Tejashwi vs Tej Pratap: Bihar Polls Turn Into Family Showdown As Mahua, Raghopur Emerge Key Battlefields
Tejashwi Yadav, backed by his family and alliance, contests Raghopur, while his estranged brother Tej Pratap, expelled from RJD, fights from Mahua with his new party, splitting the Yadav vote.
As Bihar heads to the polls, the Yadav brothers, Tejashwi and Tej Pratap, find themselves on opposite ends of the political spectrum, turning the 2025 Assembly election into a dramatic family face-off. While Tej Pratap Yadav has been sidelined by the Lalu family and expelled from the RJD, Tejashwi Yadav enjoys full backing from both his parents and the broader Mahagathbandhan alliance.
Both are leading aggressive campaigns, but in Mahua and Raghopur, the family’s divide has created intense, high-stakes contests that are capturing the state’s attention.
Mahua: A Three-Cornered Contest
In Mahua, Tej Pratap Yadav is contesting from his own newly formed party, Jan Shakti Janata Dal, after being expelled from the RJD in May 2025 over a controversial Facebook post. The RJD has fielded sitting MLA Mukesh Roshan, while the NDA’s Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) has nominated Sanjay Kumar Singh. The Jan Suraaj Party’s Indrajit Pradhan is also in the fray, making it a three-way fight.
Tej Pratap first won the Mahua seat in 2015, but in 2020, he shifted to Hasanpur in Samastipur, where he emerged victorious. Now returning to his old constituency after five years, Tej Pratap is banking on issues such as setting up a medical college while trying to revive his political relevance. He even filed his nomination, holding a photo of his grandmother.
Tejashwi Seeks Third Term in Raghopur
Meanwhile, Tejashwi Yadav, the Chief Ministerial face of the INDIA bloc, is contesting from Raghopur for the third time, hoping to strengthen his image as a young, modern leader. He filed his nomination on October 15 in the presence of his parents, Lalu Prasad Yadav and Rabri Devi, and sister Misa Bharti. The Raghopur contest is expected to be a close fight between the RJD and the BJP, as both parties vie for dominance in Vaishali district.
Mahua: Caste and Voter Dynamics
Mahua, also in Vaishali district, has a mixed voter base dominated by Yadavs, Muslims, Rajputs, Paswans, and Kushwahas. The seat has traditionally favoured the RJD, but the entry of Tej Pratap has split the Yadav vote, complicating the arithmetic. In the 2020 elections, Mahua had 2.86 lakh voters across 406 polling booths, with a 60.06% turnout.
Raghopur, on the other hand, had 3.44 lakh registered voters and a 58.06% turnout in the previous election, comprising SC, ST, Muslim, urban, and rural voters.
Family Rift Deepens Political Divide
After his expulsion, Tej Pratap launched his own party and fielded 45 candidates across Bihar, 28 in the first phase and 17 in the second. The move marked his complete break from the RJD and deepened the family feud that now defines the political landscape.
As Tejashwi leads the Mahagathbandhan’s campaign as its chief ministerial face, Tej Pratap’s solo fight in Mahua, against his former party, has transformed Bihar’s election narrative into a rare clash of bloodlines, egos, and political legacies.
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