Bihar Phase 1 Voting: Tejashwi Yadav, Tej Pratap and Maithili Thakur among top contenders today

Bihar Phase 1 Voting: The first phase of the Bihar elections is being held today across 121 constituencies in 18 districts of Bihar.

The voting, which began at 7 AM, will decide the fate of hundreds of candidates, including Tejashwi Yadav, the Mahagathbandhan's chief ministerial face.

The ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is seeking re-election, banking on the 20-year rule of Nitish Kumar in the state and the 11-year rule of the PM Modi government at the Centre. The opposition Mahagathbandhan is seeking votes on anti-incumbency, misgovernance and job promises.

Here are top 7 candidates whose fate will be sealed in today's voting:

1-Tejashwi Yadav, Raghopur: Mahagathbandhan’s Chief Ministerial candidate Tejashwi Yadav is aiming at a hat-trick from the Raghopur seat.

Raghopur is an RJD family bastion. This seat in the Vaishali district was formerly represented by Tejashwi’s parents, Lalu Prasad and Rabri Devi, the former chief ministers. Tejashvi is facing BJP’s Satish Kumar, who defeated Rabri Devi in 2010 while contesting on a JD(U) ticket. Jan Suraaj has fielded Chanchal Singh from the seat.

2-Maithili Thakur, Alinagar: Folk singer Maithili Thakur is contesting on the BJP ticket from Alinagar in Darbhanga district, where polling is being held on phase 1 today. Thakur, who turned 25 just a few months ago, is one of the most talked-about candidates in the Bihar assembly elections.

Thakur is contesting against RJD's Binod Mishra. Jan Suraaj Party has fielded Biplaw Chaudhary from this seat in the Darbhanga district. The seat was won by Vikassheel Insaan Party's ML Yadav in 2020. Abdul Bari Siddiqui of the RJD won this seat in 2010 and 2015.

3- Tej Pratap Yadav, Mahua: Tej Pratap Yadav is another high-profile candidate this election. Independent MLA and former Bihar minister Tej Pratap is contesting as JJD candidate from the seat.

Tej, son of Lalu Prasad Yadav, is facing RJD's Mukesh Kumar Raushan, who is the sitting MLA, and LJP's Sanjay Singh for the seat. Tej had won in 2020 as an RJD candidate from the Hasanpur seat.

4- Samrat Chaudhary, Tarapur:BJP leader and Bihar deputy chief minister, Chaudhary is contesting from his home constituency of Tarapur. Chaudhary is contesting against RJD's Arun Shah.

Chaudhar's father Shakuni Chaudhary, was a six-time MLA from Tarapur since 1985, while his mother, Parvati Devi, was also elected to the Bihar Assembly once. Rajeev Kumar Singh of Janata Dal United won the seat in 2020.

5- Mangal Pandey, Siwan: Bihar minister and former chief of the BJP's state unit, Mangal Pandey is contesting from the Siwan seat. Pandey, who has been an MLC since 2012, is contesting his first assembly polls, facing RJD veteran Awadh Bihari Choudhary.

6- Osama Shahab, Rahunathpur: Osama Shahab, the RJD candidate in Raghunathpur constituency of Bihar's Siwan district.

Shahab is the son of the late Mohammad Shahabuddin, a former Siwan MP and bahubali (strongman). Convicted in multiple cases, including a double murder, Shahabuddin died in 2021 due to COVID-19-related complications. After serving four terms as an MP, Shahabuddin was disqualified from contesting elections owing to his conviction in a criminal case.

Shahab is facing Vikas Kumar Singh of the Janata Dal United and Rahul Singh of Jan Suraaj Party.

7- Anant Singh, Makoma: Anant Singh alias 'Chote Sarkaar' is contesting from this seat on JD (U) ticket. Singh is facing Veena Devi of RJD and Priyadarshi Piyush of the Jan Suraaj Party. Veena Devi is wife of disqualified 'Bahubali' Surajbhan Singh.

Anant Singh was recently arrested on murder charges.

In 2020 assembly election, Neelam Devi of the Rashtriya Janata Dal won the seat by defeating Sonam Devi of the Bharatiya Janata Party with a margin of 16741 votes.