Kangana Ranaut became a BJP candidate , will contest from Mandi ; 5th list reveals.

The Bharatiya Janata Party released its 5th list of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha General elections on 24th, March 2024, Sunday. In this list popular actors like Kangana Ranaut and Arun Govil have made a place as candidates from the BJP. Arun Govil who played the popular character Ram in the TV serial Ramayan, will be contesting from Meerut, Uttar Pradesh. Kangana Ranaut, the National Award-winning actress will be contesting the elections from her hometown, Mandi, Himachal Pradesh. 

What does Kangana Ranaut have to say in this announcement?

Kangana Ranaut was born in Bhambla which is a small town in the Mandi district in Himachal Pradesh. Kangana Ranaut officially joined the Bharatiya Janata Party when she finally got a ticket and agreed to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha General Elections from Mandi, Himachal Pradesh. She expressed her excitement for the same in an official statement which she released on X (formerly Twitter) while thanking the political party and pledging to be a ‘karsevak’ or a reliable public servant. Many of the actress’ fans congratulated her on kick starting her political career and said that they will be looking forward to her campaign.

Kangana Ranaut also expressed her gratitude by saying that the BJP is the ‘bharatiya’ or Indian’s own party and she has always been an ardent supporter of the same. When the party has now announced her as their Lok Sabha candidate from Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, she will abide by their decision on th3 same. While Kangana Ranaut was named as the BJP candidate from Mandi this time, a senior leader from BJP, Dr. Rajeev Bharadwaj will contest from Kangra constituency. Both Kangana and Rajeev’s names were mentioned in the fifth list which was released on Sunday.

Previous controversies and speculations

Speculations about Kangana Ranaut contesting Lok Sabha polls were in the talk for quite a while now. In October 2022, she had publicly declared that she is open to contesting from Mandi buy only if the BJP offers her a ticket. She had also said that under the leadership of Narendra Modi and the BJP, every Indian has seen an evident change in the country and has been feeling a sense of nationalism and pride since 2014. 

Himachal Pradesh has 4 Lok Sabha seats in total and they are – Mandi, Shimla, Hamirpur and Kangra. Meanwhile, on the work front, Kangana Ranaut will be seen next in “Emergency” which is a political drama. She is portraying Indira Gandhi, the former Prime Minister of India in the upcoming film, which also is her solo directorial debut. Besides her, some other actors who will be seen portraying significant roles in the film are – Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Mahima Chaudhry, Milind Soman and late Satish Kaushik. 

The film was earlier scheduled to release in cinemas on November 14, 2023 but will now release in the theaters on June 4th, 2024. It will be clashing at the box office with Chandu Champion, a film by Kartik Aaryan and Kabir Khan. Kangana Ranaut has many times teased that she might step into the political career soon. In an interview, she also mentioned in February, 2024 that she feels it is now the right time for her to finally join politics.