Lok Sabha election results 2019: Star power yields mixed bag in Uttar Pradesh

AGRA: It was a mixed bag for stars in fray in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh. While BJP candidates – former Bollywood actor Jaya Prada in Rampur and Bhojpuri actor-singer Dinesh Lal Yadav alias Nirahua in Azamgarh – missed the bus, other stars that the saffron party fielded, including Hema Malini in Mathura and Bhojpuri star Ravi Kishan in Gorakhpur – had a smooth sail riding on Modi wave.
However, the star power didn’t work for the Congress whose actor-turned-politician Raj Babbar lost the polls in Fatehpur Sikri by a huge margin.
Hema Malini contested the Lok Sabha elections for the first time in 2014, defeating RLD’s Jayant Chaudhary by over 3 lakh votes. The party opted for her again in 2019 despite anti-incumbency factor working against her. She was ahead of her closest rival Kunwar Narendra Singh of Rashtriya Lok Dal by a comfortable margin.
Bhojpuri star Ravi Kishan, who switched his loyalty from Congress to BJP just before the polls, also won from Yogi Adityanath’s bastion, Gorakhpur with 7.14 lakh votes.
The Modi factor, however, failed to yield dividends for actor-turned politician Jaya Prada, who recently switched to BJP after spending years in the Samajwadi Party. Her former colleague and now bitter rival, SP’s Azam Khan, was poised for a huge win in Uttar Pradesh’s Rampur constituency.
Similarly, Nirahua was trailing by over 2.56 lakh votes against Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, who led with 6.11 lakh votes in Azamgarh.