Recently, a new strategy to the reconstruction of $$f(R)$$f(R)-gravity models based on the Raychaudhuri equation has been suggested by Choudhury et al. (MNRAS 485:5693, 2019). In this paper, utilizing this method, the reconstruction of anisotropic Einstein–Maxwell equation in the $$1+3$$1+3 covariant formalism of $$f(R)$$f(R)-gravity is investigated in four modes: (i) Reconstruction from a negative constant deceleration parameter refereeing to an ever-accelerating universe; (ii) Reconstruction from a constant jerk parameter $$j=1$$j=1 which recovers celebrated $$\varLambda \text {CDM}$$ΛCDM mode of evolution; (iii) Reconstruction from a variable jerk parameter $$j=Q(t)$$j=Q(t); and (iv) Reconstruction from a slowly varying jerk parameter. Furthermore, two suggestions for enhancing the method are proposed.