"I have not made a decision yet": Vinod Khanna's wife Kavita on contesting LS election
Apr 01, 2024
Gurdaspur (Punjab) [India], April 1 : Ahead of the Lok Sabha election, the wife of former MP from Gurdaspur and actor late Vinod Khanna, Kavita Khanna said that she has not made any decision about contesting the Lok Sabha election.
She also expressed her willingness to contest the Lok Sabha election.
"All I would like to say is that the platform to service that politics provides you cannot be found anywhere else. I have decided that I will keep serving the people just like Vinod ji did and I am going to do it...I have not made a decision yet but the parties are intelligent. They know that around 70-80% of the people in surveys want me as their MP..." said Kavita Khanna.
Remembering her late husband Vinod Khanna, Kavita Khanna said, "In his final moments, he was concerned about Gurdaspur. He always thought for Gurdaspur...So, Gurdaspur decided to serve the people. The people of Gurdaspur gave us a lot of love. After his demise, the people of Gurdaspur became my family..."
In 2019, BJP fielded Actor Sunny Deol from Gurdaspur after the death of actor-turned-parliamentarian Vinod Khanna. BJP's Sunny Deol recieved 558,719 votes with a 50.6 per cent vote share. He defeated Congress candidate Sunil Jakhar with a margin of 82459 votes.
Vinod Khanna, a Bollywood star of the 70s, had won the Gurdaspur seat in 1998, 1999, 2004 and 2014. He had died in 2017.
In the 2017 bypoll after Khanna's death, there was speculation of Kavita Khanna's nomination from the seat. However, businessman Swaran Salaria was chosen over her. Salaria was dealt a massive defeat by Congress's Sunil Jakhar, who won by a margin of close to 2 lakh votes.
Voting for 10 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab will be held in the last phase on June 1.
Earlier, the Congress Central Election Committee also finalised the name of Tariq Anwar from Katihar Lok Sabha constituency and Mohammad Javed for Kishanganj Lok Sabha constituency.
The election for 543 Lok Sabha seats will be held in seven phases starting April 19.The counting of votes will take place on June 4.
