Bihar Elections 2025: Will Tej Pratap extinguish RJD's 'lantern' and fix his 'blackboard' in Mahua

Former Bihar CM Lalu Yadav's sons Tejashwi and Tej Pratap are contesting the upcoming Bihar Elections from Raghopur and Mahua - two constituencies in Bihar's Vaishali district, separated by the mighty Ganga. However, the distance between the two sons seems to be greater. One, the younger scion, has been announced as the CM face for RJD's Mahagathbandhan alliance, while the elder son has been separated from the family and the party and is left to fight the elections on his own with his new party, Janshakti Janta Dal (JJD). Tej Pratap filed nomination only with a photo of his grandmother Marchhayiya Devi, while Tejashwi had his parents, the two former CMs of Bihar, by his side. Will the Karan-Arjun of Lalu Yadav's family come together anytime soon? Certainly not in this poll season!

Read More: Bihar Election 2025: Will Tejashwi Yadav retain Raghopur seat? Voting date, previous poll result and more

Tej Pratap's Past and Present

Tej Pratap Yadav is contesting from Mahua after a gap of five years. He is the sitting MLA from the Hasanpur constituency, but he ditched Hasanpur to turn to Mahua this poll season. In the 2015 elections, he had won from the Mahua constituency. Now, he faces his former party colleague, RJD’s sitting MLA Mukesh Kumar Raushan, and National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA’s) candidate from the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas)’s (LJP(RV)) Sanjay Singh. Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj has given a ticket to Indrajeet Pradhan. Asman Parveen, denied a JDU ticket, is running as an independent. Polling in Mahua will take place on November 6.

Months ahead of the elections, Tej Pratap Yadav was in the midst of controversies after a photo of Tej Pratap with a woman was shared from Tej Pratap’s profile, claiming that the two have been in a relationship for 12 years. While Tej Pratap claimed that his profile was hacked and the post was shared with an intention to "defame" him, controversy exploded, questioning the Lalu family about his previous marriage. Tej Pratap married Aishwarya Rai, the daughter of Chandrika Rai and granddaughter of a former Bihar Chief Minister, Daroga Prasad Rai, in 2018. However, things soured between the two, and Aishwarya left, accusing Tej Pratap of domestic violence and drug addiction.

Mahua and ‘Lalu’ link

While Mahua traditionally has a strong RJD vote base, the shift of Tej Pratap from his father's party to his own new outfit has left the voters conflicted. "Yadav's votes will be split between Tej Pratap and the RJD. People have not forgotten Lalu Yadav," said 43-year-old Ramesh Yadav, a resident of a village in Mahua. Several other residents said that family feuds are common in the state. "What matters is that he is Lalu's son," another voter said. Despite this, Tejashwi campaigned for the RJD candidate in the area, inviting sharp criticism from his elder brother.

The contest is proving a challenge for Tej Pratap due to his tensions with his family, even as he is banking on the establishment of a medical college. The story of the medical college dates back to 2015, when RJD was in power with Nitish as the Mahagathbandhan CM and Tej Pratap as the health minister of the state. He had placed the stone for the medical college in Mahua, which is now complete, and locals have credited Tej Pratap for the same, even as the elder Yadav scion had shifted his base from Mahua to Hasanpur in 2020.

While brusque Tej Pratap, a flute player and a Shiv Bhakht - known for his colourful vlogs and a controversial personal life, is trying to establish his own clout and testing the waters beyond his family's name, it is interesting to see if the voters will rely on their present memory or vote based on their loyalty to Lalu Prasad Yadav.