Mixed results for film stars in Indian elections
Mixed results for film stars in Indian elections
The Indian film fraternity met with mixed fortunes in the national elections with BJP nominees Hema Malini, Kirron Kher and Paresh Rawal and Trinamool's Moon Moon Sen making their parliamentary debut, while some like Raj Babbar, Nagma, Gul Panag and Jaya Prada bit the dust.
Hema Malini, Bollywood's 'Dreamgirl' of yesteryears, made a dream debut, winning from Mathura constituency in Uttar Pradesh where a Narendra Modi wave swept the state. The actor, who has been a nominated member of Rajya Sabha, defeated incumbent Jayant Chaudhary of Rashtriya Lok Dal.
Veteran actor-politician Shatrughan Sinha of BJP won from Patna
Sahib for the fourth time where regional actor Kunal Singh from Congress failed to give a challenge. Another celebrity and new entrant, Paresh Rawal, Bollywood's favourite character actor, won in Ahmedabad constituency in Gujarat state.
Hindi film actor Vinod Khanna of BJP made a comeback by winning against Pratap Singh Bajwa of Congress in Gurdaspur in Punjab state.
Kirron Kher, wife of actor Anupam Kher, made an impressive debut as a BJP nominee in Chandigarh constituency where she defeated former Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal of Congress by a margin of about 70 thousand votes.
Actress Gul Panag, who was also fighting her maiden election for upstart anti-graft outfit Aam Admi Party (AAP), finished third. AAP's Javed Jaffrey lost to BJP President Rajnath Singh from Lucknow constituency by a huge margin. TV star-turned-politician Smriti Irani of BJP gave a good fight to Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi in Amethi constituency in Uttar Pradesh state, but lost.
However, luck did not smile upon the celebrity contestants fighting from Congress, with Raj Babbar and Nagma losing in their respective constituencies. Bollywood director Prakash Jha, who has made a number of political films, lost the elections for the third time in his political career when he was defeated in West Champaran by BJP's Sanjay Jaiswal.
In West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress had fielded a number of Tollywood celebrities and most of them emerged winner. Satabdi Roy, an actress-turned-politician, defeated BJP's celebrity contestant Joy Banerjee in Birbhum while Moon Moon Sen, the daughter of late screen legend Suchitra Sen, won from Bankura. Former actress and Trinamool candidate Sandhya Roy defeated Prabodh Pandya of CPI (M) in Medinipur while actor Dev Adhikari, the current heartthrob of Bengali cinema and also a Trinamool nominee, defeated CPI (M)'s Santosh Rana from Ghatal.
'Disco King' music director Bappi Lahiri, who was fighting his maiden election on a BJP ticket, failed to woo the voters in Srirampur but singer Babul Supriyo was lucky BJP star candidate to win from Asansol.
Actor-director Mahesh Manjrekar, who started his political innings with Maharashtra Navanirman Sena, failed to register a win in Mumbai North-West constituency where Bollywood's item girl Rakhi Sawant who contested as an Independent lost. Jaya Prada, former Samajwadi Party leader who joined Rashtriya Lok Dal, failed to register a win in Bijnaur in Uttar Pradesh state.