Bihar elections: From Raghopur to Tarapur – an eye on key seats

The field is all set for a close contest between the National Democratic Alliance and the Grand Alliance for the 243-member Bihar Assembly. Elections will be held in two phases on 6 and 11 November. The results will be declared on 14 November.

Here are the key seats to keep an eye on in this election:

Raghopur

It is considered the traditional stronghold of RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav’s family. In this election, Lalu’s son and the chief ministerial face of the grand alliance, Tejashwi Yadav, will contest from this seat.

Tejashwi will face BJP’s Satish Kumar Yadav and Jan Suraaj Party’s Chanchal Singh.

Lalu won this seat in 1995 and 2000 and was the Chief Minister both times. His wife Rabri Devi also represented Raghopur three times, in a 2000 by-election and later in two assembly elections. Tejashwi has been a continuous MLA since 2015.

Mahua

Lalu’s elder son and expelled RJD leader Tej Pratap Yadav will contest elections from Mahua from his newly formed party Janashakti Janata Dal.

This constituency has always had a strong Yadav vote base, with a significant share of Scheduled Caste and Muslim voters. Tej Pratap won from Mahua for the first time in 2015 but contested from Hasanpur in 2020. Currently, this seat is held by Mukesh Kumar Roshan, who is also an RJD candidate this time and will face Tej Pratap in Mahua.

Sanjay Singh from Lok Janshakti Party, which is part of NDA and led by Chirag Paswan, is also in the fray.

Harnaut

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had entered the Bihar Assembly from this seat in 1985 and since then it has remained a stronghold for JDU. There were reports that Nitish may hand over the command to his son Nishant to contest elections from Harnaut, but this did not happen. JDU has fielded Hari Narayan Singh from this seat, who will face Congress’s Arun Kumar and JSP’s Kamlesh Paswan.

Tarapur

Tarapur, traditionally a JD(U) stronghold, is now with the BJP under a seat-sharing agreement. Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and BJP leader Samrat Chaudhary will contest from this seat. Chaudhary has described Tarapur as his ancestral seat, which has given the contest both political and personal importance.

This seat has a large number of Kushwaha, Yadav, Muslim and Scheduled Caste voters. JD(U)’s string of victories since 2010 has made the party dominant in the region. Now, when BJP has captured this seat, it remains to be seen how the NDA performs.

Lakhisarai

Another keenly watched constituency will be Lakhisarai as it is the home turf of Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Kumar Sinha, senior BJP leader and current Speaker of the Bihar Assembly.

Sinha is contesting the elections for the sixth time.

The area is part of the Munger region, where caste factors like Yadav, Bhumihar and OBC voters and development issues like jobs and infrastructure will play a major role.

Raghunathpur

RJD has fielded Osama Shahab, son of late party leader and former MP Mohammad Shahabuddin, from Raghunathpur constituency of Siwan. This seat is currently represented by RJD MLA Hari Shankar Yadav.

Shahabuddin, a close aide of Lalu Prasad, fell out of favor with the party after his death in May 2021, when no RJD leader reportedly attended his funeral. His widow, Hena Shahab, has contested the Siwan Lok Sabha seat several times – thrice on an RJD ticket (2009, 2014, 2019) and as an independent in 2024. Although she lost again, her 2.93 lakh votes significantly hurt RJD’s prospects, pushing its candidate to third place.