From COVID-time reels to India's top influencer: BJP's surprise pick in challenging Alinagar seat

Thursday 16 October 2025 9:55 PM IST

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday released the second list of 12 candidates to be contested in the Bihar elections. One name from the list raised many eyebrows as it was popular folk singer, Maithili Thakur, who rose to fame with her Instagram videos during the pandemic times. Maithili will contest from Alinagar, considered to be one of the toughest seats in the state for BJP.

Maithili Thakur thanked PM Modi and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar after her name was included in the second list of candidates.

Her popularity rose to such an extent that Maithili now boasts of a gigantic 5.13 million subscribers on YouTube and 6.3 million followers on Instagram. Even Prime Minister Modi had previously shared her video in admiration of her talent.

Hailing from Madhubani district in Bihar, Maithili was born into a family of musicians. Her father is musician Ramesh Thakur, and it was Mr Thakur who started uploading videos of Maithili singing along with her brother, who played tabla during the early 2020s. The 25-year-old woman garnered much fanfare in no time for her terrific rendition of bhajans and ghazals, which awed many, including the prime minister of India.

Despite leaning towards BJP ally Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP). Alinagar is considered to be a stronghold of RJD. Despite the odds stacked against her, Maithili does have her chances, as a section of Alinagar is said to always favour Brahmin candidates. If BJP could yet again bring forth their subtle election engineering and grassroots work, it won’t be a surprise if Alinagar tilts in favour of the saffron party.

Whatever it is, Maithili can remain with her head up in pride for showing the nerve to contest in a tough seat like Alinagar, on her election debut.