As the Bihar Assembly election results continue to unfold on November 14, singer-turned-politician Maithili Thakur is holding a strong lead from the Alinagar Assembly seat. The BJP fielded the 25-year-old in this high-profile contest, and early trends show her consistently ahead of RJD’s Binod Mishra, while Jan Suraaj Party’s Biplav Kumar occupies third place.
Thakur is leading by more than 6,900 votes after 20/24 rounds of counting, ahead of Mishra.
Reacting to her lead, Maithili said she had been confident of the people’s support from the start and expressed determination to set an example through responsible representation.
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“I am feeling really good. I never doubted the result would be like this. The love people have shown me and my party is heartwarming. I will be there for the people in the coming five years. I am a daughter of this soil and never saw voters as just voters, but as family, and people have responded the same way. I’m just 25, but I will prove myself in the days ahead,” she told PTI.
In the celebratory moment, Maithili sang the traditional “Badhaiya Baaje Aangne Mein”.
The Alinagar seat was won by the Vikassheel Insaan Party’s Mishri Lal Yadav in 2020 by a narrow margin against the RJD’s Binod Mishra. Yadav, who moved to the BJP later, was disqualified in May this year after a court conviction in an assault case. In October, Yadav resigned from the BJP, calling it “anti-Dalit”.
Who is Maithili ?
Across North and Central India, especially in and around Bihar, Thakur is a household name due to her performances, mainly rooted in Maithili, Bhojpuri, Hindi and Sufi traditions. She is known for singing traditional sohars, Bhojpuri nirgun geet, Ram-Seeta vivah geet, bhajans, Chhath geet, semi-classical kajris, horis, chaitis, ghazals and Sufi songs, accompanied often by her brothers Rishav and Ayachi.
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Thakur’s popularity has also soared on account of her Ram bhajan videos, released on YouTube during the Ram Temple consecration in Ayodhya. She has over five million subscribers on YouTube now, over six million followers on Instagram and over 14 million on Facebook – an appeal cutting across caste and community.
‘Alinagar will become Sitanagar’
Thakur, during her campaign, found herself at the centre of a controversy after she told voters in Alinagar that she would rename the constituency as Sitanagar if elected. “Alinagar will become Sitanagar if I win the election from the seat,” the 25-year-old BJP candidate said during her campaign.
The remark quickly went viral on social media, prompting criticism and debate. In a subsequent clarification, Maithili attempted to do damage control, saying the idea had not originated with her. She explained that the suggestion came from Union Minister of State for Home and senior BJP leader Nityanand Rai during the filing of her nomination in Darbhanga.
“It was not my idea. The suggestion came from Union Minister Nityanand Rai, who shared it with me during the nomination process. I agreed because I felt the name should reflect its connection with Mithilanchal,” Maithili said.
