It wouldn’t be wrong to say that Bollywood and Politics are very closely connected as many established actors tried their luck in electoral politics and emerged victoriously. These actors-turned-politicians were bestowed with immense love by the people of this country when they made their forays into electoral politics. From Amitabh Bachchan to Shatrughan Sinha and Sunil Dutt, Govinda to Vinod Khanna, here is a list of 10 popular B-town stars who tried their hands at politics and represented their voters in the Lok Sabha. Some of them got immense success in politics and continue to be in the game; others couldn’t stick around for a long time.
1. Amitabh Bachchan In 1984, Bachchan took a break from acting and briefly entered politics in support of a long-time family friend, Rajiv Gandhi. He contested Allahabad's seat during the 8th Lok Sabha polls against H. N. Bahuguna, former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and won by one of the highest victory margins in general election history. However, he resigned after three years.
2. Shatrughan Sinha Shatrughan Sinha entered politics by contesting the Lok Sabha by-election against Rajesh Khanna in 1991 from the New Delhi constituency. However, he lost to Rajesh Khanna. His successful political tenure began after he defeated Shekhar Suman in Bihar’s Patna Sahib constituency and won the general elections in 2009.
3. Govinda In 2004, Govinda joined the Congress Party and was elected to the Lok Sabha from Mumbai by a margin of 50,000 votes. During his tenure as the Member of Parliament, Govinda was usually absent when the Lok Sabha was in session and he was severely criticised for inactivity. On 20 January 2008, Govinda decided to leave politics and concentrate on his Bollywood acting career.
4. Sunil Dutt In 1984 he joined the Congress party and was elected a member of parliament from northwest Mumbai for five terms (1984, 1989, 1991 [resigned in 1993 in protest over religious violence], 1999, and 2004). In 2004 he was appointed India’s Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports, a post he held until his death.
5. Vinod Khanna The actor was a member of Parliament from the Gurdaspur constituency from 1998-2009 and 2014-2017. In July 2002, Khanna became the minister of culture and tourism in the BJP government.
6. Rajesh Khanna In the election for the New Delhi seat in the 1991 Lok Sabha election, Khanna lost to L.K. Advani by a narrow margin of 1589 votes. However, In 1992, a by-election was called after the resignation of the incumbent Member of Parliament L.K. Advani. Khanna contested the seat again, won the by-election by defeating Shatrughan Sinha by 25,000 votes.
7. Dharmendra In the 2004 General Elections, Dharmendra was elected as the MP from Bikaner in Rajasthan on the ticket of the Bhartiya Janata Party. However, he rarely attended Parliament when the house was in session, preferring to spend the time shooting for movies or doing farm work at his farmhouse.
8. Raj Babbar Actor and lawmaker Raj Babbar entered politics in 1989 by joining Janata Dal. He later joined Samajwadi Party and was a member of the Rajya Sabha from 1994 to 1999. He then served as the President of the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee.
9. Manoj Tiwari Manoj Tiwari is a politician, singer and actor from Bihar, India. He belongs to Bhartiya Janta Party. He won the Lok Sabha election from North East Delhi after defeating Anand Kumar from AAP with a margin of 1,44,084 votes.
10. Paresh Rawal Paresh Rawal is currently a member of the Lok Sabha belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He was elected to the 16th Lok Sabha after defeating Patel Himmatsinh Prahladsinh of the INC party from Ahmedabad East constituency, Gujarat.
