Bhojpuri superstar Ravi Kishan, the BJP’s candidate from Gorakhpur, won from the seat with a margin of over 3 lakh votes on Thursday in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
The actor contested against the the SP-BSP alliance candidate Ram Bhuwal Nishad, who belongs to the dominant fishermen caste ― around 3.5 lakh in Gorakhpur and who served as a Minister in Mayawati’s government.
In an interview with NDTV, the actor had said, “Since 2007, I have been campaigning for the BJP pan-India. Maybe because I am a boy from Jaunpur, a priest’s son, from a very, very ordinary family...My family is from Gorakhpur. The BJP must have known my hard work. I am very lucky. I’m speechless.”
The actor was fielded by the BJP for the Gorakhpur constituency, where UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was the MP for several years.
SP’s Nidhad had won the seat in the 2018 bypoll necessitated when Adityanath vacated the seat to be state CM.