Will Tej Pratap have a cakewalk in the Yadav-dominated Hasanpur?
Lalu Prasad's elder son Tej Pratap Yadav is contesting from the Hasanpur seat in the Bihar assembly election. He is pitted against sitting legislator from the JDU, Raj Kumar Rai, who poses as Tej Pratap's principal rival who has been holding the seat since 2010. Hasanpur seat is located in the Samastipur district of Bihar but comes under the Khagaria Lok Sabha constituency.
Relinquished Mahua
Leaving behind his Mahua seat in the Vaishali district, Tej Pratap shifted to Hasanpur this time. It is believed that Tej Pratap, who is embroiled in marital dispute with legislator Chandrika Rai's daughter Aishwarya, moved out of Mahua seat, apprehending that she might be fielded against him in the constituency. However, his fear proved to be untrue. Tej Pratap had plunged into electoral politics winning from Mahua assembly constituency in 2015 elections.
Rivals in Hasanpur
There are a total of eight candidates contesting in Hasanpur. JDU's Raj Kumar Rai, the principal rival of Tej Pratap in Hasanpur, is also a fellow casteman and is holding the seat since 2010. The Janadhikar Party (JAP) of former Madhepura MP and an influential yadav politician Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav has also fielded his candidate Arjun Yadav from the seat.
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Tej Pratap's all-out efforts
Playign all the tricks up his sleeve to match the style of his charismatic politician father for a better connect with the voters, he is seen playing cricket with the youngsters, riding a tractor in a field, playing a flute and eating 'litti-chokha' with the people. Meanwhile, Chirag Paswan has not fielded any candidate on the seat, and it is being seen as a help to Tej Pratap Yadav in Hasanpur.
The electorate
Even as the Yadav voters are the deciding factor on he seat, Muslims and other backward castes like Kushwahas and Nishads electorate also have significant presence. As per the voter list of 2019, there are 2,74,252 electorate in Hasanpur. Yadav constitute about 65,000 of the total voters, while Muslims electorate number 25,000. Forward castes count is around 20,000 while Paswans strength is around 18,000, Kushwahas (16,000) and Extremely Backward Castes (13,000).
