The month-long Assembly polls in Bihar finally reached judgement day today as the Grand Alliance led by Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad won by a clear margin. The elections have witnessed many key players ever since the candidates were announced by the parties.
Here's all you need to know about some key candidates who were in the fray:
| >Tej Pratap Yadav (Mahua): Elder son of former Bihar chief minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav. Considered less articulate than his younger brother Tejaswi Yadav, he is said to be the favourite of his mother, Rabri Devi, who has also been chief minister of Bihar. He is contesting assembly elections for the first time from Mahua constituency in Vaishali district. Result: Won by 10,274 votes |
| >Tejaswi Yadav (Raghopur): Youngest son of Lalu Prasad and Rabri Devi, he, too, is contesting assembly elections for the first time from Raghopur constituency in Vaishali district. Cricketer-turned- politician Tejaswi Yadav is more articulate, organised than his elder brother, he is his father’s favourite. Sources close to Lalu Prasad say that if the Grand Alliance comes to power, he will pitch for Tejaswi Yadav as Deputy Chief Minister; if the alliance loses the poll, he may pitch for him to become the leader of Opposition. Result: Won by 22, 733 votes |
| >Nand Kishore Yadav (Patna Sahib): A senior state BJP leader, he has been elected MLA several times from the Patna Sahib Assembly constituency. As the BJP’s Yadav face, he is a strong contender for the post of chief minister, if the NDA comes to power. He is soft-spoken and maintains cordial relations with his party colleagues. After Sushil Modi, he is the most sought after face in the Bihar BJP. Result: Won by 2,792 votes |
| >Abdul Bari Siddiqui (Alinagar): A senior RJD leader, he is the party’s most prominent Muslim face and has always been loyal to Lalu Prasad Yadav: he was once considered a possible chief ministerial candidate. Mild-mannered and balanced in approach, Mr Siddiqui is a good badminton player. He is contesting from Alinagar constituency in Darbhanga district. Result: Won by 7,743 votes |
| >Anant Singh (Mokama): The most dreaded JD-U MLA in Bihar during the Nitish Kumar regime and popularly known as Chhote Sarkar , Mr Singh is the local strongman and terror of Mokama constituency who has made his millions through a business empire that encompasses shopping malls, hotels and land dealings. Fond of pet animals, he even has a python snake at home. Despite a fleet of cars in his garage, he likes to travel on a horse-driven carriage through the streets of Patna. Recently, he was jailed in connection with an old case of kidnapping and extortion but the buzz in political circles is that RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav played a role in his incarceration. Now, Mr Singh has quit JD(U) and is contesting assembly polls from Mokama as an Independent candidate. Result: Won by 18, 348 votes |
| >Jitan Ram Manjhi (Makhdumpur and Imamganj) : A senior state politician who has been in the Congress, RJD and JD-U, he floated a new party Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular), after being asked by the JD-U leadership to step down as chief minister — a post he held briefly. Contesting the Bihar assembly polls in alliance with the BJP-led NDA, he is contesting from Makhdumpur in Jehanabad as well as from Imamganj in Gaya district. After JD-U’s crushing defeat in the 2014 Lok Sabha poll, chief minister Nitish Kumar had stepped down from the post on “moral grounds” and handpicked Jitan Ram Manjhi to succeed him. A mahadalit (lowest of the low caste, from the community of Moosahars, who are rat-catchers) Jitan Ram Manjhi suited Mr Kumar at that point but as Mr Manjhi started exercising his power, he was dropped as CM and was forced to leave the party. Now, the BJP-led NDA hopes he will be able to leverage his status as a leader of the mahadalit community in its favour. Result: Lost at Makhdumpur (26,772 votes) and won at Imamganj (by 29,408 votes) |
| >Pashupati Kumar Paras (Alauli): Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan’s brother, he has also been the party’s Bihar state president for a long time. Mr Paras has been winning elections from Khagaria district’s Alauli constituency for several years. He is said to be Mr Paswan’s eyes and ears in Bihar. Result: Lost by 24, 470 votes |
| >Prem Kumar (Gaya Town): A senior state BJP leader, he has been elected several times from Gaya town. He is the Extremely Backward Class (EBC) face of the state BJP and has been a claimant for the party’s CM candidate. During the recent poll campaign, BJP leader and party spokesperson Syed Shahnawaz Hussain had declared him as the party’s chief ministerial candidate but later in the evening, he charged the media with “misquoting” him. Result: Won by 22,789 votes |
| >Ramai Ram (Bochaha): Eight-time MLA Ramai Ram, a Dalit, was a minister for a long time in the RJD-led government. Later, he switched his political loyalties and joined the JD(U) to become a minister in Nitish Kumar’s cabinet, too. As a chief ministerial aspirant, an ambition he did not hide, he was peeved with Nitish Kumar when he hand-picked Jitan Ram Manjhi to succeed him after the Lok Sabha poll debacle. Result: Lost by 24, 130 votes |
| >Rameshwar Chaurasia (Nokha): Four-time BJP MLA Rameshwar Chaurasia is a prominent face the BJP in Bihar and is considered to be close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He comes from an Extremely Backward Caste (EBC) and many say that if the BJP comes to power he could be the dark horse for the CM’s post. Making him CM, the BJP could send the message that party cares for even the lowest castes while ending the intra-party wrangling among the Other backward Class (OBC) leaders who are eyeing the top spot. The articulate Mr Chaurasia is a bachelor and had spent a lot of time in Gujarat when Narendra Modi was contesting his last assembly elections there. Result: Lost by 22,998 votes |
| >Santosh Kumar Suman (Kutumba): Former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi’s son, he is non-controversial and maintains a low-profile. Status: Leading by 549 votes |
| >Shyam Rajak (Phulwari sharief): A close confidante of chief minister Nitish Kumar, Shyam Rajak has been minister in both Nitish Kumar and RJD regimes. A Dalit, Mr Rajak has also been a confidante of RJD chief Lalu Prasad but he later transferred his loyalties to Nitish Kumar and became a minister in his council of ministers, too. Result: Won by 45,713 votes |
| >Vivek Thakur (Brahampur): Senior BJP leader and Rajya Sabha MP C P Thakur’s son is contesting assembly elections for the first time on a BJP ticket. He has been a party MLC and Dr Thakur, an upper caste Bhumihar face of the state BJP, has reportedly been trying hard to get a ticket for his son. Result: Lost by 30, 776 votes |
| >Uday Narayan Chaudhury (Imamganj): He has been Speaker of the state assembly ever since Nitish Kumar became chief minister. He, too, is a Dalit and is considered to be close to Nitish Kumar. Earlier, RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi had both alleged that he had connections with the Maoists, as he has been traditionally winning from the Maoist-affected Imamganj (reserved) constituency. Former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi is contesting from Imamganj, party leaders say, to settle his scores with Mr Chaudhury who played a critical role at the time of the floor test against Manjhi’s cabinet earlier this year. Result: Lost by 29,408 votes |
| >Vijay Chaudhury (Sarairanjan): Senior JD(U) leader and a minister in the Nitish cabinet, Mr Chaudhury is considered to be very close to Nitish Kumar. The soft-spoken Mr Chaudhury was earlier a bank employee and in the Congress party but later, he joined the JD(U) and became a cabinet minister. Nitish Kumar banks on Mr Chaudhury for his political insights and views. Result: Won by 34,044 votes |
| >Munna Shukla (Lalganj): Vijay Kumar Shukla alias Munna Shukla is a bahubali (strongman) candidate from the JD-U. Earlier, his wife Annu Shukla represented the constituency when while he was in jail in connection with a murder case. He was recently released from jail and is contesting from Lalgunj constituency in Vaishali district. His elder brothers were underworld dons in north Bihar; both were murdered in gang wars. Results: Lost by 20, 293 votes |
