Parties still use celebrities to win over votes

With the entry of another actor from Punjab, Karamjit Anmol, into politics, it is evident that political parties are still depending on celebrities to win over people. Anmol is the candidate put out by the AAP for the Faridkot Lok Sabha seat.

While some famous people have had great success in politics, others have a dismal history.

Political parties aim to influence the electorate’s voting behavior, according to analysts, and prominent people draw in voters.

In the 2022 Assembly election, Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala, who was killed, lost to Mansa on the Congress ticket, but singers Anmol Gagan Maan and Balkar Sidhu, running on the AAP ticket from Kharar and Rampura Phul seats, won.

In the 2019 General Election, Mohammad Sadiq of Faridkot won and Sunny Deol of Gurdaspur won. Punjabi musician Hans Raj Hans ran on the SAD ticket in 2009 and lost from Jalandhar; however, he won in 2019 from New Delhi on the BJP ticket.

Renowned comedian Bhagwant Mann, the chief minister, had unsuccessfully run for assembly in 2012 from the Lehragaga seat on the PPP platform. Later, in 2014 and 2019, he won the Sangrur seat on an AAP ticket with a record margin. Mann won the Dhuri Assembly segment in 2022 and was appointed Chief Minister.

Actor Vinod Khanna ran as the BJP candidate and was elected to four times as the MP for Gurdaspur. Singer Satwinder Bitti from Punjab also attempted her hand at politics by running for Congress in the 2017 Assembly election, but Sahnewal defeated her.

In 2017, Gurpreet Ghuggi, another comedian, ran unsuccessfully for the Assembly from the Batala segment on an AAP ticket.

In the 1996 Lok Sabha election, folk musician Kuldeep Manak ran as an Independent from Bathinda but was unsuccessful.