Role play: Do actors make for good politicians?

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3.    Smriti Irani (2004, 2014, 2019, BJP)

The Union Minister joined the BJP in 2003 and contested the Lok Sabha polls the first time a year later, losing to Congress veteran Kapil Sibal from Chandni Chowk, New Delhi. The former television actor became the youngest Cabinet minister after the BJP came to power in 2014, but had to face defeat by 1.07 lakh votes against Rahul Gandhi (then Congress vice president) in Amethi in the general elections that year. The crowning glory, though, came in 2019 when she won against Gandhi in the Congress bastion by around 55,000 votes. 

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4.    Amitabh Bachchan (1984, Congress)

The ‘Shahenshah’ of the Hindi film industry cornered 66.9 percent of the vote share in his constituency of Allahabad, winning the seat by 187,895 votes—one of the biggest victory margins—against former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Lok Dal candidate Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna. The superstar resigned from the post in 1987 and quit politics after his name cropped up in the Bofors scandal. He would later say venturing into politics was a ‘mistake’.

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5.    Vinod Khanna (1998, 1999, 2004, 2009, 2014, BJP)

The late actor joined the BJP in 1997, and won from Gurdaspur, Punjab, in 1998, 1999 and 2004. He lost in 2009, but regained his seat in 2014 when the BJP came to power with an overwhelming majority. The star was made Union Minister of Culture and Tourism in 2002, and in January 2003, he was elevated as minister of state for the Ministry of External Affairs. He was 70 when he passed away in 2017. 

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6.    Hema Malini (2014, 2019, BJP)

The Sholay actor was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 2003 and was elected to the Upper House from Karnataka in 2011. In 2014, she contested the Lok Sabha polls from Mathura, winning against then-sitting MP Jayant Chaudhary of the Rashtriya Lok Dal with a margin of 340,725 votes. She won again in 2019—against Kunwar Narendra Singh of the Rashtriya Lok Dal with 293,471 votes.

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7.    Sunil Dutt (1984, 1989, 1991, 1999, 2004, Congress)

He won from the Mumbai North West constituency five times since he entered electoral politics in 1984—when he defeated Ram Jethmalani. He retained his seat in 1989 and 1991 before the Shiv Sena won in 1996 and 1998 (Dutt did not contest those elections). The Mother India actor then fought the polls in 1999 and 2004 and won both times. After his demise in 2005—he was Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports then—his daughter Priya won the by-election. 

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8.    Rajesh Khanna (1991, 1996, Congress)

The superstar was a Member of Parliament for the Congress party from 1992 to 1996. He contested against BJP stalwart LK Advani from Delhi in the 1991 Lok Sabha elections and lost by just 1,589 votes. A by-election was held in 1992 after Advani resigned from the seat. Khanna won the by-polls, defeating fellow actor Shatrughan Sinha with 28,256 votes. The actor, who passed away in 2012, lost the 1996 polls to BJP’s Jagmohan Malhotra.

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9.    Shatrughan Sinha (2009, 2014, BJP)

After losing the by-polls to Rajesh Khanna in 1992, the actor won from Patna Sahib Lok Sabha constituency in Bihar in 2009 (defeated actor Shekhar Suman) and 2014. He was a Rajya Sabha member from 1996 to 2008, and held the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the department of shipping in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. The actor joined the Congress after he was denied a ticket in 2019. Three years after that, he joined the All India Trinamool Congress and won the by-election from Asanol.

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10.    Dharmendra (2004, BJP)

The Sholay actor won from the Bikaner Lok Sabha constituency in 2004, defeating Congress candidate Rameshwar Dudi by over 55,000 votes. His subsequent ‘absence’ from his constituency was highly criticised. His son Sunny Deol (BJP), who won from Gurdaspur in 2019, also received brickbats for his low attendance in Parliament. He has said he won’t contest the 2024 elections. 

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11.    Jaya Prada (2004, 2009, Samajwadi Party; 2014, Rashtriya Lok Manch; 2019, BJP)

The actor joined the BJP in 2019. Prior to that, she was elected to the Lok Sabha as a Samajwadi Party MP from Rampur in Uttar Pradesh in 2004 and 2009. Later, she contested and lost the 2014 polls from Bijnor on a Rashtriya Lok Manch ticket. In 2019, too, as BJP candidate, she lost from Bijnor to Azam Khan of Samajwadi Party.

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12.    Nagma Morarji (2014, Congress)

The Congress candidate contested the 2014 Lok Sabha polls from Meerut in Uttar Pradesh and came fourth with just over 42,000 votes, losing her deposit in the process. In 2022, she expressed her disappointment when she did not get a ticket for the Rajya Sabha polls. 

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13.    Manoj Tiwari (2009, Samajwadi Party; 2014, 2019, BJP)

The Bhojpuri actor-singer contested the 2009 Lok Sabha polls from Gorakhpur on a Samajwadi Party ticket, and lost to Yogi Adityanath—currently the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. He joined the BJP in 2013 and won from North East Delhi with over 1.4 lakh votes in 2014, and followed that with another victory from the constituency in 2019 against Sheila Dixit of the Congress with a margin of over 3.6 lakh votes.   

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14.    Ravi Kishan (2014, Congress; 2019, BJP)

He lost the 2014 polls from Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh, finishing at sixth place for the Congress. He joined the BJP in 2017 and won the 2019 general elections from Gorakhpur with over 3 lakh votes. 

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15.    Kirron Kher (2014, 2019, BJP)

The BJP candidate was elected from Chandigarh in 2014 with nearly 70,000 votes. Aam Aadmi Party candidate, actor Gul Panag, was one of the contestants against her. Kher retained her seat in 2019 with a margin of over 46,000 votes.  

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16. Nusrat Jahan Ruhi (2019, Trinamool Congress)

The Bengali actor was elected from the Basirhat Lok Sabha constituency in West Bengal on a Trinamool Congress ticket in 2019, her electoral debut. She defeated the BJP’s Sayantan Basu by a margin of over 3.5 lakh votes. The Mamata Banerjee-led party, however, has dropped her from the seat for the 2024 polls amid the Sandeshkhali—which falls under her constituency—land grabbing and abuse row.

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17. Mimi Chakraborty (2019, Trinamool Congress)

The actor-singer joined politics in 2019 and contested the general elections that year for the Trinamool Congress from Jadavpur. She won against the BJP’s Anupam Hazra by nearly 3 lakh votes. The Tollywood star resigned from her post this February, saying “politics is not for me”. She had wanted to quit in 2022 too, but her resignation was not accepted then.

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18. Suresh Gopi (2019, BJP)

Superstar Suresh Gopi was nominated to the Rajya Sabha from 2016 to 2022. However, he failed to win the people’s mandate as BJP candidate in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls (finishing third) and also the 2021 assembly elections (finishing third again with over 30 percent votes) in Kerala. He’s set to contest again this year.