Actor-turned-politician Jaya Prada is trailing from the Rampur constituency in Uttar Pradesh by 30,000 votes. She contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections against Samajwadi Party’s Azam Khan, who is currently leading, and Congress candidate Sanjay Kapoor. 

In 2014, BJP candidate Nepal Singh had a close contest with SP’s Naseer Ahmed Khan in Rampur, winning by a margin of over 20,000 votes. However, Jaya Prada has represented the Rampur seat twice — in 2004 and 2009 — when she was part of the Samajwadi Party. 

This time around, Rampur saw a campaign high on vitriol with Jaya Prada being at the receiving end of several sexist remarks like ‘khaki underwear’ and ‘Anarkali’ from her opponent Azam Khan. Jaya Prada joined the BJP in March, her fifth political party. 

In a recent interview, Jaya Prada claimed that she was isolated in the Samajwadi Party by Khan “because of my popularity among Hindus and Muslims.”In 2009, Jaya Prada had accused Khan of circulating nude photos of her. In 2010, she was expelled from SP for supporting Amar Singh. Singh and Jaya Prada had formed a new party —the Rashtriya Lok Manch — in 2011, which failed to win any seats in the 2012 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. Jaya Prada contested the 2014 Lok Sabha elections from Bijnor on a ticket from the Rashtriya Lok Dal. She lost. 

Jaya Prada entered politics in 1994, joining the Telugu Desam Party at the invitation of its founder NT Rama Rao. She was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 1996, representing Andhra Pradesh. However, she quit the party, reportedly after her differences with Chandrababu Naidu.