There are 1314 candidates in the fray in this phase, including many high-profile seats. Let us know the status of 10 VIP seats of the first phase.
The fate of 16 ministers of Nitish cabinet is at stake.
In the first phase, the fate of 16 ministers of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s cabinet is at stake. These include 11 ministers from BJP quota and 5 ministers from JDU quota. BJP ministers include Mangal Pandey (Siwan), Nitin Naveen (Bankipur), Samrat Chaudhary (Tarapur), Vijay Kumar Sinha (Lakhisarai), Jeevesh Mishra (Jaale), Sanjay Saraogi (Darbhanga Urban) and Sunil Kumar (Bihar Sharif). The prominent ministers of JDU are Vijay Kumar Chaudhary (Sarai Ranjan), Shravan Kumar (Nalanda), Madan Sahni (Bahadurpur) and Maheshwar Hazari (Kalyanpur).
Condition of 10 VIP seats
Tarapur: Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Chaudhary is in the fray on this seat. He is considered to be in a direct contest with RJD’s Arun Kumar Sah. Santosh Kumar Singh of Jan Suraj and Sukhdev Yadav of Tej Pratap Yadav’s party Janashakti Janata Dal are also trying to challenge.
Raghopur: This is considered the family seat of RJD. This time RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav is contesting from here for the third time. Tejashwi had defeated BJP’s Satish Kumar here in 2015 and 2020. Satish Yadav from NDA is challenging him while Chanchal Kumar from Jansuraj is also in front.
Mokama: This seat is currently in the news due to the murder of Jan Suraj supporter Dularchand Yadav and the arrest of JDU candidate Anant Singh. There is a competition between two strongmen here. On one side is Anant Singh and on the other side is Surajbhan Singh’s wife Veena Devi on RJD ticket.
Alinagar: BJP has fielded folk singer Maithili Thakur on this seat. This is Thakur’s first election. His competition is believed to be against RJD’s Vinod Mishra. BJP is trying to convert his popularity into votes.
Chhapra Famous Bhojpuri singer Khesari Lal Yadav is contesting from Chapra seat on RJD ticket. Here his contest is being considered with Chhoti Kumari of BJP. But independent Rakhi Gupta is also trying her best to make the contest triangular.
Lakhisarai: Second Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar, Vijay Kumar Sinha has been MLA from Lakhisarai continuously since 2010. In 2020, he defeated Congress’s Amresh Kumar. This time also Amresh Kumar is in the fray against Vijay Sinha.
Mahua: Tej Pratap Yadav is contesting elections from Mahua after Lalu Yadav expelled him from the party and family. His contest is being considered with RJD MLA Mukesh Roshan. On behalf of NDA, Sanjay Kumar Singh of LJP has made the contest triangular.
Begusarai: BJP had won this seat, once considered a stronghold of the Left, in 2020. This time Kundan Kumar of BJP is contesting against Amita Bhushan of Congress. The political mathematics here has changed after the Mandal era.
Bankipur: This is an urban seat of Patna, where BJP’s Nitin Naveen has been winning continuously. This time also the party has expressed confidence in him. RJD has fielded Rekha Gupta to challenge him.
Darbhanga Urban: BJP’s Revenue Minister Sanjay Saraogi is in the fray from this important seat of Mithilanchal. To challenge him, Jan Suraj, the party of former IPS RK Mishra and Mukesh Sahni has made Umesh Sahni its candidate.
How many candidates from which party in the first phase
In the first phase, 57 candidates from JDU, 48 from BJP, 13 from Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) and 2 from Rashtriya Lok Morcha are in the fray from NDA side. On behalf of the Grand Alliance, 71 candidates from RJD, 24 from Congress and 14 from Left parties are in the fray.
Apart from these, Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) and Communist Party of India (CPI) are contesting on six seats each, CPM on three seats and Indian Inclusive Party (IIP) on two seats. In this phase, 118 candidates of Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraj Party are also trying their luck.