According to the latest numbers, BJP’s candidate Hema Malini leads in Mathura, while the RLD’s Kunwar Narendra Singh trails behind.
The actor-turned-politician is running for a second term in Mathura after beating the then-RLD candidate and seasoned politician Jayanth Chaudhary in 2014. She has been leading with a rather significant margin since the morning.
Mathura is one among the 80 seats in UP which has been under a Narendra Modi wave since the last elections. The other candidate contesting against Hema Malini is the Congress candidate, industrialist Mahesh Pathak, who also contested and lost from Mathura in 2009 elections.
Hema Malini started her political career in 1999 when she campaigned for the actor Vinod Khanna, who was contesting for BJP in the Gurdaspur constituency for the Lok Sabha Elections. She later joined the BJP and entered the political arena.
In 2003, she was nominated by then-President Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam as an MP to the upper house of Parliament. She served as Rajya Sabha MP till 2009 and in 2010, became the BJP's general secretary. In 2014, she made her electoral debut and contested for BJP from Mathura. Her massive fan following and her campaigning for BJP in the earlier elections consolidated her place among the people of Mathura and paved the way for her win against Jayant Chaudhary by a staggering margin of 3.3 lakh votes.
Hema Malini, along with her actor-husband Dharmendra, had campaigned rigorously in this election, stressing her work over the last five years. Brushing aside all complaints and controversies, she confidently claims that she had made around “250 visits” to her constituency.
Hema Malini stands as one among the many hopeful BJP candidates as UP emerges with BJP as the single largest party in the state. With a probable win of around 59 seats the Mode wave as yet again captured the country.