Chapra election results: Who is Chhoti Kumari? 12th pass BJP candidate giving ‘taste of defeat’ to Khesari Lal Yadav

Bhojpuri singer and actor Shatrughan Yadav, popularly known as Khesari Lal Yadav, is contesting the Chapra assembly seat on the RJD ticket in the 2025 Bihar elections.

As of 2 PM, EC trends show him trailing BJP's Chhoti Kumari by over 2,000 votes. Khesari Lal Yadav is also widely known for his songs that have drawn criticism for objectifying women.

Chapra assembly constituency in the Saran district has remained a stronghold of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) since 2010. The BJP has fielded Choti Kumari, denying a ticket to CN Gupta, a RSS sanghchalak (chief) of Saran, who has held the reins in Chapra assembly constituency since 2015.

Who is Chhoti Kumari?

Chhoti Kumari, the BJP candidate from Chapra, is a local political leader and the current Zila Parishad Chairperson of the Chhapra Assembly constituency in Saran. Known for her active involvement in politics, she has been fielded by the BJP, replacing the sitting MLA, C.N. Gupta.

Despite being only a 12th pass, Chhoti Kumari has held key positions, including President of the District Council. Her husband, Dharmendra Sah, serves as the District General Secretary of the BJP. She hails from the Vaishya community, which constitutes a significant portion of the local electorate.

Her financial declaration reveals total assets worth approximately ₹1.4 crore.

Chapra holds significant political weight due to its strategic position within the broader electoral landscape of the state. As one of the six assembly segments of the Saran Lok Sabha constituency, a traditional battleground for major parties like the BJP and RJD, it plays a pivotal role in influencing parliamentary outcomes and testing the NDA-Mahagathbandhan rivalry.

As one of the six assembly segments of the Saran Lok Sabha constituency, Saran is a traditional battleground for RJD and BJP as it plays a vital role in influencing parliamentary outcomes and testing the famous NDA-Mahagathbandhan rivalry.

Caste matters?

Historically, Chapra has been a caste-dominated arena, with elections since 1967 largely alternating between Rajput and Yadav candidates from various parties, reflecting the deep interplay of community loyalties in Bihar politics.

Post-delimitation, the Vaishya community (10-12% of voters, approximately 65,000 out of a total of 2.89 lakh) has emerged as a decisive swing bloc, alongside Yadavs and Rajputs, making the seat a microcosm of Bihar's social engineering dynamics.

Other major communities include Muslims, as well as OBCs, primarily from the Koeri and Kurmi castes, making caste composition a decisive factor in elections.

Following delimitation, Baniyas and their sub-castes have emerged as a significant voting bloc, impacting the results in the Chapra assembly seat, which has been part of the Saran Lok Sabha constituency since 2008.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) appeared to register a landslide victory in Bihar, opening up impressive leads in more than 180 of the state's 243 assembly seats, with early trends also indicating that the saffron party was on track to post its biggest tally.

(With inputs from agencies)