Cholesteric liquid crystals (CLC), polymer stabilized cholesteric liquid crystals (PSCLC), and polymer dispersed cholesteric liquid crystals (PDCLC) are promising dye-doped optically pumped lasing materials with an inherent photonic band gap structure. At low polymer concentrations, lasing from PSCLC occurs in modes near the edge of the selective reflection band. Electric field applied to the samples sandwiched between conducting glasses enhances PSCLC lasing emission. Lasing behavior changes dramatically at higher polymer concentrations in PDCLCs:  numerous lasing peaks appear on the top of the emission band. New effects are explained in terms of lasing in photonic defect modes and photonic band gap modes.