Stars fail to shine down South

The results of the recent Lok Sabha polls have proved that the performance of the candidates, not their film backgrounds, is what matters to the voters.

The defeat of a big star like Ambareesh in Mandya constituency might have sent shock waves across the Kannada film industry, but the political pundits say the results are along expected lines.

Ambareesh, a Congress candidate, has won from the Lok Sabha seat in Mandya thrice. But his defeat to Janata Dal candidate and former health minister Cheluvaraya Swamy by a margin of over 24,000 votes has surprised many.

Though Ambareesh was reluctant to contest, the Congress had cajoled him into doing so, expecting him to be a sure winner.  The actor-turned politician had also been appreciated for his work in the development of his constituency. But he resigned during his third stint in the Parliament, while he was serving as the minister of state for information and broadcasting in the United Progressive Alliance government, over the Cauvery water dispute.

Political observers had noted that Ambareesh's seriousness towards serving his constituency had dwindled in the third term.

Text: Vijayasarathy Rajapur

Actor-turned-politician C P Yogeeshwar, who has won in all the assembly elections he has contested in so far, was defeated by former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy in Bangalore Rural constituency.

Yogeeshwar, who had switched over to the Bharatiya Janata Party from the Congress just a few days before the nominations were filed, could not cash in on the pro-incumbency wave in the state.

Incidentally, Kumaraswamy is also a well known Kannada film producer and distributor.
 
Actor Ashok, who contested the Tumkur Lok Sabha seat on a Bahujan Samaj Party ticket, received very few votes and even lost his deposit. Producer C R Manohar, who had contested from the Chickballapur Lok Sabha constituency on a Janata Dal ticket, also lost.

Two Tamil actors, J K Ritheesh and D Napolean,  were able to win the recent Lok Sabha polls, while  actors  Mansoor Ali Khan and D Karthick were trounced  in their attempts  to  win the people's  mandate. 

Ritheesh won from Ramanathapuram Lok Sabha constituency, defeating All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's candidate V Sathiyamurthy and the Bharatiya Janata Party's Thiruvannakarasar. Incidentally, Thiruvannakarasar had also tried his luck as an actor many years ago.  

Napolean, a Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam candidate, won the LS polls from the Perambalur constituency.   He had contested in the 2006 assembly elections from Mylapore, but lost to S V Sekhar, another actor.

But the biggest splash was made by 'Black MGR' Vijayakanth, who played the spoilsport by eating away a major chunk of the votes of the AIADMK and its allies.