Showbiz Celebs who will be Contesting Indian Elections 2014

A number of popular faces from the world of entertainment have entered the poll fray for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, which will be held from April 7 to May 12. Here’s a look at some celebrity candidates.

Smriti Irani: The actress, who immortalised the ‘adarsh bahu’ on the small screen, will be BJP’s candidate against Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi from the Amethi constituency of Uttar Pradesh.

Paresh Rawal: The BJP is fielding the critically acclaimed actor from Ahmedabad East Lok Sabha constituency, instead of sitting MP Harin Pathak. Pathak is a seven-time Lok Sabha member and is considered close to senior leader L.K. Advani.

Jaaved Jaaferi: The Aam Aadmi Party ( AAP) has decided to field actor and reality show judge Jaaved Jaaferi from the Lucknow constituency against BJP president Rajnath Singh.

Gul Panag: The former beauty queen-turned-actress will fight the elections from Chandigarh on an AAP ticket. Panag was chosen after Savita Bhatti, wife of late Jaspal Bhatti, withdrew her name.

Nagma: The actress, who is highly popular down south, has joined the Congress, and will contest the elections from Meerut in Uttar Pradesh.

Mahesh Manjrekar: Renowned director-actor, he will contest the Lok Sabha elections as a Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) candidate from Mumbai North-West.

Jaya Prada: The actress will contest on a Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) ticket from Bijnor in Uttar Pradesh.

Hema Malini: The Dreamgirl will be contesting on a BJP ticket from Mathura in Uttar Pradesh.

Vinod Khanna: The actor-cum-politician will contest for BJP from Gurdaspur in Punjab and will take on Punjab Congress chief Partap Singh Bajwa.

Shatrughan Sinha: The veteran actor-turned-politician has been chosen as BJP’s candidate from Patna Sahib constituency. Bhojpuri actor Kunal Singh has filed his nomination for the same seat as a Congress candidate.

Rakhi Sawant: The item girl has announced her candidature from the Mumbai North West parliamentary constituency. She is standing as an independent candidate with green chilli as her symbol.

Bappi Lahiri: The music composer, who has joined the BJP, has been given a ticket from Sreerampur, in Hooghly district, Kolkata.

Ravi Kishan: The Bhojpuri superstar will contest the Lok Sabha polls on a Congress ticket from Jaunpur.

Ramya: The Kannada actress will stand for elections from Mandya in Karnataka. She is the sitting Congress MP from the same constituency.

Moon Moon Sen: The daughter of legendary Bengali star Suchitra Sen, and herself a former actress, Sen is being fielded by the Trinamool Congress from West Bengal’s Bankura constituency.

Prakash Jha: The renowned filmmaker is fighting the polls on a Janta Dal(U) ticket from West Champaran in Bihar. Jha has stated that he is contesting the elections at the request of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

Kirron Kher: The actress, who is part of the BJP, will contest the elections from Chandigarh, against another Bollywood colleague, AAP’s Gul Panag.

Raj Babbar: The actor-cum-politician will fight the elections on a Congress ticket from Ghaziabad.

Manoj Tiwari: Another Bhojpuri superstar, he has joined the BJP, and will contest the Lok Sabha polls from Buxar in Bihar.

Kamaal R Khan: The controversial actor has joined the Samajwadi Party (SP), and would take on Congress stalwart Gurudas Kamat in the battle for the north-west constituency in Mumbai.

source:mid-day