- The first phase of Bihar assembly election covers 121 constituencies across 18 districts
- Tejashwi Yadav is contesting from Raghopur and has promised government jobs for one member per household
- BJP has fielded cultural figure Maithili Thakur from Alinagar, targeting young voters in Mithilanchal
The first phase of the assembly election in Bihar has begun with polling being held on 121 constituencies across 18 districts. The rest of the 243 constituencies will go to polls on November 11.
The first phase will see many of the state's heavyweights contesting.
The list, among others, includes Tejashwi Yadav of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, his estranged brother Tej Pratap Yadav who has formed his Janshakti Janata Dal, the state's two Deputy Chief Ministers -- Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha - and the party's cultural face Maithili Thakur.
Some of the prominent candidates in this phase of election:
1. Tejashwi Yadav (RJD): Raghopur
Rashtriya Janata Dal's Tejashwi Yadav, the Chief Ministerial face of the Grand Alliance, is up for another contest from family turf Raghopur. His opponent is the BJP's Satish Kumar.
The contest in this Yadav-dominated constituency is seen by many as just a formality. The seta has been voting for the RJD since 1995, when Lalu Yadav came to power - the exception was the one time between 2010-2015, when the JD(U) held the seat. Tejashwi Yadav has been the sitting MLA here since 2025.
Even so, the Jan Suraaj party of election strategist-turned politician Prahsant Kishor has pitched a candidate -- Chanchal Kumar.
Tejashwi Yadav's promise of a government job for one member of every household is being seen by his party as a game-changer in this election.
2. Tej Pratap Yadav (JJD): Mahua
Tej Pratap Yadav, Lalu Yadav's son, had formed his own party, Janshakti Janata Dal, after the very public estrangement with his family when his 12-year relationship with a woman came to light.
Tej Pratap Yadav said the Facebook post that laid it bare was the result of hacking. But his family took exception to the situation and disciplinary action was taken against him.
The elder brother of Tejashwi Yadav, Tej Pratap was a minister in Nitish Kumar's government when the Janata Dal United was part of the Grand Alliance.
This time, he is up against RJD's Mukesh Kumar Raushan, the sitting MLA in Vaishali district's Mahua constituency. Sanjay Singh, leader of Chirag Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party, is also in fray.
JJD 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.
3. Maithili Thakur (BJP): Alinagar
The BJP's cultural pick in Bihar, folk singer Maithili Thakur, will contest her maiden election from Alinagar in Darbhanga district, the area from where her family hails.
For long, Alinagar has been the territory of Lalu Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal. In 2020, the seat was won by Mishri Lal Yadav, who held the ticket from Vikassheel Insaan Party and then defected to the BJP.
The singer expects to win the seat - which was formed in 2008 after delimitation. Darbhanga is one of the two districts that comprise Mithilanchal and the BJP now hopes that the 25-year-old Thakur will help rope in the young voters.
Maithili Thakur joined the BJP in October, saying she wants to "carry forward the culture of the region". She is facing RJD's Binod Mishra and Jan Suraaj Party's Biplaw Kumar Chowdhary.
4. Samrat Choudhary (BJP): Tarapur
The BJP's Samrat Choudhary, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's deputy who handles the finance ministry, will contest his first election in 15 years from Tarapur in Munger district. His challenger is RJD's Arun Shah, who has a tough battle on his hands in this constituency dominated by backward castes.
Shah had lost the 2021 by-poll by a slender margin of less than 4000 votes to JD(U)'s Rajiv Kumar Singh. The JD(U) has been holding the seat since 2010, when the sitting MLA and three-time winner, RJD's Shakuni Chowdhary, died.
Samrat Choudhary, who joined the BJP after engineering a split in the RJD and walking out with his supporters, belongs to the Kushwaha community, seen as the state's largest caste group after the Yadavs.
5. Vijay Kumar Sinha (BJP): Lakhisarai
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's other deputy, Vijay Kumar Sinha, a five-time MLA, will be contesting for a sixth term from Lakhisarai in Munger district. His opponent will be Jan Suraaj Party's Suraj Kumar.
The constituency, dominated by Bhumihars, has been a BJP stronghold for the last 15 years. Sinha has been the sitting MLA there since 2010.
He also won in the first assembly election in 2005 from Lakhisarai.
But in the second one held later that year because of the fractured verdict, he was replaced by Rashtriya Janata Dal's Fulena Sinha.
Sinha, a Bhumihar leader and 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.
But he stepped down in 2022 after the Grand Alliance - following Nitish Kumar's switch -- moved a no-confidence motion against him.
6. Bhojpuri actor Khesari Lal Yadav (RJD): Chhapra
Bhojpuri superstar Khesari Lal Yadav, one of the best-known singers and actors in the most popular dialect of Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh, is RJD's answer to Maithali Thakur.
He is facing Chhoti Kumari from the BJP. The contest has become triangular with the entry of Independent candidate Rakhi Gupta.
The actor, who appeared in more than 70 films, and had given his voice to over 5,000 songs, had drawn attention by taking on the BJP over temples during his campaign.
One can build temples, but "will they decide our children's future," he had questioned. "If temples decide our children's future, I want you to build 200 temples in Bihar," he had said.
7. Jyoti Singh (Independent): Karakat
Jyoti Singh, wife of Bhojpuri actor Pawan Singh, made headlines with her differences with her husband, is contesting from the Karakat seat.
The second wife of Pawan Singh, Jyoti Singh had filed her nomination a day after her husband declared that he would not contest the Bihar assembly election and would continue as a "true soldier" of the BJP.
Jyoti Singh had accused Pawan Singh of infidelity and the row over it had made headlines for days. Then, with the election inching closer, the two bickered over who would contest.
She is up against the sitting MLA, Arun Kumar Singh of CPI-ML, which is part of the opposition Grand Alliance. Mahabali Singh of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal United is also in fray.
8. Preeti Kinnar (Jan Suraaj): Bhorey
The contest in Bhorey in Gopalganj district, the constituency of Education Minister Sunil Kumar, has become interesting due to the entry of Preeti Kinnar, a transgender woman, who is contesting on a ticket from Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraj Party.
Bhorey, a Scheduled Caste constituency, could herald social change in Bihar should Preeti win. Besides the minister, former JNU Students' Union President Dhananjay is also contesting on a CPI-ML ticket.
Reports said Preeti, a resident of Kalyanpur village of Bhorey block, has been deeply involved in social work. Jan Suraaj believes that her understanding of local issues will help her bring the concerns of the common man to the House of Assembly.
9. Anant Singh (JDU): Mokama
A clash between Bahubali strongmen has made Mokama one of the most-watched contests in this election.
On one side is JD(U)'s Anant Singh, whose arrest over the murder of Jan Suraj supporter Dular Chand Yadav has been a topic of discussion lately. On the other side is Veena Devi, the wife of Suraj Bhan Singh, who is contesting on an RJD ticket.
Anant Singh, who has 28 criminal cases against him, won the Mokama Assembly seat five times. Though he made his debut as a JD(U) candidate, he quit the party after Nitish Kumar joined hands with Lalu Yadav, contested as an Independent and won. In 2020, he contested as a member of Lalu Yadav's RJD.
In 2022, when he was convicted in an arms case and lost his assembly membership, his wife Neelam Devi contested the bye-election and retained Mokama.
Later, Anant Singh switched back to JDU.
10. Nitin Nabin (BJP): Bankipur
BJP's Nitin Nabin, Bihar's minister of road construction, is hoping for a fifth term from the high-profile Bankipur constituency, an urban seat in Patna. In the 2020 assembly poll, he defeated Luv Sinha, son of actor-politician Shatrughan Sinha by a huge margin.
This time, his challenger is Rashtriya Janata Dal's Rekha Gupta, who switched recently from the Congress. The RJD is hoping that she will be able to draw votes from anti-incumbency and the sections opposed to the BJP.
Jan Suraaj has fielded Vandana Kumari, a first-time candidate, who has built her campaign around local issues and the anti-corruption plank.
Bankipur, a BJP stronghold, has been supporting Nabin since 2010.
