NEW DELHI: Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav defeated BJP’s Satish Kumar by 14,532 votes from his family bastion Raghopur assembly constituency, which faced a tense battle marked by repeated swings in lead and trails.Tejashwi was trailing by nearly 5,000 votes until the 16th round of voting before bouncing back to maintain a strong lead against Satish Kumar.
Raghopur, a key assembly seat in Bihar’s Vaishali district, has long been the citadel of the Lalu Prasad Yadav family and the Rashtriya Janata Dal. The constituency is dominated by the Yadav community, which accounts for nearly 1.25 lakh voters, far outnumbering Rajputs, Scheduled Castes and other OBC groups. This demographic advantage has traditionally ensured a steady flow of support for the RJD and the Lalu family.The hold has been formidable. Lalu Prasad Yadav, former chief minister Rabri Devi and their son Tejashwi Yadav have together won the seat seven times. Tejashwi secured Raghopur comfortably in both 2015 and 2020, reinforcing the family’s deep political roots in the region.The Yadav-heavy caste structure once guaranteed the RJD a near-automatic advantage. This time, a mix of local dissatisfaction, the BJP’s aggressive outreach to Yadav voters and possible anti-incumbency currents, however, failed to dent that comfort zone. Raghopur’s political profile has always revolved around the dominance of Yadav voters and their alignment with the Lalu family.Though Tejashwi won the Raghopur battle, his party faced an embarrassing defeat in the Bihar election as the entire Mahagathbandhan could barely manage to win over 34 seats in the 243-seat Bihar assembly.
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