BJP hoping celebrities will help swing undecided voters in its favour

The BJP, which has fielded a number of celebrities in the ongoing election, feels that these popular faces will help the party win over the undecided voters, especially as the EVMs and postal ballot papers would carry photograph of all candidates for the first time in Lok Sabha polls.

The party on Tuesday added film star Sunny Deol to its list of celebrities from movies to sports who have been nominated as BJP's candidates in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. The party also renominated actress Kirron Kher from Chandigarh.

"The BJP has fielded those celebrities who have been associated with the party for a long time and conform to its ideological moorings. Nominating such candidates helps the party to expands its base," BJP spokesperson GVL Narsimha Rao said while elaborating on the reason behind fielding eminent personalities instead of local political leaders.

Pictures of celebrity candidates on the ballot paper can influence the undecided voters as they are familiarise with them and can connect them as well, sources in the party said.

Rao said that election season joining in a political party is a great indicator of the mood of the nation.

Besides Deol and Kher, the party has already nominated various celebrities such as Hema Malini from Mathura, Jay Prada from Rampur, Babul Supriyo from Asansol, Manoj Tiwari from North-East Delhi, Ravi Krishan from Gorakhpur and Gautam Gambhir for East Delhi.

On the question of veteran actor Shatrughan Sinha switching from the BJP to Congress and its impact on the party, Rao said long before Sinha left the BJP a public perception had taken form that he was a rebel who had "relegated himself to a stature of an outsider".

Not only the BJP, the Congress and the TMC have also fielded various celebrities as their candidates.

Announcing the schedule of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the Election Commission had said hat the EVMs and postal ballot papers would carry photograph of all candidates to help voters identify the political leaders in the fray.

The photograph will be printed on the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) ballot units as well as on postal ballot papers, the EC said.

For this purpose, the candidates are required to submit to the returning officer their recent stamp size photograph as per the specifications laid down by the Commission.