Actor-turned-politician Hema Malini, often referred to as Bollywood’s ‘dream girl,’ was leading the Congress candidate Mukesh Dhangar by a margin of 1,89,535 votes, as of 1.00 pm, according to the Election Commission of India (ECI) website, in UP’s Mathura constituency in the Lok Sabha election.
The BJP leader, aged 75, is seeking a third consecutive term from Mathura, and her closest rival for the seat was Congress party’s Mukesh Dhangar. Another candidate in the close race is former IRS officer Suresh Singh of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
A trained Bharatnatyam dancer and recipient of the Padma Shri in 2000, Hema Malini began her political career in 1999. She campaigned for fellow actor Vinod Khanna, a BJP candidate for the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha seat in Punjab.
In 2003, Malini was nominated to the Rajya Sabha for a six-year term by President APJ Abdul Kalam and officially joined the BJP in 2004. She became BJP general secretary in 2010 and returned to the Rajya Sabha in 2011 on the recommendation of party general secretary HN Ananth Kumar.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Hema Malini won the Mathura constituency from RLD leader Jayant Chaudhary with a margin of 22.65%.
She retained the seat in 2019 with a 60.88% vote share, while her opponent, Kunwar Narendra Singh of the RLD, received 34.26%.
Malini made her acting debut in 1963 with the Tamil film Idhu Sathiyam. She first played a lead role in Sapno Ka Saudagar (1968) and subsequently appeared in numerous Hindi films, often alongside Dharmendra, whom she married in 1980.
The Mathura constituency has about 35% Jat voters, and for the 2024 elections, the BJP has secured support from the Rashtriya Lok Dal. From 1991 to 1999, Mathura was a BJP stronghold.
In 2004, it went to the Congress, and in 2009, RLD’s Jayant Chaudhary won the seat.
While campaigning in her constituency, which voted in the second phase on April 26 with a 49.29% turnout, Hema Malini said that she sees herself as a ‘gopi’ of Lord Krishna.
The Lok Sabha polls for 543 seats were held in seven phases starting from April 19, with the last phase on June 1. The Bharatiya Janata Party is seeking a rare third term at the Centre with Narendra Modi as Prime Minister.
