How did celebrities fare as MPs when stars competed against stars in Bengal?

Over the past decade, celebrities have become an integral part of politics in West Bengal. Although the Bengali intelligentsia, including directors and actors, were once known for their left-wing views, few were directly part of the left-wing regime that ruled the state for 34 years.

But ever since the Trinamool Congress came to power in the state and literally wiped the Left out of the picture, popular actors have become common faces in elections, be it the Lok Sabha or the Assembly, even if not all the faces very popular. often seen in Parliament or Assembly.

The BJP has also taken a leaf out of the TMC book and fielded celebrity candidates, and not everyone has disappointed. In these Lok Sabha elections, as many as three seats will see direct competition between celebrity candidates in Bengal, while in some others celebrity MPs will try to retain their crowns.

So here is an account of the famous candidates who contested the Lok Sabha elections from West Bengal and a brief report of the performance of the sitting MPs.

STARS, STAR FIGHTS

1. Developer (TMC) vs Hiran (BJP) in Ghatal, May 25

The residents of Ghatal have seen fireworks this election season, with two of the biggest stars of Bengal’s popular film industry going head-to-head on the Lok Sabha seat. While Dev alias Dipak Adhikari is the two-term TMC MP from this seat, he is pitted against Hiran aka Hiranmoy Chatterjee, currently the BJP MLA from Kharagpur and also a councilor in Kharagpur Municipality.

Arguably the bigger star of the two, Dev was first elected MP from Ghatal in 2014, a feat he repeated in 2019. While he won with more than 50 percent of the vote in 2014, his vote share fell slightly to 48 percent. in 2019.

The Paglu star, who also owns a production house, had resigned from three government-nominated positions in February and hinted that he would not contest the elections, but later changed his mind after a meeting with TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee. That wasn’t surprising given Dev’s enormous star power, which, as Didi well knows, has come in handy in keeping the BJP at bay.

However, when it comes to Parliament, Dev does not have an impressive record. He had barely 12 percent turnout, the lowest of all famous parliamentarians, An said IndiaSpent report. The busy star, who has two to three releases each year, took part in just two debates in five years, although he did better when it came to asking questions, asking 106, says the IndiaSpent report.

One of the most important issues that Dev has been working on is the ‘Ghatal Master Plan’. The constituency, which mainly covers West Midnapore district and one Assembly constituency in East Midnapore, is notorious for being prone to flooding. Ghatal is located about 120 km from Kolkata, in the lower reaches of the Shilabati River basin on the Chota Nagpur Plateau and is affected by floods every year.

To his credit, Dev has consistently sought updates on the budget and implementation of the Ghatal Master Plan, which is essentially a massive flood management programme. He didn’t do much else. Even though he used only Rs 44.5 lakh of the Rs 9.8 crore allocated to him – to illuminate public spaces, all by 2024 – he urged the Center to increase MPLAD funds.

However, according to a study, he did better from 2014 to 2019, spending 96.7 percent of his MPLAD funds. IndiaSpent report.

Hiran, on the other hand, registered a surprise victory of 3771 votes over TMC’s Pradip Sarkar from Kharagpur Sadar constituency in the 2021 West Bengal Assembly election. Bhalobasa Bhalobasa star was also elected councilor for Ward 33 of Kharagpur Municipality in 2022.

Besides the implementation of the Ghatal Master Plan, Hiran has promised two other things to Ghatal: improved railway service and turning the constituency into a “golden hub”.

However, Dev has also managed to draw Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s attention to the flood management programme. In February, she announced that her government would implement the Ghatal Master Plan, which requires a budget of Rs 1,250 crore, without the Centre’s help.

2. Medallion Chatterjee (BJP) vs Rachna Banerjee (TMC) in Hooghly, May 20

A veteran actress in Bengali films, Locket Chatterjee is now a face for the whole of India, thanks to her proactive presence in Bengali politics as part of the BJP. She entered state politics with the TMC and was a member of the state women’s commission from 2014 to 2015, when she broke ties with the TMC and joined the BJP.

She contested the 2016 Assembly elections from Mayureshwar but lost to TMC’s Abhijit Roy. In 2017, she replaced Roopa Ganguly as state president of the BJP Mahila Morcha. In 2019, she defeated Ratna De Nag, a two-term TMC MP from Hooghly, but lost the 2021 Assembly election from Chuchura to TMC’s Asit Mazumdar.

Chatterjee was often in the news for her heated allegations against the ruling TMC, and she also performed honestly in Parliament. According to the IndiaSpent According to the report, she had an 88 percent turnout in Parliament, taking part in 43 debates and asking 295 questions.

Rachna Banerjee, on the other hand, is a political greenhorn, joining the TMC only this year and also getting an election ticket. Not only has she been active in Bengali films for over thirty years, she has also acted in Odia, Telugu, Tamil and Kannada films, barring one Hindi film. In recent years, she has gained immense popularity as a television reality show host Didi no. 1which she has been anchoring since 2011, probably the reason why Mamata Banerjee pitted her against Chatterjee.

It would be interesting to see who becomes Didi No 1 in Hooghly!

3. Agnimitra Paul (BJP) vs June Malia (TMC) in Medinipur, May 25

This will be an interesting battle as both Paul, a fashion designer, and Malia, an actress, are MLAs from West Bengal – Paul from Asansol Dakshin and Malia from Medinipur Assembly constituency.

Paul joined the BJP in 2019 and briefly became the head of the state BJP Mahila Morcha in 2020. She defeated TMC’s Saayoni Ghosh in the 2021 Assembly polls from Asansol Dakshin by over 4,000 votes.

Malia, another veteran of the Bengali screen, defeated the BJP’s Shamit Dash by over 24,000 votes to become the MLA of Medinipur in 2021.

The INDIA candidate from this constituency is Biplab Bhatta of the CPI. The sitting MP from Medinipur constituency is former state BJP chief Dilip Ghosh.

VETERAN CELEB MPs who will fight to keep their seats

1. Satabdi Roy (TMC), Birbhum (poll on May 13)

Veteran actress Satabdi Roy, a three-time TMC MP from Birbhum, is going for a fourth term this election. Once a regular face in critically acclaimed Bengali films, Roy won the seat with 61,519 votes, 67,263 votes and 88,917 votes against her nearest rivals in 2009, 2014 and 2019 respectively.

The reigning Queen of Birbhum has made mixed appearances in Parliament. She has reportedly used only Rs 65.8 lakh of the total allocated Rs 7.35 crore MPLAD funds for road construction and improvement of healthcare and education infrastructure – all done by 2024, says the IndiaSpent report.

Like Dev, Roy also used her MPLAD funds better in the 2014-2019 sessions, at 95.6 percent. She had a turnout of 77 percent in Parliament, took part in 24 debates, but asked only one question in Parliament.

Roy will be pitted against former Congress MLA Milton Rashid and Debashish Dhar of the BJP in the contest this time. It will be interesting to see if she can keep her crown this time.

2. Shatrughan Sinha (TMC), Asansol (May 13 poll)

Veteran actor and politician Shatrughan Sinha was a Union minister for a short time. While he was with the BJP from 1980, he switched to the Congress in 2019 and then quickly to the TMC in 2022. He won the Patna Sahib Lok Sabha seat twice, in 2009 and 2014, and then the Asansol bypoll to singer Babul Supriyo. vacated the seat he had won as a BJP candidate.

Sinha had a turnout of about 63 percent in Parliament, during which he did not participate in any debate and asked zero questions, says the IndiaSpent report. He is yet to spend a single rupee from his MPLAD funds of Rs 7.35 crore, says one Print report. Despite sanctions being imposed, none of the recommended projects have reportedly been completed.

Sinha is facing veteran BJP politician SS Alhuwalia, the sitting MP from Bardhaman-Durgapur and former MP from Darjeeling. He has also been a Rajya Sabha MP and a central minister.