Kerala Assembly polls: Actors in the fray

Kerala appears to have taken a leaf from neighbouring Tamil Nadu, which is famous for sending actors to Assembly. Pathanapuram in Kollam is the hotbed for actors pitted against each other.

When actor Innocent, also fielded by the Left, trounced veteran Congress leader P.C. Chacko in the Lok Sabha elections in 2014, the script seemed to be changing. A headcount of the aspirants and probables from the Malayalam film fraternity for the Assembly elections on May 16 shows that Innocent’s win was a watershed moment.

Here is the status of these actor-turned-politicians as the results unfold:

--> All major alliances had fielded film actors in the Assembly Election.

--> Actor Mukesh of the LDF has won in Kollam constituency. Sooraj Ravi of the INC lost by a margin of over 17,000 votes.

--> Actor-turned-politician K.B. Ganesh Kumar has been elected from Pathanapuram. He was pitted against another actor Jagadeeshkumar and Reghu Damodharan (Bheeman Reghu) from NDA. Ganesh Kumar won by over 24,000 votes after being trailed by his actor colleague Jagadeesh Kumar

--> Cine actor KPAC Lalitha, who was considered as LDF candidate from the Wadakkanchery Assembly constituency, had decided to withdraw from the race.