Tej Pratap Yadav to contest Bihar Assembly election as independent candidate from Mahua

Tej Pratap Yadav, elder son of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, announced on Saturday(July 26, 2025) that he would contest the upcoming Bihar Assembly election from the Mahua constituency in Vaishali district as an independent candidate.

In 2020, Mr. Tej Pratap Yadav won from Hasanpur Assembly constituency in neighbouring Samastipur district on an RJD ticket. In 2015, he won from the Mahua Assembly seat.

Following a recent controversy involving a video of his relationship with a woman, Mr. Tej Pratap Yadav was expelled from the RJD and ousted from his family by his father and party supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav. Sources said he had been mulling contesting the Assembly election as an independent candidate since then.

Mr. Tej Pratap Yadav has alleged that “four-five people” in the RJD close to his younger brother and former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav had played the role of “Jai Chand” (a historical, trecherous figure) in his ouster from the party and family.

Of late, he has been active on social media, with a ‘Team Tej Pratap Yadav’ helping him reach out to the electorate virtually. The former RJD leader maintains people want him to contest the upcoming Assembly election from Mahua, as he had “worked a lot for the development of Mahua”.

”Chacha (uncle) Nitish Kumar” will not be the Chief Minister after the election, Mr. Tej Pratap Yadav has said.