Paul Chryst came in as the head man at Wisconsin, replacing Gary Andersen, and Bill Cubit served as the interim head coach at Illinois after Tim Beckman was fired just one week before the beginning of the season. There were also two coaching changes made during the middle of the 2015 season.


2015 Big Ten Conference football season
On October 13, Maryland dismissed coach Randy Edsall and named his offensive coordinator Mike Locksley as interim coach for the rest of the season. On October 28, Jerry Kill retired as Minnesota's head coach due to health concerns. His defensive coordinator Tracy Claeys was named as interim coach before being named the permanent replacement on November 11.


2015 Big Ten Conference football season
In preseason polling, Ohio State was unanimously voted to repeat as the Big Ten champion by the media in the Big Ten Preseason poll, receiving all 40 first place votes. The Badgers were favorites to win the Big Ten West Division with 32 votes, followed by Nebraska with five and Minnesota with three.


2015 Big Ten Conference football season
At the conclusion of the regular season, Iowa won the West Division championship with a perfect 12-0 (8-0) record. Michigan State and Ohio State finished tied atop the East Division standings, both at 11-1 (7-1), but Michigan State's head-to-head victory placed the Spartans into the Big Ten Championship Game opposite Iowa. Following the season, Illinois removed the interim tag from Bill Cubit's title and gave him a two-year contract as head coach, while Rutgers has decided to part ways with Kyle Flood.


2015 Big Ten Conference football season
In the Big Ten Championship Game, Michigan State defeated Iowa 16-13 to win their second Big Ten championship in three years. With the win, the Spartans advance to the College Football Playoff. Iowa and Ohio State were both placed into New Year's Six Bowls, going to the Rose and Fiesta Bowls, respectively. A total of 10 Big Ten teams went to bowl games in 2015, including Nebraska and Minnesota, both with 5-7 records.


2015 Big Ten Conference football season, Schedule
In 2015, Penn State will be the only Big Ten team that will not play a non-conference game against a Power Five conference team.


2015 Big Ten Conference football season, Bowl games
Rankings are from AP Poll. All times Eastern Time Zone.


2015 Big Ten Conference football season, All-conference players
Coaches Honorable Mention: ILLINOIS: Geronimo Allison, Taylor Barton, V'Angelo Bentley (return specialist), Clayton Fejedelem, Ted Karras, Mason Monheim, T.J. Neal, Austin Schmidt, Dawuane Smoot, Jihad Ward; INDIANA: Simmie Cobbs, Michael Cooper, Darius Latham, Nick Mangieri, Zack Shaw; IOWA: Cole Fisher, Jaleel Johnson, Dillon Kidd, Desmond King (return specialist), Ben Niemann, Matt VandeBerg, Sean Welsh; MARYLAND: Jermaine Carter, Michael Dunn, Quinton Jefferson; MICHIGAN: Kenny Allen, Joe Bolden, Ben Braden, Mason Cole, Amara Darboh, Graham Glasgow, Ryan Glasgow, Willie Henry, Kyle Kalis, Desmond Morgan, Blake O'Neil, Jake Rudock, De'Veon Smith, Jarrod Wilson; MICHIGAN STATE: Jon Reschke, R.J. Shelton, Lawrence Thomas; MINNESOTA:


2015 Big Ten Conference football season, All-conference players
Briean Boddy-Calhoun, Shannon Brooks, De'Vondre Campbell, Theiren Cockran, Brandon Lingen, KJ Maye, Jalen Myrick, Jonah Pirsig, Steven Richardson; NEBRASKA: Drew Brown, Nate Gerry, Andy Janovich, Joshua Kalu; NORTHWESTERN: Deonte Gibson, Solomon Vault (return specialist); OHIO STATE: Tyquan Lewis, Jalin Marshall (return specialist), Braxton Miller, Tyvis Powell, Nick Vannett; PENN STATE: Marcus Allen, Jason Cabinda, Trevor Williams; PURDUE: Anthony Brown, Markell Jones, Robert Kugler, Jake Replogle, Frankie Williams; RUTGERS: Leonte Caroo, Steve Longa, Keith Lumpkin; WISCONSIN: T.J. Edwards, Troy Fumagalli, Darius Hillary, Tanner McEvoy.


2015 Big Ten Conference football season, All-conference players
Media Honorable Mention: ILLINOIS: Geronimo Allison, Taylor Barton, V'Angelo Bentley (return specialist), Mason Monheim, T.J. Neal, Austin Schmidt, Dawuane Smoot, Jihad Ward; INDIANA: Simmie Cobbs, Michael Cooper, Nick Mangieri, Marcus Oliver, Mitchell Paige (return specialist); IOWA: Cole Fisher, Jaleel Johnson, Dillon Kidd, Jordan Lomax, Desmond King (return specialist), Marshall Koehn, Matt VandeBerg, Sean Welsh; MARYLAND: Jermaine Carter, Sean Davis, Brandon Ross; MICHIGAN:


2015 Big Ten Conference football season, All-conference players
Joe Bolden, Ben Braden, Jehu Chesson, Mason Cole, Amara Darboh, Graham Glasgow, Ryan Glasgow, Willie Henry, Royce Jenkins-Stone, Jourdan Lewis (return specialist), Desmond Morgan, Blake O'Neil, Jabrill Peppers (return specialist), Jake Rudock, Chris Wormley; MICHIGAN STATE: Donavan Clark, Demetrious Cox, Darien Harris, Joel Heath, Jon Reschke; MINNESOTA: Shannon Brooks, De'Vondre Campbell, Theiren Cockran, Brandon Lingen, Jack Lynn, KJ Maye, Jonah Pirsig, Cody Poock, Steven Richardson, Ryan Santoso; NEBRASKA:


2015 Big Ten Conference football season, All-conference players
Cethan Carter; OHIO STATE: Eli Apple, Gareon Conley, Tyquan Lewis, Jalin Marshall (wide receiver/return specialist), Braxton Miller, Billy Price, Tyvis Powell, Nick Vannett; PENN STATE: Marcus Allen, Jason Cabinda, Grant Haley, DaeSean Hamilton; PURDUE: Anthony Brown, Markell Jones, Robert Kugler, Jake Replogle, Frankie Williams; RUTGERS: Quentin Gause, Keith Lumpkin, Chris Muller; WISCONSIN: Michael Dieter, Tanner McEvoy, Troy Fumagalli, Chikwe Obasih, Sojourn Shelton.


2015 Big Ten Conference football season, All-Americans
The 2015 College Football All-America Team is composed of the following College Football All-American first teams chosen by the following selector organizations: Associated Press (AP), Football Writers Association of America (FWAA), American Football Coaches Association (AFCA), Walter Camp Foundation (WCFF), The Sporting News (TSN), Sports Illustrated (SI), USA Today (USAT) ESPN, CBS Sports (CBS), College Football News (CFN), Scout.com, and Yahoo! Sports (Yahoo! ).


2015 Big Ten Conference football season, All-Americans
Currently, the NCAA compiles consensus all-America teams in the sports of Division I-FBS football and Division I men's basketball using a point system computed from All-America teams named by coaches associations or media sources. The system consists of three points for a first-team honor, two points for second-team honor, and one point for third-team honor. Honorable mention and fourth team or lower recognitions are not accorded any points. Football consensus teams are compiled by position and the player accumulating the most points at each position is named first team consensus all-American. Currently, the NCAA recognizes All-Americans selected by the AP, AFCA, FWAA, TSN, and the WCFF to determine Consensus and Unanimous All-Americans. Any player named to the First Team by all five of the NCAA-recognized selectors is deemed a Unanimous All-American.


2015 Big Ten Conference football season, 2016 NFL Draft
47 Big Ten athletes were selected in the 2016 NFL Draft.


2015 Big Ten Conference football season, 2016 NFL Draft
In the explanations below, (PD) indicates trades completed prior to the start of the draft (i.e. Pre-Draft), while (D) denotes trades that took place during the 2016 draft.


2015 Big Ten Conference football season, Head coaches
*Maryland fired Randy Edsall six games into the season. Offensive coordinator Mike Locksley was named interim coach for the remainder of the season


2015 Big Ten Conference football season, Head coaches
*Jerry Kill stepped down as Minnesota's coach on October 28, 2015 due to health reasons. Defensive coordinator Tracy Claeys was named interim coach for a couple of weeks and then named the permanent replacement on November 11.


2015 Big Ten Conference men's soccer season
The 2015 Big Ten Conference men's soccer season was the 25th season of men's varsity soccer in the conference. Maryland entered the season as both the regular season champion and the Big Ten Tournament champion.


2015 Big Ten Conference men's soccer season, Preseason
Defending regular season and tournament champions Maryland were selected as the favorite ahead of the 2015 season.


2015 Big Ten Football Championship Game
The 2015 Big Ten Football Championship Game was a college football game that was played on December 5, 2015 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana. It was the fifth annual Big Ten Football Championship Game and it determined the 2015 champion of the Big Ten Conference. The game featured the Michigan State Spartans, champions of the East Division, and the Iowa Hawkeyes, champions of the West Division. Michigan State defeated Iowa 16–13 to win its second Big Ten Championship in three years. The winner advanced to the four-team championship playoffs.


2015 Big Ten Football Championship Game, History
The 2015 Championship Game was the fifth in the Big Ten's 120-year history, and the second to feature the conference's East and West division alignment. Iowa made its first appearance in the conference championship game, while Michigan State made its third appearance (L in 2011, W in 2013). To date, this game holds the Big Ten Football Championship Game attendance record.


2015 Big Ten Football Championship Game, Teams, Iowa
Iowa came into the Big Ten Championship Game with a 12–0 record and a #4 ranking in the College Football Playoff. The Hawkeyes were led by junior QB C.J. Beathard and 2015 Big Ten Defensive Back of the Year, junior CB Desmond King, who tied the school record and led the Big Ten with 8 INT.


2015 Big Ten Football Championship Game, Teams, Iowa
The Hawkeyes sat atop the Big Ten West division standings wire-to-wire. They opened conference play with a hard-nosed 10-6 victory over the Wisconsin Badgers in Madison, and overwhelmed the Northwestern Wildcats 40-10 in Evanston two weeks later. Iowa clinched the Big Ten West division by defeating the Purdue Boilermakers 40-20 in the home finale at Kinnick Stadium, and completed an unbeaten regular season by defeating the Nebraska Cornhuskers 28-20 in Lincoln.


2015 Big Ten Football Championship Game, Teams, Iowa
Head coach Kirk Ferentz was named Big Ten Coach of the Year for the fourth time after guiding Iowa to its first unbeaten regular season in 93 years.


2015 Big Ten Football Championship Game, Teams, Michigan State
Michigan State entered the Big Ten Championship Game with an 11–1 record and a #5 ranking in the College Football Playoff. On offense, the Spartans were led by Big Ten QB of the Year Connor Cook and Big Ten Receiver of the Year Aaron Burbridge. In the trenches, Jack Allen and Jack Conklin anchored the offensive line, while Shilique Calhoun and Malik McDowell led an imposing, stingy defensive unit.


2015 Big Ten Football Championship Game, Teams, Michigan State
The Spartans survived a dramatic regular season to capture the Big Ten East division title. On October 17, they scored on the final play of the game (a botched punt attempt) at rival Michigan to win 27-23. Three weeks later, Michigan State lost its only regular season game 39-38 at Nebraska. Then, in a de facto East division title game, the Spartans defeated defending National champion and No. 2 Ohio State in Columbus 17-14, as kicker Michael Geiger drilled a 41-yard field goal as time expired.


2015 Big Ten Football Championship Game, Aftermath
Michigan State, who had been ranked fifth in the College Football Playoff rankings heading into the game, jumped to third behind Alabama. Alabama beat then-No. 18 Florida 29–15 in the SEC Championship Game on the same day. As a result, Michigan State received a bid to the national semifinal against second-seeded Alabama in the Cotton Bowl Classic. Alabama defeated Michigan State 38–0 and later defeated No. 1 Clemson in the National Championship game. Iowa fell to fifth in the CFP rankings and received a bid to the Rose Bowl where they were defeated by Stanford 45–16.


2015 Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament
The 2015 Big Ten Conference Men's Basketball Tournament was held from March 11 through March 15 at United Center in Chicago, Illinois. This was the 16th annual Big Ten Tournament and was the first tournament to feature 14 teams of the expanded Big Ten to include Maryland and Rutgers. The championship was won by Wisconsin who defeated Michigan State in the championship game. As a result, Wisconsin received the Big Ten's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The win marked Wisconsin's third tournament championship and first since 2008.


2015 Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament, Seeds
All 14 Big Ten schools participated in the tournament. Teams were seeded by conference record, with a tiebreaker system used to seed teams with identical conference records. Seeding for the tournament was determined at the close of the regular conference season. The top 10 teams received a first round bye and the top four teams received a double bye. Tiebreaking procedures were unchanged from the 2014 Tournament.


2015 Big Ten Men's Ice Hockey Tournament
The 2015 Big Ten Conference Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the second tournament in conference history played between March 19 and March 21, 2015 at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan. The winner of the tournament was the Minnesota Golden Gophers, who earned the Big Ten's automatic bid to the 2015 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.


2015 Big Ten Men's Ice Hockey Tournament, Format
All six Big Ten teams participated in the tournament, which was a single-elimination format. Teams were seeded No. 1 through No. 6 according to the final regular season conference standings. In the quarterfinals, No. 3 played No. 6 and No. 4 played No. 5. In the semifinals, No. 2 played the winner of the first game and No. 1 played the winner of the second game (the teams were not reseeded). The two semifinal winners played each other in the Championship Game.


2015 Big Ten Men's Ice Hockey Tournament, Format, Conference Standings
Note: GP = Games Played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; PTS = Points; GF = Goals For; GA = Goals Against


2015 Big Ten Men's Lacrosse Tournament
The 2015 Big Ten Men's Lacrosse Tournament took place April 30 to May 2 at Capital One Field at Byrd Stadium in  College Park, Maryland. The winner of the tournament received the Big Ten Conference's automatic bid to the 2015 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship. Four teams competed in the inaugural Big Ten Conference Men's Lacrosse Tournament in a single elimination format. The seeds were based upon the teams' regular season conference record. Johns Hopkins won the tournament, beating Ohio State 13-6.


2015 Big Ten Men's Lacrosse Tournament, Standings
Only the top four teams in the Big Ten Conference advanced to the Big Ten Conference Tournament.


2015 Big Ten Men's Lacrosse Tournament, Bracket
Capital One Field at Byrd Stadium – College Park, Maryland


2015 Big Ten Men's Soccer Tournament
The 2015 Big Ten Conference Men's Soccer Tournament was the 25th edition of the tournament. It determined the Big Ten Conference's automatic berth into the 2015 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship.


2015 Big Ten Men's Soccer Tournament
The Maryland Terrapins won the tournament, besting the Ohio State Buckeyes in the championship match.


2015 Big Ten Men's Soccer Tournament, All-Tournament Team
The following players were selected as the best players of the tournament.


2015 Big Ten Softball Tournament
The 2015 Big Ten Conference Softball tournament was held at Buckeye Field on the campus of Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio from May 7 through May 9, 2015. As the tournament winner, Michigan earned the Big Ten Conference's automatic bid to the 2015 NCAA Division I Softball Tournament. All but the first two games of the tournament aired on BTN. The first two games were streamed online on BTN+.


2015 Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament
The 2015 Big Ten Conference Women's Basketball Tournament was being held from March 4–8, 2015 at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, IL.


2015 Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament, Seeds
All 14 Big Ten schools participate in the tournament. Teams were seeded by 2014–15 Big Ten Conference season record. The top 10 teams received a first-round bye and the top 4 teams received a double bye.


2015 Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament, Seeds
Seeding for the tournament was determined at the close of the regular conference season:


2015 Big Ten Women's Lacrosse Tournament
The 2015 Big Ten Women's Lacrosse Tournament was held April 30 to May 3 at High Point Solutions Stadium in  Piscataway, New Jersey. The winner of the tournament received the Big Ten Conference's automatic bid to the 2015 NCAA Division I Women's Lacrosse Championship. All six conference teams competed in the inaugural event. The tournament format is single elimination. The seeds were based upon the teams' regular season conference record.


2015 Big West Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
The 2015 Big West Conference Men's Basketball Tournament took place March 12–14, 2015 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. The top eight teams qualified for the tournament. In the semifinals, the highest seed played the lowest seed, with two remaining seeds playing each other. The champion received the conference's automatic bid to the 2015 NCAA Tournament.


2015 Big West Conference Women's Basketball Tournament
The 2015 Big West Conference Women's Basketball Tournament took place March 10–14, 2015. The first two rounds occurred at Titan Gym while the semifinals and championship were at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. The winner of the tournament received the conference's automatic bid to the 2015 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament.


2015 Big West Conference Women's Basketball Tournament, Format
The top eight teams qualified for the 2015 Big West Tournament. Seeds 1 and 2 received a double-bye while seeds 3 and 4 received a single bye. The first round featured 5 vs. 8 and 6 vs. 7. The lowest seed from round 1 moved on to play seed 3 in the quarterfinals while the other winner moved on to play seed 4 in the quarterfinals. The semifinals once again had the lowest seed from the quarterfinals move on to play seed 1 while the other remaining seed played seed 2 in the semifinals.


2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election
The Legislative Assembly election was held over five-phases in Bihar through October–November 2015 before the end of the tenure of the prior Legislative Assembly of Bihar on 29 November 2015.


2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election
In April 2015, the Janata Parivar group (a group of six parties – Samajwadi Party, Janata Dal (United), Rashtriya Janata Dal, Janata Dal (Secular), Indian National Lok Dal and Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya)) announced their intention to fight the election, with Nitish Kumar as their Chief Ministerial candidate. The Janta Parivar was joined by the Indian National Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party. This coalition was restructured as Mahagatabandhan when the Samajwadi Party, Janata Dal (Secular), Indian National Lok Dal and Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya) departed from the Janata Parivar.


2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election
The Bharatiya Janata Party led NDA fought the election alongside the Lok Janshakti Party, the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party and Hindustani Awam Morcha.


2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election
Six left parties fought jointly, independently from both of the two main blocs.


2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election
This election saw the highest voter turnout in Bihar assembly polls since 2000, with a 56.8% voter turnout in this election. The RJD emerged as a single largest party with 81 seats, followed by JD (U) with 70 seats and BJP with 53 seats. In terms of vote share, BJP came first with 24.4%, followed by RJD with 18.4% and JD (U) with 16.8% and Congress got 6.7%.


2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Background, Electoral process changes
Election Commission of India announced that around 1,000 Voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines will be used along with EVM in 36 out of the 243 assembly seats in Bihar elections, spread over 38 districts. ECIL manufactured VVPATs will be used in 10 assembly constituencies, while BEL manufactured VVPAT will be used in 26 assembly constituencies. The election information was webcast for the first time and voters can locate their polling booth on phones via an app. About 1.5 crore voters would be informed about the voting dates via SMS.


2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Background, Electoral process changes
Election Commission used three new software products – Suvidha, Samadhan and Sugam – to facilitate campaigning, public grievance redressal and vehicle management in Bihar. Electoral Roll Management Software helped in addition/deletion/upgradation of rolls. Android based app 'Matdan' helped the commission with poll-day monitoring in Bihar. Election Commission launched a special drive, Systematic Voters' Education And Electoral Participation (SVEEP) for voter awareness and higher voter turn out in Bihar elections. Bihar would be the first state to have photo electoral rolls, with photographs of candidates on EVMs.


2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Background, Electoral process changes
Eleven NRI voters registered in the electoral rolls for the first time in Bihar electoral history. They were contacted by election officials through their family members. It was the first time that NRIs cast their votes semi-electronically from foreign countries. The e-postal ballot system and the existing proxy-voting facility is extended for NRI voters from their place of residence abroad. But this facility is not available to migrant voters within India.


2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Background, Electoral process changes
A cross will be NOTA symbol to be used in this and subsequent elections. The Election Commission introduced the specific symbol for NOTA, a ballot paper with a black cross across it, on 18 September. The symbol is designed by the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad.


2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Background, Electoral process changes
On 31 July, the ECI published the final voters' list for the election, which has an overall population of 10,38,04,637, in accordance with the 2011 Census of India.


2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Background, Security
The security used Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) drones, called Netras (eyes) for the election. The Election Commission of India decided that Bihar Police personnel would not be deployed at any of the 62,779 polling stations. They would be manned by members of the Central Armed Police Forces.


2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Background, Bihar Legislative Council election
In July 2015, BJP-led NDA won 13 seats (including 1 independent backed by BJP) out of 24 seats of Bihar Legislative Council election. JDU and RJD combine won 10 seats only, while 1 seat was won by an independent candidate.


2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Background, Central government actions
On 19 August, the central government notified 21 Bihar districts, including the capital Patna, as backward areas and unveiled tax rebates for them. On 25 August, the central government released the religious data of the 2011 census. Hindus constituted 82.7% (8.6 crore people) in Bihar, while Muslims constituted 16.9% (1.7 crore peoples).


2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Background, Central government actions
In July 2015, Jitan Ram Manjhi was accorded "Z"-plus security cover by the Union Home Ministry, while Pappu Yadav was accorded "Y" category security by government of India.


2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Background, Other political developments
In May 2015, the JDU government increased the Dearness Allowance (DA) by six percent to 11 percent for provincial government employees and pensioners. In July, Nitish Kumar announced a 50 percent quota for OBC, EBC and SC/STs in all government contracts up to Rs 15 lakh. In July, the government issued a notification to give caste certificates to children from upper caste Hindu and Muslim families whose annual income was below ₹1.5 lakh (US$2,100).


2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Background, Other political developments
In September, the government agreed to the creation of a dedicated fund for fencing off temples and the inclusion of two Extremely Backward Castes (EBCs), Nishad (Mallah) and Nonia, in the SC/ST category. The state government also decided  to provide grants-in-aid to 609 more madrassas across Bihar from the list of 2,459 registered by Bihar State Madrassa Education Board.


2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Background, Other political developments
The Bihar government gave a tax-exempt status to Manjhi – The Mountain Man, a film based on Dashrath Manjhi, a Dalit who carved a path through a 360 ft long, 30 ft wide and 25 ft high hillock in 22 years (1960–1982). Opposition parties accused Nitish Kumar government of doing nothing for Manjhi's village Gehlaur.


2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Background, Other political developments
In April 2015, Nitish Kumar announced the JDU's decision to include few more castes, including the Teli, in list of Extremely Backward Class, which have 18% reservation in Bihar.


2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Background, Caste and religion data
The 2011 national census indicated that Scheduled Castes constituted 16% of Bihar's 10.4 crores population. The census identified 21 of 23 Dalit sub-castes as Mahadalits. The Mahadalit community consists of the following sub-castes: Bantar, Bauri, Bhogta, Bhuiya, Chaupal, Dabgar, Dom (Dhangad), Ghasi, Halalkhor, Hari (Mehtar, Bhangi), Kanjar, Kurariar, Lalbegi, Musahar, Nat, Pan (Swasi), Rajwar, Turi, Dhobi, Chamar and Paswan (Dusadh). Among Dalits in Bihar, Chamars are the largest 31.3%, followed by Paswans (Dusadh) 30.9% and Musahars 13.9%. The Paswan caste was initially left out of the Mahadalit category, to the consternation of Ram Vilas Paswan. Chamars were included later in Mahadalit category. Adivasis (Scheduled Tribes) constituted around 1.3% of the Bihari population. They include the Gond, Santhal and Tharu communities. There are about 130 Extremely Backward Castes (EBCs) in Bihar.


2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Schedule
On 9 September,  Election Commission of India announced the dates for Bihar Assembly elections.


2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Parties and alliances, Mahagathbandhan
On 7 June, Lalu Prasad Yadav announced the RJD was joining in an alliance with the JDU for the election. On 13 July, he led a march demanding that the central government release its findings of the Socio Economic Caste Census 2011 (SECC) on caste, although Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan pitched for a comprehensive classification of caste data of SECC 2011 before its release, and also said Lalu, Nitish will be worst impacted from the caste data even if its released. BJP Leader Sushil Kumar Modi called for rectification of errors in the cases of 1.46 crore people in India, including 1.75 lakh in Bihar, before releasing the caste data.


2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Parties and alliances, Mahagathbandhan
On 3 August, incumbent Chief Minister Nitish Kumar declared that he would not stand in the election. On 11 August, he announced the seat-sharing formula, according to which JD(U) and RJD will contest 100 seats each, while Congress will contest 40 seats in Bihar. NCP pulled out of this alliance later. On 23 September, Nitish Kumar announced the list of 242 candidates for the JDU–RJD–INC alliance. OBCs were most favoured in the alliance ticket distribution plan. 10% of tickets were allotted to women candidate by the alliance. The Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi assigned the task to shortlist Congress  candidates for each of the 40 assembly  constituencies to former Governor of Kerala and Nagaland Nikhil Kumar.


2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Parties and alliances, Mahagathbandhan
Nitish Kumar was the declared chief ministerial candidate for the Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance). Kumar started his Har Ghar Dastak (door-to-door) campaign on 2 July. Initially there were definite political overtures when both Lalu Prasad Yadav and Nitish Kumar shared stage together in a public  event commemorating former chief minister Satyendra Narain Sinha's birth anniversary that witnessed veiled attacks on each other, the last time  they did it in public. Prashant Kishor was a key election strategist for the alliance. The Janata Dal-United started 400 audio-visual vans called Jan Bhagidari Manch raths for the campaign. Kumar is launching 'Bihar Samman Sammelan' in various cities, including Delhi and Mumbai, to connect with the Bihari diaspora.


2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Parties and alliances, Mahagathbandhan
However, the grand alliance broke on 26 July 2017 as a result of the resignation by Nitish Kumar and on the next day 27 July JD(U) made an alliance with NDA and Nitish Kumar sworn in as the chief minister of Bihar for the 6th time and Sushil Modi was sworn in as the deputy chief minister for the 3rd time.


2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Parties and alliances, National Democratic Alliance
Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) used 243 GPS-monitored raths (modified Boleros) and video vans in the election. The BJP also set up a monitoring headquarters in Patna to track the movement of the GPS-equipped vehicles which will visit 40,000 villages in all 243 constituencies. The campaign was kick-started by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Muzaffarpur on 25 July, where he also inaugurated the permanent campus of IIT Patna in Bihta. The BJP election exercise also involved three lakh volunteers. Modi held his second election rally in Gaya on 9 August and his third rally in Arrah and Saharsa on 18 August. Modi announced a Rs 1.25 lakh crore package for Bihar. He addressed his fourth rally in Bhagalpur on 1 September. Bollywood actor Ajay Devgan also campaigned for the BJP. Modi addressed several rallies after 25 October in several constituencies.


2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Parties and alliances, National Democratic Alliance
In a rally in Buxar on 26 October, Modi vowed to defend reservation of Dalits, STs, OBCs. He said of the Mahagathbandhan that it was trying to hatch a conspiracy to carve out a sub-quota on the basis of religion as the Supreme Court of India has said reservation cannot be more than 50%. On 27 October, in Bettiah, he again accused Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad Yadav of diluting the share of SC, ST and OBC.


2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Parties and alliances, National Democratic Alliance
It promoted the view that an attempt was being made to take the reservation of Dalits and other OBCs and give it to other minorities. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley also agreed with Modi's assertions that the idea of reservations on the basis of religion is fraught with danger. On 1 November, Modi repeated the allegations that the two leaders came together in July 2005 to demand a review of the policy to provide for religion-based reservation. A video dating from 2005 which was leaked showed Lalu was asking for a quota for Muslims. On 3 July, BJP announced its seventh morcha, the BJP OBC Morcha, reportedly in regards to the election.


2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Parties and alliances, National Democratic Alliance
On 11 June, Jitan Ram Manjhi announced his party Hindustani Awam Morcha alliance with the NDA for the election.


2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Parties and alliances, National Democratic Alliance
On 14 September, the NDA announced its seat distribution: BJP got 160 seats, LJP got 40 seats, RLSP got 23 seats and HAM got 20 seats. The NDA did not announce any chief ministerial candidate. BJP announced the names of 154 candidates in three lists. Caste played a major role in distributing tickets. BJP also accommodated five candidates of the Hindustani Awam Morcha. Later, the BJP gave the Imamganj seat to HAM for Majhi is contesting and BJP reduced its seat tally to 159. On 1 October, the BJP released its manifesto.


2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Parties and alliances, Socialist Secular Morcha
On 19 September, the leaders of six parties – Samajwadi Party, Nationalist Congress Party, Jan Adhikar Party, Samras Samaj Party, National People's Party and Samajwadi Janata Dal Democratic – announced the formation of a third front known as the Socialist Secular Morcha. SP and NCP fought on most of the seats. NPP fought on 3 seats. On 15 October, NCP leader Tariq Anwar announced that his party had decided to leave the third front.


2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Parties and alliances, Left parties
On 24 July, the Communist Party of India, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation, the All India Forward Bloc, the Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist) and the Revolutionary Socialist Party decided to run in all constituencies on a join ticket citing its call for an alternative platform. The CPI will contest 91 seats, while the CPI-ML, CPI(M), SUCI, Forward Bloc, and RSP will contest 78, 38, 6, 5, and 3 seats, respectively. CPI released its first list of 81 candidates on 16 September 2015.


2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Parties and alliances, Others, Muslim parties
At least six Muslim parties contested the election. AIMIM contested six seats.


2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Parties and alliances, Others, Muslim parties
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) leader Asaduddin Owaisi addressed a rally in Kishanganj on 16 August. Owaisi accused Nitish and Lalu of keeping the Seemanchal region (consisting of 24 seats) as a backward region. AIMIM is contesting on 6 assembly seats in Seemanchal region where Muslim voters play a major role. He addressed a public rally in Kishanganj on 4 October in the Sontha village, which is part of the Kochadhaman (Vidhan Sabha constituency). He held further rallies at many places in Kishanganj and Purnia.


2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Parties and alliances, Others, Muslim parties
On 5 October, AIMIM released its first list of its six candidates for the election.


2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Parties and alliances, Others, Bahujan Samaj Party
In June 2015, the Bahujan Samaj Party said it would contest all 243 seats. In July, the BSP initially released its first list of 49 candidates, including five women candidates, by Bharat Bind, the president of the BSP Bihar unit. National party leader Mayawati planned to campaign for its candidates. BSP's first list has 11 Other Backward Class (OBCs) and 11 Muslims, while they also field Dalits and OBCs from non-reserved seats. On 6 September, Mayawati said of the central government that it was being "remote-controlled" by the "communal and fascist" organisation  Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).


2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Parties and alliances, Others, Bahujan Samaj Party
Naseemuddin Siddiqui, Munquad Ali (Rajya Sabha MP), and Ram Achal Rajbhar were appointed to form a strategy to consolidate the Dalits, Most Backward Castes (MBCs), and Muslim votes. On 9 September, Mayawati questioned the announcement of Dearness Allowance (DA) by the central government just before the election and again accused the RSS and its affiliated Sangh Parivar organizations of using the 2011 national census for fear-mongering against Muslim population growth for sectarian purposes, as well as to divert attention from such issues as the alleged failure of the central government to deliver on its promises.


2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Parties and alliances, Others, Bahujan Samaj Party
She added that the census also showed positive signs such as the sex ratio among Muslims is 951 females to 1,000 males, which is higher than the national average and indicated a slowing of the Muslim population growth rate. On 10 September, she called for the deployment of central forces in large numbers on electoral duty to assure a free and fair election and further asked the ECI to keep a watch on possible sectarian ploys by the BJP.


2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Parties and alliances, Others, Bahujan Samaj Party
Mayawati officially launched the party's campaign on 9 October from Banka. On 13 October, addressing a rally in Rohtas and Kaimur districts, she claimed that the SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and the party leadership had surrendered to the BJP. She claimed that it has fielded candidates after consulting with the BJP. She further called on the NDA to not allow the reservation policy for OBCs and SC/STs to fall under the RSS' influence.


2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Parties and alliances, Others, Bahujan Samaj Party
On 25 October, Mayawati while addressing a rally in Buxar district of Bihar said that Samajwadi Party played in the hands of BJP due to which Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) broke away from it. She also alleged that BJP is working only for the Business class and the Nitish-Lalu governments did nothing for the poor.


2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Parties and alliances, Others, Minor
Expelled RJD MP Pappu Yadav created the Jan Adhikar Party before the election and announced to fight against the Lalu-Nitish alliance. Yogendra Yadav has announced that Swaraj Abhiyan may extend its support to certain political parties, however it was not clear which one.


2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Parties and alliances, Others, Minor
On 17 September, Shiv Sena announced that it will contest over 150 seats during the election. On 19 September, a third front – Socialist Secular Morcha – announced its seat distribution: SP got 85 seats, Janadhikar Party got 64 seats, NCP got 40 seats, SSP got 28 seats, SJP got 23 seats and NPP got three seats. Former U.K. banker Akshay Verma's Sarvajan Kalyan Loktantrik Party contested about 90 seats in the election.


2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Parties and alliances, Others, Minor
The Aam Aadmi Party and JVM-P decided that they will not contest the election, but will campaign against the NDA.


2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Election
The electoral process cost about ₹300 crore (US$42 million) to the Bihar government exchequer.


2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Election
The electorate in Chandila village of Maker block in Saran district's Amnour (Vidhan Sabha constituency) boycotted the election and no votes were cast in protest against the government's failure to bring electricity to their village.


2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Exit polls
The Axis APM polls was not finally aired by its commissioning news channel, CNN–IBN.


2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Results
The result was announced on 8 November. The counting of EVMs of 14 assembly constituencies of Patna district was done in AN College Patna. The NOTA option had nine lakhs, or 2.5%, of popular votes and was the highest it had achieved in Bihar elections. The number of Yadav MLAs increased to 61 in the Bihar assembly.


2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Results
Results showed that, of the 53 seats won by BJP, 27 were urban areas, which signified that BJP had dramatically shrunk back to its traditional urban support base in Bihar. BJP failed to make a big impact in the rural areas of Bihar, which has one of the lowest urbanization rates. Only 11.3% of the population of Bihar lives in urban areas, which is lowest in India after Himachal Pradesh.


2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Results
According to one analysis, RJD was the biggest beneficiary of this election. RJD increased its seat tally by 59 compared with the previous election. RJD had the best strike rate by winning 81 of the 101 seats contested. RJD became the single largest party in Bihar Assembly. RJD defeated BJP in 36 seats BJP had won in the last election, similarly, it took 25 seats JD (U) had won in the last election.


2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Government formation
Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumar was sworn in as chief minister for the fifth time on 20 November 2015 after the Mahagathbandhan alliance won a sweeping victory, taking 178 seats. The two sons of RJD chief Lalu Prasad, Tejaswi and Tej Pratap were also sworn in as ministers. Tejaswi Yadav became Deputy Chief Minister. Apart from Nitish Kumar, 12 members each from the Janata Dal (United) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal and four from the Congress were administered the oath of office as ministers.


2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Government formation
On 26 July 2017, the Grand Alliance broke and a new coalition government between JD(U) and the BJP was formed.


2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Voting analysis
A phase-wise analysis of the polling percentages puts the fifth and final phase on the top with a 60% turnout. The polling in this round beats the 58.5% turnout recorded in the fourth phase, as also 53.7% voting in the third phase, 55.5% in the second, and 55.8% in the first phase.


2015 Bihar political crisis
There was a political crisis in Bihar state of India during February 2015 over the post of the Chief Minister of Bihar. Incumbent Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi did not vacate the post for former Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who wanted to return, resulting in a split in the political party, JD(U). After days, the Governor asked Manjhi to prove majority in house by trust vote. Manjhi quit the post on day of vote and later Nitish Kumar took oath as chief minister again on 22 February 2015 ending the crisis.


2015 Bihar political crisis, Background
Narendra Modi, then chief minister of Gujarat state, and Nitish Kumar, then chief minister of Bihar state of India had a political rivalry. Modi belonged to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which was the largest party of National Democratic Alliance (NDA), then the chief opposition political group in Parliament of India. Nitish Kumar belonged to Janata Dal (United) (JD(U)), a smaller member party of NDA.


2015 Bihar political crisis, Background
Before the 2014 general election, Narendra Modi was declared the prime ministerial candidate of NDA. Nitish-led JD(U) opposed the move and broke alliance and left NDA. When the alliance broke, the JD(U) government in Bihar survived by the outside support of other parties and independents.


2015 Bihar political crisis, Background, 2014 general election
When results were announced on 16 May 2014, in Bihar, NDA won in 31 out of total 40 constituencies which include BJP in 22, Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) in 6, Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) in 3. JD(U) won only two seats while United Progressive Alliance (UPA) won seven seats. It include 2 of Indian National Congress (INC), 4 of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and one of Nationalist Congress Party.


2015 Bihar political crisis, Background, 2014 general election
Nationally NDA secured absolute majority in the Parliament and formed the government with Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister of India.


2015 Bihar political crisis, Crisis
Following poor performance of the JD(U) in election, Nitish Kumar resigned on 17 May 2014 as the chief minister of Bihar citing moral responsibility. His confidant and the then minister of the SC and ST welfare department of the state government, Jitan Ram Manjhi,  took over as the chief minister of the state on 20 May 2014. Opposition leader Sushil Kumar Modi of the Bharatiya Janata Party called Manjhi a "dummy chief minister", to which Manjhi responded by saying he was "not a rubber stamp." Due to the breakup of the JD(U) alliance with BJP and the desertion of some JD(U) MLAs, Manjhi's government faced instability and appeared unlikely to pass the trust vote in the state legislative assembly. However RJD and INC provided outside support to Manjhi because he belongs to a backward caste.


2015 Bihar political crisis, Crisis
The nine months rule of Jitan Ram Manjhi was marred by controversies. He made several provocative statements, like upper castes are foreigners, hoarding of food grains by small traders was okay. He questioned the character of wives of army personnel and migrant labour, saying they indulged in adultery while their husbands were away for work. He also said it was alright to consume alcohol before going to bed and admitted that he received kickbacks in bridge construction projects.


2015 Bihar political crisis, Crisis
On 9 February 2015, Manjhi was expelled from the party for intentionally courting controversies, due to his poor administrative skills and refusing to make way for Nitish Kumar to return as the Chief Minister. Manjhi recommended dissolution of the assembly but his cabinet did not pass the resolution. He requested the governor of Bihar Kesri Nath Tripathi to remove two cabinet ministers who accepted it. The dissolution was opposed by 21 cabinet ministers and supported by 7 ministers. Manjhi met Narendra Modi in Delhi.


2015 Bihar political crisis, Crisis
JD(U) called meeting of 97 MLAs of party and Nitish Kumar was elected as the leader of JD(U) state legislative party. He claimed to form the new government in the state and requested the governor to test the majority in the assembly. Patna High Court stayed the election of Nitish Kumar as the leader of JD(U) state legislative party. When not invited soon to prove the majority, Nitish Kumar paraded 128 MLAs in front of President of India, Pranab Mukherjee on 11 February 2015 in Delhi.


2015 Bihar political crisis, Crisis
JD(U) and its allies blamed the governor and BJP for political crisis in state but Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu denied the charge and said that the crisis arose over JD(U)'s internal issues. Manjhi included Dusadh caste in the Mahadalit category. Patna High Court stopped Manjhi cabinet taking any financial decisions until proven majority but later allowed it. Later JD(U) suspended seven ministers from the party who were supporting Manjhi. Total sixteen legislators, including Manjhi and ministers, were suspended from the party.


2015 Bihar political crisis, Crisis
In the 243 member assembly, the JD(U) has 111 MLAs, BJP 87, RJD 24, INC 5 besides 5 Independents, while ten seats are vacant. The support of 117 MLAs needed to prove the majority in the assembly. Nitish Kumar claimed the support of 130 MLAs; 99 from JD(U), 24 from the RJD, 5 from INC, one from CPI(M) and one independent. Rajiv Ranjan, Manjhi appointed chief whip of JD(U), claimed support of 44 JD(U) and 12 RJD MLAs.


2015 Bihar political crisis, Crisis
The governor asked Manjhi to seek vote of confidence on 20 February 2015, the first day of budget session of assembly. BJP announced it would support Manjhi. On 20 February 2015, Manjhi resigned from the post of chief minister in the morning before the vote. He said that the legislators who supported him were threatened with death and the speaker of assembly did not allow a secret ballot, so he chose to resign. The assembly was adjourned sine die. Later Nitish Kumar was invited by the Governor to form the government and he took oath on 22 February 2015 along with 22 other ministers.


2015 Bihar political crisis, Aftermath
Few days later, Manjhi floated new political front, Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM), on 28 February 2015 and clarified that the political party was not formed due to technical difficulties. He announced that he will travel across Bihar. Later Manjhi formed the political party, Hindustani Awam Morcha, out of the front and announced it on 8 May 2015.


2015 Bihar political crisis, Aftermath
In July 2015, the party joined National Democratic Alliance, an alliance led by BJP, and contested 21 seats, with some additional  members contesting on BJP ticket, in 2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election.


2015 Bilderberg Conference
The 2015 Bilderberg Conference took place between 11 and 14 June 2015 at the Interalpen-Hotel Tyrol in Telfs-Buchen, Austria. The hotel had previously held the Bilderberg Conference in 1988.


2015 Bilderberg Conference
The 41st G7 summit took place the week before the conference, and was held at the Schloss Elmau, sixteen miles away near Garmisch-Partenkirchen, in Bavaria, Germany.


2015 Bilderberg Conference, Agenda
A list of key topics for discussion at the 2015 Bilderberg conference was published on the Bilderberg website shortly before the meeting. Topics for discussion included:


2015 Bilderberg Conference, Delegates (alphabetical)
A list of expected delegates was published by the Bilderberg Group.


2015 Bill Beaumont Cup
The 2015 Bill Beaumont Cup, also known as Bill Beaumont Cup Division One, was the 115th version of the annual, English rugby union, County Championship organized by the RFU for the top tier English counties. Each county drew its players from rugby union clubs from the third tier and below of the English rugby union league system (typically National League 1, National League 2 South or National League 2 North). The counties were divided into two regional pools with the winners of each pool meeting in the final held at Twickenham Stadium. New counties to the competition were the two finalists from the 2014 County Championship Plate – Kent (winners) and Durham County (runners-up) who replaced North Midlands and Northumberland. Lancashire were the defending champions.


2015 Bill Beaumont Cup
At the end of the group stage, Lancashire won the northern division with relative ease to book their place in the final for the seventh successive year while Cornwall joined them, squeezing through by defeating Hertfordshire in the last game of the southern group having trailed 18 - 6 at half time. Both Durham County and Kent made an instant return to the 2016 County Championship Plate after being relegated by coming bottom of their respective groups.


2015 Bill Beaumont Cup
The 2015 final was a repeat of the previous two seasons with Cornwall this time turning the tables on holders Lancashire and winning their first county title since 1999 in an 18 - 13 victory. Cornish All Black scrum half Matthew Shepherd was man of the match with two tries and also finished as the competition's top scorer.


2015 Bill Beaumont Cup, Competition format
The competition format was two regional group stages divided into north and south, with each team playing each other once. This meant that two teams in the pool had two home games, while the other two had just one. The top side in each group went through to the final held at Twickenham Stadium on 31 May 2015. The bottom side in each group was relegated to the second tier of the county championships for the following season, with the finalists from that division replacing them.


2015 Billboard Music Awards
The 2015 Billboard Music Awards ceremony was held on May 17, 2015, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. It was aired live on ABC. The show was hosted by Ludacris and Chrissy Teigen.


2015 Billboard Music Awards
Taylor Swift won 8 out of her 14 nominations, including Top Artist, Top Female Artist and Top Billboard 200 Album for 1989. Other winners included Sam Smith, Iggy Azalea and Pharrell Williams scoring three trophies each. Meghan Trainor, One Direction, Jason Aldean, John Legend, Enrique Iglesias and Hozier won two categories. Swift premiered her "Bad Blood" music video at the start of the show. Mariah Carey performed at the ceremony, marking the first time she has performed on the Billboard stage since 1998.


2015 Billings Wolves season
The 2015 Billings Wolves season was the team's first season as a professional indoor football franchise as an expansion team of the Indoor Football League (IFL). One of ten teams competing in the IFL for the 2015 season, the Billings, Montana-based Wolves were members of the Intense Conference.


2015 Billings Wolves season, Roster
Rookies in italics updated June 4, 201522 Active, 1 Inactive


2015 Birmingham Bowl (December)
The 2015 Birmingham Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 30, 2015 at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama in the United States. The tenth annual Birmingham Bowl featured a team from the Southeastern Conference against a team from the American Athletic Conference. The game was played at 11:00 a.m. CST and aired on ESPN. It was one of the 2015–16 bowl games that concluded the 2015 FBS football season.


2015 Birmingham Bowl (December), Teams
The two Tigers teams were selected from the American Athletic Conference and the SEC conference.


2015 Birmingham Bowl (January)
The 2015 Birmingham Bowl was a college football bowl game played on January 3, 2015 at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama in the United States. The ninth annual Birmingham Bowl saw the Florida Gators of the Southeastern Conference defeat the East Carolina Pirates of the American Athletic Conference by a score of 28–20. The game started at 11:00 a.m. CST and aired on ESPN. It was one of the 2014–15 bowl games that concluded the 2014 FBS football season.


2015 Birmingham Bowl (January), Teams
This was the second overall meeting between these two teams. The last time these two teams met was in 1983, a game Florida won by a score of 24–17. The teams would meet again on September 12, 2015 at Florida's Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, a game Florida won 31-24.


2015 Birmingham Bowl (January), Teams, East Carolina Pirates
After finishing their regular season with an 8–4 record, the Pirates accepted their invitation to play in the game.