Bihar election phase one: Heavyweights Samrat Choudhary, Vijay Sinha, Tejashwi Yadav in fray

Bihar’s first phase of Assembly elections on November 6 will see 121 seats across 18 districts voting, with Deputy CMs Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha, and Opposition leader Tejashwi Yadav in the fray amid criminal cases, caste equations, and celebrity entrants

New Delhi: In Bihar, the 121 Assembly constituencies going to polls in the first phase on Thursday, November 6, across 18 districts together, look like an irregular ellipse in the middle of the state, meeting the eastern border of Uttar Pradesh.

Poll campaign decibel level within this part was muted on Tuesday, November 4, evening as per election rules, where a host of political heavyweights are in the fray among 1,314 candidates. The second phase of polling will be held on November 11.

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Among candidates in phase one are Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) nominees Samrat Chaudhury and Vijay Kumar Sinha, both Deputy Chief Ministers in the state National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. This round of polls also hosts Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav, the Chief Minister hopeful from the Opposition platform of Mahagathbandhan.

Samrat Choudhary has entered the heat-and-dust of the electoral trail after two terms as a member of the Bihar Legislative Council. Earlier, he had twice represented the Parbatta Assembly constituency (2000 and 2010) in the Legislative Assembly as an RJD candidate.

He has served as a minister in various cabinets, headed by RJD’s Rabri Devi, currently Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) leader Jitan Ram Manjhi, and Janata Dal (United) chief Nitish Kumar. His responsibilities also included Agriculture, Panchayati Raj, Urban Development and Housing, Health, and Metrology and Horticulture.

Samrat Choudhary is now representing the BJP from Tarapur, where in the 2020 Assembly election, JD (U)’s Mewa Lal Choudhary defeated his nearest rival, Divya Prakash of the RJD, by over 7,000 votes. He will turn 57 two days after the results are declared on November 14.

His party and cabinet colleague Vijay Kumar Sinha, 58, is contesting from Lakhisarai – a seat he has represented since 2010. In 2020, he defeated Congress candidate Amaresh Kumar by a margin of close to 10,500 votes and Ramanand Mandal of the JD (U) in 2015 by more than 6,500 votes, when Nitish Kumar contested with a bloc of parties opposed to the BJP.

Sinha, too, has been a minister in various departments, and Leader of Opposition (2022-2024) and Speaker (2020-2022) in the Bihar Legislative Assembly.

Meanwhile, Lalu Prasad’s heir apparent Tejashwi Yadav, who will turn 36 on November 9, is contesting from Raghopur, which he won twice (2015, 2020). On both occasions, he defeated BJP’s Satish Kumar, who had wrested the seat from his mother Rabri Devi in this Yadav family bastion in 2010. His estranged elder brother is contesting from Mahua, a seat he won for the RJD in 2015 before moving to Hasanpur in 2020.

This time, he is representing his recently launched Janshakti Janata Dal, after expulsion over alleged anti-party activities. The first phase is a high-octane opening that packs symbolic and substantive significance, combining not only marquee showdowns but intense localised battles shaped by caste and welfare politics, and a contentious backdrop of candidates with serious criminal allegations.

Among the latter, Mokama is one constituency where JD(U) candidate Anant Singh was arrested last week for his alleged involvement in the death of Jan Suraaj supporter Dularchand Yadav recently in a clash. If convicted, he stands to be disqualified as a candidate. He is already facing at least 28 cases, including murder, attempt to murder, criminal intimidation, rioting, among others, according to the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Bihar Election Watch analysis of election candidates’ self-sworn affidavits.

Anant Singh filed his nomination this time after being acquitted by the Patna High Court in a conviction under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

Among other constituencies going to the election in this phase is Begusarai, once termed as the “Leningrad of Bihar”, reflecting decades of strong Left‑wing organisation, trade‑union presence and a public culture that celebrated Marxist politics. But the 1990s’ political realignments after the Mandal era altered Begusarai’s arithmetic, leading to the waning of the Left.

In 2020, the BJP wrested the seat and continues to dominate, except for the 2025 election. Sitting BJP MLA Kundan Kumar will again be contesting against Congress candidate Amita Bhushan.

Other big names in this phase include JD(U) state president Umesh Kushwaha and RJD’s Bhola Yadav, who is a close aide of party chief Lalu Prasad. Then there are celebrities who have entered the race, such as Bhojpuri actor Khesari Lal Yadav (RJD) and popular folk singer Maithili Thakur (BJP).