Sonakshi Sinha's mother Poonam Sinha to contest elections from Lucknow

Sonakshi Sinha with her mother Poonam Sinha

Bollywood actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha's wife Poonam Sinha on Thursday filed her nomination from Lucknow Parliamentary Constituency on Thursday. The veteran actor, an SP-BSP-RLD candidate from Lucknow had joined Samajwadi Party two days ago. She is pitted against Union Minister Rajnath Singh in the constituency. Rajnath had won from Lucknow in the 2014 general elections.

The decision to field Poonam Sinha as the joint opposition candidate against Rajnath Singh is an attempt by the opposition parties to keep the Union Home Minister confined to his constituency.

Speaking to IANS earlier, a party source had said, "There are four lakh Kayastha voters and 1.3 lakh Sindhi voters in Lucknow, apart from 3.5 lakh Muslims. (Poonam Sinha is a Sindhi while her husband Shatrughan Sinha is a Kayastha). This will give a major push to her candidature".

However, the BJP has dismissed the issue saying that an imported candidate will not cut much ice with the voters

SP, BSP, and RLD are contesting Lok Sabha polls in alliance in Uttar Pradesh in which the SP will contest on 37 seats, BSP on 38 and RLD on three. Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh are being held in all seven phases.

Rajnath Singh had won the Lucknow seat in 2014 garnering 55.7 percent of the total 10,06,483 votes polled. He had won in all the five assembly segments of the constituency.

Rita Bahuguna Joshi, then a Congress MLA and former Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee chairperson, had remained runner-up in these elections by securing 2,88,357 of the total votes.

Also Read: Elections 2019: Shatrughan Sinha's wife Poonam joins Samajwadi Party

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