Bihar Elections 2025: From Tejashwi Yadav to Maithili Thakur, check key candidates who will make highlights on Bihar election result day
Check out the major candidates in the Bihar assembly elections:
Tejashwi Yadav:
The grand Mahagathbandhan alliance has announced Tejashwi Yadav as its chief ministerial face in the Bihar elections. As part of the final seat-sharing deal, RJD is contesting on 135 seats, putting Tejashwi at the forefront of its campaign. He is contesting elections for the third consecutive term in Bihar from his traditional stronghold of Raghopur seat.
Tejashwi Yadav’s performance in the 2020 assembly polls reaffirmed his status as Bihar’s main opposition leader and the face of Bihar’s young political generation. Now in Raghopur, he is aiming for a hat-trick against his BJP rival Satish Kumar, who had defeated his mother Rabri Devi in 2010 while contesting on the JD(U) symbol.
However, Mahagathbandhan failed to win in the last state elections.
Also read: Bihar Elections 2025: From Lalu, Nitish to Tejashwi, how alliances and voter trends have changed in the last 20 years
Tej Pratap Yadav:
In Mahua, Tejashwi’s estranged elder brother Tej Pratap Yadav brought out his own outfit and locked in a multi-cornered contest. RJD MLA Mukesh Raushan is opposed to sitting, but the presence of NDA’s Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) candidate Sanjay Singh and 2020 runner-up Independent Ashma Parveen has made the field awkward.
Tej Pratap was expelled from the RJD in May this year for his “irresponsible behavior” and deviation from the party’s core values. He later founded his own team, JJD (Jan Jagrukta Dal). His deportation came on the heels of a controversial and now-deleted Facebook post in which he claimed to have been in a 12-year relationship.Tej Pratap, who had earlier won the Mahua seat in 2015, is now trying to reclaim his political turf under the banner of JJD, supported by its five regional allies – Vikas Vanchit Insaan Party (VVIP), Bhojpuria Jan Morcha (BJM), Pragatisheel Janata Party (PJP), Wazib Adhikar Party (WAP) and Sanyukt Kisan Vikas Party.Also read: What might the Bihar election results mean for the BJP, Congress, RJD, JD(U) and their top leaders?
Samrat Choudhary (BJP)
In Tarapur constituency, BJP leader and state deputy chief minister Samrat Choudhary is taking on RJD’s Arun Shah in what promises to be a close-fought contest. The constituency has a diverse voter base dominated by around 63,000 Yadavs, followed by 50,000 upper caste voters (Rajputs and Brahmins), 40,000 Kushwahas, 35,000 Sahs, 28,000 Dalits and around 20,000 Muslims.
While Choudhary, who served as an MLC, returned to the electoral fray after 15 years, Shah, who contested the 2021 general election from the same seat, had narrowly lost to JD(U)’s Rajiv Kumar Singh by a margin of just over 3,800 votes.
Also read: What do 2025 Bihar elections mean for the INDIA bloc?
Maithili Thakur (BJP)
Folk singer and cultural face of BJP Maithili Thakur is contesting for the first time from Alinagar constituency in Bihar’s Darbhanga district where she is contesting with RJD’s Binod Mishra and JSP’s Biplaw Kumar Chowdhary in the first phase of Bihar polls.
By fielding the 25-year-old, the BJP aims to tap into Mithila’s deep-rooted cultural pride and transform it into political power. Thakur had joined the party in October, when the BJP announced its first list of 71 candidates for the Assembly elections.
Alinagar has been an RJD stronghold for decades under veteran Abdul Bari Siddiqui, who won the seat seven times and stepped aside after his victory in 2015. In 2020, the constituency was won by VIP’s Mishri Lal Yadav, a former RJD leader who joined the NDA, by a narrow margin of just over 3,000 votes.
Also read: Exit Poll Bihar Election 2025 Live
Bihar Exit Polls 2025:
According to various exit polls for the 2025 Bihar Assembly Elections, the NDA is expected to get a comfortable majority, while the Mahagathbandhan (MGB) is expected to lag significantly behind.
JVC Polls predict that NDA will win 135 to 150 seats, MGB is likely to get 88 to 103 seats and others (OTH) may get 3 to 6 seats.
Matrize predicts the NDA will perform strongly with 147 to 167 seats, giving it a decisive lead over the MGB, which is expected to win 70 to 90 seats. Others can accommodate 2 to 10 chairs.
People’s Insight estimates NDA’s tally at 133 to 148 seats, MGB at 87 to 102 seats and others at 3 to 6 seats.
People’s Pulse also suggests a clear NDA advantage, predicting 133 to 159 seats for the alliance, 75 to 101 seats for the MGB, and 2 to 13 seats for the others.
The Dainik Bhaskar exit poll also shows similar trends; It gives 145 to 160 seats to NDA, 73 to 91 seats to MGB and 5 to 10 seats to others.
Overall, the exit polls collectively show that the NDA is poised for a massive victory in Bihar, well above the 122-seat majority mark, while the MGB is facing a significant setback.
