Actor and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) politician Roopa Ganguly was on Tuesday nominated to the Rajya Sabha, or the Upper House of the Parliament, to fill in the seat vacated by Navjot Singh Sidhu, who resigned earlier this year, reports said.
"In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-clause (a) of clause (1) of article 80 of the Constitution of India, read with clause (3) of that article, the President is pleased to nominate Smt. Roopa Ganguly to the Council of States to fill the vacancy of nominated member," a release from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) read.
Ganguly, who had played the role of the mythological character Draupadi in the hit television series Mahabharat, had joined the BJP in 2015.
Her short tenure in politics has been quite rocky. On the day of the election in West Bengal, in April this year, Ganguly was caught on camera in the constituency she was contesting (Howrah Uttar), slapping a woman, who is a supporter of Trinamool Congress (TMC). A month later, she was allegedly attacked by TMC workers and suffered head injuries.
Ganguly lost the assembly elections to Trinamool Congress (TMC) candidate Laxmi Ratan Shukla, who is a local star. Beside Mahabharat, she has featured in several Bengali and Hindi movies, including Bahar Ane Tak and Saugandh.
Sidhu resigned from the Rajya Sabha in July, expressing disenchantment with his party, before quitting the BJP altogether last month.
(With inputs from ANI)
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