RJD’s Lalit Kumar Yadav loses bid to extend 15-year hold in party bastion Darbhanga Rural

Lalit Kumar Yadav, representing the Rashtriya Janata Dal, lost the Bihar election 2025 from Darbhanga Rural seat by falling short of 18,392 votes.

Updated on: Nov 14, 2025, 20:24:10 IST

By HT News Desk

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Rashtriya Janata Dal’s (RJD's) Lalit Kumar Yadav lost in Darbhanga district’s Darbhanga Rural assembly constituency as counting of votes culminated in the Bihar assembly elections 2025. Janata Dal (United) candidate Rajesh Kumar Mandal won the election with a total of 80,624 votes, securing a lead of 18,392 votes. Dharbanga Rural constituency is traditionally an RJD bastion.

The constituency voted in the first phase of Bihar assembly elections on November 6.

The other candidate from this seat was Shoaib Ahmed Khan from the Jan Suraaj Party, who finished fifth in the race.

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About Lalit Kumar Yadav

Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Lalit Kumar Yadav has been representing the Darbhanga Rural assembly constituency in the Bihar assembly since 2010, making it an RJD stronghold.

Yadav is facing one criminal case, according to his affidavit, and has been booked under Indian Penal Code sections 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 269 (negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) , 270 (malignant act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life), and act 3 of Epidemic Act and act 51 of Disaster Management Act.

However, no charges have yet been framed and there has been no conviction.

Yadav, 49, declared in his affidavit that his income in the financial year 2024-2025 was around ₹37 lakh. He has also declared movable assets worth around ₹47 lakh and immovable assets worth ₹4.8 crore.

What happened in previous elections

During the 2020 Bihar assembly elections, RJD’s Lalit Kumar Yadav secured 64,929 votes, accounting for 41.26% of the total votes, to defeat his closest contender, Faraz Fatmi of the Janata Dal (United), by a margin of 2,141 votes.

In the 2015 Bihar Assembly election, Yadav had defeated Naushad Ahmad of former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular). In that contest, Yadav garnered 70,557 votes, while Ahmad received 36,066 votes, giving Yadav a decisive victory margin of 34,491 votes.

About the constituency

Dharbhanga Rural is considered a major seat in the Mithila region of Bihar, which voted during the first phase of 2025 Bihar assembly polls on Thursday, November 6.

Bihar voted in two phases in 2025 assembly polls, on November 6 and November 11.

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