Over 3.75 crore eligible voters are expected to cast votes in the first phase of the Bihar Assembly elections 2025, which started on Thursday morning in 121 constituencies across 18 districts. Voting began at 7 a.m. and will run until 6 p.m., though in certain constituencies, the polling period has been shortened to 5 p.m. due to security concerns.
Several well known leaders, such as Tejashwi Prasad Yadav of the RJD, Samrat Choudhary and Mangal Pandey of the BJP, and Shravan Kumar and Vijay Kumar Choudhary of the JD(U), will have their political futures decided during this period. In this round, Tej Pratap Yadav is also competing.
The Election Commission reports that there are 10.72 lakh new voters across seats with a combined population of 6.60 crore, including 7.78 lakh in the 18–19 age bracket. Polling agents received Electronic Voting Machines from presiding officers prior to voting day.
Mahagathbandhan's chief ministerial candidate, Tejashwi Yadav, is running from Raghopur, where he has served since 2015. Satish Kumar Yadav of the BJP, who was defeated in 2020, is his opponent. In addition to running from Mahua, his brother Tej Pratap Yadav, who founded the Janshakti Janta Dal after leaving RJD, fielded Prem Kumar from Raghopur.
Raghopur is now a three-cornered race because Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraaj Party has put up Chanchal Singh.
Deputy chief minister and BJP leader Samrat Choudhary is up against Jan Suraaj's Santosh Kumar Singh and Arun Kumar of the RJD in Munger's Tarapur seat.
Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Kumar Sinha is running from Lakhisarai against Jan Suraaj's Suraj Kumar and Amaresh Kumar of the Congress.
Anant Kumar Singh, a JD(U) candidate who was detained in relation to the murder of Dularchand Yadav, will take against Veena Devi, the wife of former MP Surajbhan Singh, in the Mokama constituency, which has been in the headlines.
Ratnesh Kumar, also known as Ratnesh Khushwaha, of the BJP, and Shashant Shekhar of the Congress are running in Patna Sahib, which has historically been a BJP stronghold.
With the BJP fielding 25-year-old folk singer Maithili Thakur against RJD's Binod Mishra, Darbhanga has garnered notice. If elected, Thakur, the youngest contender, might become Bihar's youngest MLA.
In total, 122 female contestants are running in this stage. There are 119 candidates from the Jan Suraaj Party. JD(U), BJP, and LJP (Ram Vilas) are running for 57, 48, and 14 seats within the NDA. RJD, Congress, and CPI(ML) are the Mahagathbandhan partners running for 73, 24, and 14 seats, respectively, with friendly competitions on a few.
There were three stages to the 2020 Bihar Assembly elections. The Mahagathbandhan won 110 seats, while the NDA won 125. Congress won 19 seats, BJP 74, RJD 75, and JD(U) 43.
