Bihar Elections 2025: From Lalu's sons Tej Pratap and Tejashwi to Maithili Thakur and Khesari Lal Yadav - 9 seats to watch out for in Phase 1
Campaigning for Bihar’s first-phase polls ended, with 121 of 243 seats voting on Nov 6. Key contests include Tejashwi Yadav in Raghopur, Tej Pratap in Mahua, Maithili Thakur in Alinagar, and Anant Singh in Mokama. NDA, INDIA bloc, and Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj are the main contenders
Bihar Elections Phase 1
Campaigning for the first phase of Bihar Elections 2025 has come to an end with parties now placing their trust on the voters to seal their fate on November 6. Out of 243 seats in the Assembly, 121 are going to polls in the first phase. Two major alliances contesting the polls are NDA (National Democratic Alliance)INDIA Bloc (Mahagathbandhan). Also in fray is Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraaj Party. From Tejashwi Yadav to Anant Singh, here's a list of top faces and constituencies from PHASE 1
Tejashwi Yadav - Raghopur
Contesting from Raghopur seat in the Vaishali district, Tejashwi Yadav is the Chief Ministerial candidate of Mahagathbandhan. He won the seat in 2015 and 2020 by defeating BJP’s Satish Kumar Yadav. He is once again contesting against Satish. All eyes are set on Tejashwi even as he is contesting from a Lalu family bastion.
Tej Pratap Yadav - Mahua
Contesting from Mahua, Tej Pratap Yadav ditched Hasanpur - from where he is a sitting MLA. He had won Mahua in 2015. This election is a new experiment for Lalu Yadav's elder son as he has been expelled from RJD and is contesting the polls from his newly formed party Janshakti Janata Dal (JJD). RJD has fielded sitting MLA Mukesh Kumar Raushan against Tej Pratap. It will be interesting to see if Lalu's elder son will rise from his shadow.
Maithili Thakur - Alinagar
Contesting from Alinagar in Darbhanga district, popular folk singer Maithili Thakur joined BJP just days ahead of the elections. Since her entry, she has been in news sometimes for being the one of the youngest candidates in the Bihar elections and sometimes for her own remarks, Recently, she in Yogi Adityanath style, she promised to change the name of Alinagar to Sitanagar and sometimes for being an 'outsider' as she is from neighbouring Madhubani. In 2020 Misri Lal Yadav (then with the VIP) won the seat. SHe is pitted against Binod Mishra from RJD and Jan Suraaj's Biplab Chaudhary.
Samrat Choudhary - Tarapur
Deputy CM Samrat Choudhary is contesting from Munger district’s Tarapur constituency and is pitted against RJD’s Arun Shah. Interestingly he is contesting an election after 15 years. The seat is considered a JDU stronghold.
Anant Singh - Mokama
Chhote Sarkar as he is popularly known, Anant Singh is once again contesting from Mokama, as seat that he has won since 2005. In 2022, he lost his Assembly membership after being convicted in an arms case. He made his wife, Neelam Devi, contest the bypolls and retain the seat for RJD. This time, he is contesting on JD(U)'s ticket and is pitted against arch rival and don-turned-politician Surajbhan Singh's wife Veena Devi.
Khesari Lal Yadav - Chhapra
Contesting from Chhapra Assembly constituency in Saran district, Bhojpuri superstar Khesari Lal Yadav s pitted against Chhoti Kumari of BJP and Jai Prakash Singh of the Jan Suraaj. The seat was first allotted to Khesari's wife Chanda Devi but her name was omitted in the final SIR list. Known to be Lalu's 'karmbhoomi' in bygone days, Chhapra has remained BJP's safe seat since 2005. It remains to be seen if Bhojpuri star's popularity will help RJD.
Osama Shahab - Raghunathpur
Late gangster Mohammad Shahabuddin's son Osama Shahab is contesting on RJD's ticket from Siwan's Raghunathpur seat and is contesting against JDU's Vikas Kumar Singh alias Jishu Singh and Jan Suraaj's Rahul Kirti. RJD’s first-ever victory from Raghunathpur came in 2015 when Shahabuddin's close aide Harishankar Yadav contested from the seat. Though a stronghold, Shahabuddin's wife Heena Shahab lost Lok Sabha polls from Siwan from JDU’s Vijaylaxmi Devi. It remains to be seen if late gangster's clout will help his son's debut.
Vijay Kumar Sinha - Lakhisarai
Another Deputy CM Vijay Kumar Sinha is contesting from Lakhisarai against Jan Suraaj's Suraj Kumar and Congress' Amresh Kumar. Considered a BJP stronghold, Sinha has won the seat since 2010. He is aiming to retain the seat for the fourth time.
Shivani Shukla - Lalganj
Contesting from Vaishali’s Lalganj constituency on RJD's ticket, Shivani Shukla is the daughter of Bahubali Vijay Kumar Shukla AKA Munna Shukla. She has a LLM degree from the University of Leeds and is banking on his father's name for her win. However, she denies that her father's gangster clout helped him bag the ticket. She said in multiple interviews that it was her father's political success that has inspired her and given her this opportunity. She is pitted against sitting MLA Sanjay Kumar Singh of the BJP.
Other important seats
Another important seats in this phase in Patna Sahib where BJP has replaced one of its longest-serving legislators Nand Kishore Yadav. This seat is BJP's stronghold and new face Ratnesh Kushwaha is against Congress' Shashant Shekhar. Other seats to lookout for are Ujiarpur, Arrah, Mahnar, Begusarai and Bahadurpur.
Bihar will vote in two phases - on November 6 and November 11. The election results will be announced on November 14.
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