NEW DELHI: Polling for the primary part of the Bihar Meeting elections 2025 started on Thursday morning throughout 121 constituencies in 18 districts, with over 3.75 crore eligible voters set to forged their ballots. Voting began at 7 am and can proceed until 6 pm, although polling time has been curtailed to five pm in some constituencies as a consequence of safety issues.This part will resolve the political destiny of a number of outstanding leaders, together with RJD’s Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, BJP’s Samrat Choudhary and Mangal Pandey, and JD(U)’s Shravan Kumar and Vijay Kumar Choudhary. Tej Pratap Yadav can also be contesting on this spherical.
Lalu Yadav, Household Solid Votes as First Section of Bihar Polling Will get Underway
In accordance with the Election Fee, there are 10.72 lakh new voters, together with 7.78 lakh within the 18–19 age group, throughout constituencies with a mixed inhabitants of 6.60 crore. Presiding officers handed over Digital Voting Machines to polling brokers forward of voting day.Tejashwi Yadav, Mahagathbandhan’s chief ministerial candidate, is contesting from Raghopur, a seat he has held since 2015. He faces BJP’s Satish Kumar Yadav, who misplaced in 2020. His brother, Tej Pratap Yadav, who shaped the Janshakti Janta Dal after quitting RJD, has fielded Prem Kumar from Raghopur whereas contesting himself from Mahua. The Jan Suraaj Social gathering, led by Prashant Kishor, has fielded Chanchal Singh, making Raghopur a three-cornered contest.
Additionally learn:‘Vote first, refreshments later’ says PM Modi to Bihar voters
Key constituencies and candidates
1. Raghopur (Vaishali district)
Tejashwi Prasad Yadav – RJD, Mahagathbandhan’s CM face (incumbent MLA, searching for third time period)
Satish Kumar Yadav – BJP (misplaced to Tejashwi in 2020)
Prem Kumar – Janshakti Janta Dal (fielded by Tej Pratap Yadav’s celebration)
Chanchal Singh – Jan Suraaj Social gathering (Prashant Kishor’s outfit)
2. Alinagar (Darbhanga district)
Maithili Thakur – BJP (singer and first-time contestant)
Binod Mishra (63) – RJD (former candidate, hoping for comeback)
3. Chhapra (Saran district)
Khesari Lal Yadav (Shatrughan Yadav) – RJD (Bhojpuri actor making ballot debut)
Chhoti Kumari – BJP (celebration has held seat thrice since 2010)
4. Saharsa
Alok Ranjan Jha – BJP (incumbent MLA, searching for re-election)
Indrajeet Prasad Gupta – Indian Inclusive Social gathering (new entrant, lately joined Mahagathbandhan)
Jan Suraaj Social gathering candidate – Challenger from Prashant Kishor’s outfit (title not specified)
5. Madhepura
Chandra Shekhar – RJD (three-time MLA, aiming for fourth time period)
Saha – Challenger (making an attempt to turn into first non-Yadav and lady MLA from seat)
6. Tarapur (Munger district)
Samrat Choudhary – BJP (Deputy CM, contesting from a JDU stronghold)
Arun Kumar Sah – RJD (challenger)
7. Mokama (Patna district)
Anant Singh – JD(U) (strongman, lately arrested in homicide case)
Veena Devi – Spouse of former MP Surajbhan Singh (unbiased/influential determine, difficult Anant Singh)
8. Siwan
Awadh Bihari Choudhary – RJD (former meeting speaker, six-time MLA)
Mangal Pandey – BJP (well being minister, making ballot debut)
Kafi Shamshir – AIMIM
Intekhan Ahmad – Jan Suraaj Social gathering
Battle for the guts of Bihar in part 1
It briefly held the promise of a lip-smacking contest after Prashant Kishor teased a probable matchup with Tejashwi earlier than lastly opting out. However this Lalu Prasad household bastion stays amongst Bihar’s most-watched seats as Tejashwi eyes a hattrick this time. Lalu’s son, the opposition alliance’s CM face, is the towering determine on this seat in Vaishali (Hajipur) district dominated by Yadavs. However the tag of a status seat didn’t translate into vital improvement for Raghopur. Its long-awaited all-weather hyperlink with Patna grew to become a actuality solely this June, when CM Nitish Kumar opened the six-lane Kacchi Dargah-Bidupur bridge, a part of an extended Vaishali-Patna highway. With no PK within the image right here, Tejashwi’s principal opponent is the person he defeated in 2015 and 2020, Satish Kumar. Now in BJP, he had gained this seat for JDU in 2010, by defeating Tejashwi’s mom and former Bihar CM Rabri Devi.
Previous Meeting Ballot Winners: RJD (2020); RJD (2015); JDU (2010)
A political greenhorn takes on a contender who’s chasing redemption on this seat in Darbhanga district. But when Maithili Thakur can financial institution on her movie star standing as a singer and web sensation in her maiden ballot contest for BJP, Binod Mishra (63) of RJD can be hoping the mathematics works in his favour this time since Vikassheel Insaan Social gathering (VIP), the celebration in opposition to which he had misplaced right here in 2020, is now a Mahagathbandhan companion. Brahmins at 25% and Muslims with one other 23% make up vital voting blocs on this seat in Mithila area, which Thakur has promised to rename if she wins. Her alleged present of disrespect to Mithila’s cultural image, the ‘pag’ or cap, sparked an argument. She has additionally been labelled an outsider, however can be trying to construct on Union residence minister Amit Shah’s enchantment of ‘prachand bahumat’ for her, calling her a ‘daughter of Mithila’.
Previous Meeting Ballot Winners: VIP (2020); RJD (2015); RJD (2010)
Bhojpuri star Khesari Lal Yadav — his actual title is Shatrughan Yadav — has been grabbing eyeballs on his ballot debut, although BJP’s Chhoti Kumari can be fancying her probabilities within the seat that her celebration has gained 3 times operating since 2010 aside from a byelection in 2014, when RJD prevailed. Saran district, of which Chhapra is part, has thrown up each nationwide and Bhojpuri icons like Jayaprakash Narayan (JP) and Bhikhari Thakur, who’s often called the ‘Shakespeare of Bhojpuri language’. Khesari has whipped up the marketing campaign fever with de facto RJD boss Tejashwi Yadav and Samajwadi Social gathering chief Akhilesh Yadav holding rallies for him, however BJP’s personal brigade of Bhojpuri stars — Ravi Kishen and Dinesh Lal Yadav ‘Nirahua’ — have weighed in to try to blunt his enchantment.
Previous Meeting Ballot Winners: BJP (2020); BJP (2015); BJP (2010)
This seat has not gone BJP’s means in just one election since 2005 and the celebration has nominated the incumbent Jha to bag it once more. He faces two new entrants — ballot strategist Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj Social gathering and Indian Inclusive Social gathering, whose founder Indrajeet Prasad Gupta is the challenger right here. A large rally held by Gupta that includes his supporters from the Pan and Tanti caste teams at Patna’s Gandhi Maidan is claimed to have drawn Mahagathbandhan CM face Tejashwi Yadav’s consideration and led to IIP’s induction into the Mahagathbandhan. However there aren’t any straightforward guesses as to the end result right here: if Jha polled greater than a lakh votes in his successful bid in 2020, he’d additionally seen the rival RJD safe a equally resounding mandate in 2015, when he had been on the shedding aspect.
Previous Meeting Ballot Winners: BJP (2020); RJD (2015); BJP (2010)
If the Lok Sabha seat of the identical title is related to Yadav heavyweights like RJD founder Lalu Prasad and JDU’s Sharad Yadav, the meeting constituency has the report of by no means having gone with candidates of every other group. For challenger Saha, it’s a three-pronged job: turn into the primary non-Yadav and lady to win the seat and discover a approach to deny Chandra Shekhar a fourth straight victory. Underlining the importance of this district, CM Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav have each campaigned for his or her celebration candidates. Yadavs make up round 32% of the inhabitants, and Muslims round 11% with SC group at 17.5%. The remaining 40% belong to the extraordinarily backward caste (EBC) and ‘Pachpania’ teams, which have stayed closely tilted in Nitish’s favour.
Previous Meeting Ballot Winners: RJD (2020); RJD (2015); RJD (2010)
Tarapur
Previous Meeting Ballot Winners: JDU (2020); JDU (2015); JDU (2010)
Mokama
Mokama has been tense following the latest killing of RJD supporter Dularchand Yadav throughout campaigning, allegedly by associates of JDU candidate and strongman Anant Singh, resulting in Singh’s arrest. That’s seen as having put NDA, which has been concentrating on the opposition with reminders of Lalu Prasad’s ‘jungle raj’, on the again foot right here. On the japanese fringe of Patna district, Mokama has been on the windward aspect of improvement — it’s linked to north Bihar and Howrah by way of Rajendra Setu, the state’s first rail-cum-road bridge, and hosts an NTPC plant whereas a four-lane highway bridge was inaugurated by PM Modi lately. Singh’s household dominates the seat — his spouse and brother Dilip have held this seat whereas Singh himself has gained it 5 occasions, together with in 2020, however from the RJD camp. He has now switched sides.
Previous Meeting Ballot Winners: RJD (2020); Ind (2015); JDU (2010)
Siwan
Former Bihar meeting speaker, RJD’s Choudhary is a six-time MLA from this seat, whereas BJP and its earlier avatar Jana Sangh, too, have had a superb run right here. Siwan district’s nationwide recall is available in equal measure for being the birthplace of India’s first President Babu Rajendra Prasad and being the turf of the late Mohd Shahabuddin, strongman and native MP. Beneath Shahabuddin, Siwan was seen as an RJD bastion, and Choudhary can be hoping to capitalise on outdated loyalties. Going through him is BJP MLC and Bihar well being and household welfare minister Pandey, who’s making his ballot debut. The presence of Kafi Shamshir of AIMIM and Intekhan Ahmad of Jan Suraaj Social gathering makes the competition on this seat that has a sizeable presence of Muslim voters a difficult one to name.
Previous Meeting Ballot Winners: RJD (2020); BJP (2015); BJP (2010)
