5 Top Bollywood actors who contested in general elections

 Amitabh Bachchan

INDIA'S one of the leading Bollywood actors, Amitabh Bachchan contested in 1984 parliamentary election as a Congress party candidate.

The veteran actor contested from Allahabad constituency against former Uttar Pradesh chief minister HN Bahuguna. He defeated his rival by one of the highest victory margins in India’s general election history.

Bachchan’s political career was limited only to three years as he decided to resign as a member of parliament (MP).

Govinda

Govinda, a well known Bollywood actor known for his comedy roles was elected as the member of the lower house of the Indian parliament from Mumbai constituency in 2004.

As a congress party candidate, Govinda successfully defeated his rival by 50,000 votes. As a MP, he was severely criticised for his inactivity as he continued to work for cinema industry which forced him to neglect his political career.

Following his failure to focus on his constituency and political activities, the actor decided to leave the role of politician in 2008 to focus more on his acting career.

Hema Malini

Hema Malini is the present MP of Mathura. The Bollywood actress campaigned for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidates during 1999 general election and in 2004, she officially joined BJP.

The Indian president, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam nominated Malini as a member of the upper house of the parliament for a term of six year starting from 2003.

In the last general elections held in 2014, Malini defeated the Mathura incumbent, Jayant Chaudhary by 3, 30, 743 votes and elected as a member of lower of house.

As a BJP candidate, Malini is contesting from Mahura constituency in the ongoing India election 2019.

Vinod Khanna

Vinod Khanna joined BJP in 1997. He was elected from Gurdaspur constituency as a member of Lok Sabha in 1998.

He was re-elected to the lower house of the parliament from the same constituency in 1999.

Later, he was appointed as the minister of culture and tourism in 2002. Six months later, he was shifted to the ministry of external affairs as a minister of state.

In 2004 he was reelected from Gurdaspur constituency. However, Khanna was defeated in the 2009 parliamentary election.

In the 2014 general election he was again elected from Gurdaspur constituency.

No other Bollywood actor has won in four parliamentary polls akin to Khanna as he was elected to Lok Sabha in 1998, 1999, 2004, and 2014.

Khanna was also served as the country’s minister of state for tourism and culture, as well as external affairs after 2014.

Jaya Prada

Jaya Prada has a long political career than any other Bollywood actor. During initial days of her political career in 1994, the actress joined the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), a regional party active in the southern Indian states of Andra Pradesh and Telangana.

Later, she was nominated to the upper house of the parliament representing Andhra Pradesh in 1996.

The actress left TDP to join Samajwadi Party, another regional party based in northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh (UP).

In 2004, Jaya Prada contested from Rampur parliamentary constituency of UP and elected with a margin of more than 85,000 votes.

She was re-elected from the same constituency with a margin over 30,000 votes in 2009.

The actress joined the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), another UP based regional party in 2014. She contested from Bijnor Lok Sbha seat in the 2014 general elections; however, she was defeated by her rival.

Jaya Prada again changed her party and joined BJP in 2019 and is contesting from Rampur constituency to enter 17^th Lok Sabha.