Bihar Assembly polls 2025: 7 key battles to watch out for in the first phase

In the 2020 Assembly elections in Bihar, the NDA secured victory with 125 seats, while the Opposition alliance won over 110 seats.

The first phase will witness heavyweights, including RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, his brother Tej Pratap Yadav (Janshakti Janata Dal), Deputy Chief Minister and BJP’s Samrat Choudhary, and the party’s cultural pick Maithili Thakur in the fray among 1,314 other candidates.

Here are the top seven key battles to watch out for in the 1st phase of Bihar elections:

1. Tarapur: Samrat Choudhary (BJP) vs Arun Shah (RJD)

In Munger district’s Tarapur constituency, the BJP’s Samrat Choudhary is set to face RJD’s Arun Shah. The seat is expected to witness a tight contest, as the largest group of voters comprises the Yadavs, who number around 63,000, with about 20,000 Muslims, 50,000 upper castes (Rajputs, Brahmins), 40,000 Kushwahas, 35,000 Sahs, and 28,000 Dalits.

Choudhary, a sitting MLC, is contesting an election after 15 years, while Shah had contested from Tarapur in a 2021 bypoll and lost by a slender margin of just over 3,800 votes to the JD(U)’s Rajiv Kumar Singh.

The BJP leader is one of the star campaigners of the party, and has been deployed to campaign across other seats in the state apart from his own.

2. Raghopur: Tejashwi Yadav (RJD) vs Satish Kumar (BJP)

RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, the Mahagathbandhan alliance’s chief minister face, is set to contest a high-stakes battle for the Raghopur Assembly seat against NDA candidate Satish Kumar (BJP) and the Jan Suraaj Party’s (JSP) Chanchal Kumar.

While releasing the alliance’s manifesto, Yadav said he will bring a law guaranteeing a government job for one member of every family, and that the recruitment process for the same will begin within 20 months. With employment generation being one of the key issues of the election, Tejashwi’s government job promise is being viewed as a game-changer by the RJD.

The Yadav-dominated seat had been with the RJD’s first family since party founder Lalu Prasad’s victory in 1995 – except during 2010-2015, when the JD(U) held it – and the constituency has supported Leader of the Opposition Tejashwi Yadav for the last two terms.

3. Mahua: Tej Pratap Yadav (JJD) vs Mukesh Raushan (RJD)

Independent MLA and former Bihar minister Tej Pratap Yadav, Lalu Prasad’s estranged son, will contest from the Mahua constituency in Vaishali district in the first phase of the Bihar polls. He will face RJD’s Mukesh Kumar Raushan, who currently holds the seat, as well as LJP’s Sanjay Singh.

Tej Pratap had formed the JJD after being expelled from the RJD in May this year, for “irresponsible behaviour” and deviation from the party’s core values. His expulsion followed the now-deleted Facebook post, in which he claimed to have been in a 12-year relationship with a woman.

Tej Pratap had earlier won this seat in 2015 and is now contesting with the hopes of reclaiming his old base under a distinctly carved identity of the JJD, which comprises five regional parties – Vikas Vanchit Insaan Party (VVIP), Bhojpuria Jan Morcha (BJM), Pragatisheel Janata Party (PJP), Wazib Adhikar Party (WAP), and the Sanyukt Kisan Vikas Party.

4. Alinagar: Maithili Thakur (BJP) vs Binod Mishra (RJD)

Folk singer and BJP’s cultural pick Maithili Thakur will contest from Alinagar in Darbhanga district, facing the RJD’s Binod Mishra and JSP’s Biplaw Kumar Chowdhary in the first phase of the polls.

By fielding the young singer in Alinagar, the BJP will attempt to turn Mithila’s cultural pride into political capital. The 25-year-old joined the BJP in October when the party launched its first list of candidates for the Bihar Assembly Election with 71 names.

Alinagar has long been an RJD territory, dominated for decades by veteran Abdul Bari Siddiqui, who won seven times before bowing out after his 2015 victory. In 2020, the seat went to the VIP’s Mishri Lal Yadav — another RJD old-timer who had switched to the NDA — by a margin of just over 3,000 votes.

5. Lakhisarai: Vijay Kumar Sinha (BJP) vs Suraj Kumar (JSP)

Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and BJP candidate Vijay Kumar Sinha will be contesting for the sixth term from Lakhisarai on November 6, facing JSP’s Suraj Kumar.

The constituency has been the BJP’s stronghold for the past three consecutive Assembly polls – 2010, 2015, and 2020 – because of caste factors, including Bhumihar and other upper-caste voters.

Sinha, a Bhumihar leader, a civil engineer by qualification, and a former RSS worker, had become the BJP’s first-ever Speaker in Bihar after the party came to power in alliance with the JD(U) in 2020.

6. Arrah: Sanjay Singh “Tiger” (BJP) vs Vijay Kumar Gupta (JSP)

In Arrah, BJP’s Sanjay Singh “Tiger” is up against JSP’s Vijay Kumar Gupta and CPI (ML)’s Quyamuddin Ansari.

The seat has been switched back and forth between the BJP and the RJD during every Assembly election since 2010. In 2010 and 2020, Amrendra Pratap Singh of the BJP emerged victorious, while the runner-up was Ansari. In the 2015 bypoll, RJD candidate Mohammad Nawaz Alam secured victory.

7. Patna Sahib: Shashant Shekhar (Congress) vs Ratnesh Kushwaha (BJP)

In the Patna Sahib Assembly constituency in Bihar’s capital, the BJP has replaced one of its longest-serving legislators, Nand Kishore Yadav, 72, with a new face – Ratnesh Kushwaha, a 45-year-old lawyer. The Opposition Congress has fielded debutant Shashant Shekhar, 35.

An entirely urban belt, Patna Sahib has always been a stronghold of the BJP, with Nand Kishore Yadav having consistently won the seat since its formation after the 2008 delimitation. In the 2020 polls, Yadav defeated the Congress’s Pravin Singh Kushwaha by 18,300 votes.

For the Congress, the contest offers an opportunity to reclaim lost ground in a city where it has been absent for decades.

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