Bihar Deputy CM Samrat Choudhary takes strong lead in Tarapur as he looks to continue family legacy

Bihar Deputy CM Samrat Choudhary takes lead in Tarapur: Will he continue the family legacy?

As hoardings declaring “Bihar Ka Matlab Nitish Kumar” appear outside the CM’s residence at 1, Aney Marg in Patna, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and BJP candidate Samrat Choudhary is leading in the Tarapur constituency with 28,136 votes, up by 6,191.

RJD’s Arun Kumar trails at 18,801 votes, while Santosh Singh of the Jan Suraaj Party is also contesting. As per the Election Commission of India, the BJP leads with 84 seats, the JD(U) 77, the RJD 35, the LJP(RV) 22, the CPI(ML)(L) 7, the INC 5, and HAMS 5 in the Bihar Assembly elections. Counting continues across the state.

Samrat Choudhary was appointed Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar on 28 January 2024.

Why Tarapur seat significant? 

The Tarapur seat was previously held by Rajeev Kumar Singh of the JD(U) and later went to the BJP under the NDA’s seat-sharing plan. Choudhary, an OBC leader and prominent face of the BJP in Bihar, served as the state BJP president between 2023 and 2024 and was Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council during the brief RJD-JD(U) coalition in 2022.

The Tarapur seat holds significance for Choudhary, whose father, Shakuni Choudhary, was elected MLA/MP seven times, and his mother Parvati Devi also served as MLA from the constituency.

A former RJD leader, Choudhary, joined the BJP in 2014 along with over a dozen MLAs, causing a split in the Lalu Yadav-led party. He was initially a minister in Rabri Devi’s government, later joined the JD(U) government under Jitan Ram Manjhi, and then moved to the BJP in 2017.

Choudhary, aged 56 as per his election affidavit, belongs to the Koeri caste, a crucial OBC community in Bihar, and continues to be a key political figure for the party in the state.