Why this Bihar candidate won't be able to remove her mask after election results

Pushpam Priya Choudhary, the Plurals Party chief who famously vowed to keep her face covered until she wins an election in Bihar, is trailing heavily in Darbhanga as counting for the 2025 Assembly polls continues.

The seat was last won by the BJP’s Sanjay Saraogi in 2020, and he is once again leading after several rounds of counting. He is followed by Umesh Sahani of the Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP), who is more than 24,000 votes behind.

As for Pushpam Priya, trends show her slipping far behind by over a whopping 95,529 votes. Her party, Plurals, is contesting all 243 seats in Bihar on the ‘whistle’ symbol. She has been campaigning entirely in black clothes and a mask, insisting she will take it off only when she wins.

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With the numbers so far, that moment doesn’t seem likely anytime soon.

Follow Firstpost’s Bihar Election Results 2025 LIVE blog to stay updated on all the latest developments.

So why does she wear the mask? What’s the idea behind it? Here’s what we know about Pushpam Priya Choudhary.

Who is Pushpam Priya Choudhary?

Pushpam Priya Choudhary is one of Bihar’s younger political voices, someone who has tried to position herself as a fresh alternative in a state long dominated by traditional parties.

Born on 13 June 1987, she grew up in Darbhanga, where she completed her schooling before moving to Pune for her undergraduate studies. She later went abroad for higher education, earning a master’s degree in Development Studies from the University of Sussex, followed by a second master’s in Public Administration from the London School of Economics in 2019.

Before stepping into politics, Pushpam Priya worked as a consultant in the Bihar government’s tourism and health departments.

Politics, however, runs in the family.

She is the daughter of Vinod Kumar Choudhary, a former JDU MLA from Darbhanga. Her grandfather, Professor Umakant Choudhary, was a close aide of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and among the early members of the Samata Party. Her uncle, Vinay Kumar Choudhary, is also active in electoral politics and won the Benipur seat on a JDU ticket in the 2020 assembly polls.

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What made her enter politics?

Pushpam Priya Choudhary says she entered politics because she wanted to push a different kind of conversation in Bihar, one that isn’t boxed in by caste or religion.

After studying abroad and working on government projects back home, she felt the state needed leaders who understood policy.

In an interview with NDTV, she said Bihar needs “more educated leaders in the opposition,” and described her constituency, Darbhanga, as a place that “lacks any real opposition.”

Front-page ads in major English and Hindi newspapers introduced her as The Plurals Party’s chief ministerial candidate.

Pushpam Priya has been outspoken against caste- and religion-driven politics. She even changed how her candidates filled their nomination forms, such as writing race instead of caste, and “Bihar” under religion.

मैंने पहली बार खुद को अपना वोट डाला है क्योंकि मैं अपने शहर दरभंगा से अपनी द प्लुरल्स पार्टी के अध्यक्ष और प्रत्याशी के रूप में चुनाव लड़ रही हूँ। त्रिकोणीय मुक़ाबला है पुष्पम प्रिया, उमेश सहनी और संजय सरावगी के बीच। मैं यह मुक़ाबला जीत रही हूँ। pic.twitter.com/NZCJ81wXdD

— Pushpam Priya Choudhary (@pushpampc13) November 6, 2025

Explaining her party’s name, she said, “Plural means people of all castes and religions should rule together.” And when asked if the name was too complicated, she brushed it off: “In the past, people couldn’t even pronounce Congress and Communist. I am different; we have our own ideology.”

Why does she wear a mask?

Her all-black outfits and the mask have become her trademark. Pushpam Priya says she wears black simply because she never understood the obsession with white in Indian politics.

“I wear black because I don’t know why politicians wear white,” she told NDTV, adding that the mask, however, comes with a promise, she’ll take it off only when she wins an election.

There were high expectations in 2020, and she had planned to field candidates across all 243 seats. But delays in getting the party registered and other logistical hurdles meant The Plurals Party could contest only 148 seats. Some of these were independents, and none of the candidates managed a win.

With input from agencies