The 2016 Kerala election was the first time that a buzz was created about the entry of Mollywood stars into the electoral fray. However, the strategy seems to have made little impression on voters, as most of the celebrity candidates lost their seats.
Only actor M Mukesh, who had represented the LDF in the Kollam constituency in Kollam district, was elected with a comfortable margin of 17,000 votes. Fellow actor PV Jagadish Kumar, who had played Appukuttan to Mukesh’s Mahadevan in In Hariharnagar, lost the election in Pathanapuram constituency in Kollam.
Interestingly, Jagadish had been in something of a star war, squaring off against actor and sitting MLA KB Ganesh Kumar of the LDF, as well as Raghu Damodaran (Bheeman Raghu) of the NDA. But Raghu had to join Jagadish in the loser’s corner as well.
Ganesh Kumar, who is a three-time MLA and a former minister in the Oommen Chandy government, beat Jagadish by 24,562 votes, and Raghu by 62,729 votes.
In Aruvikkara, director Rajasennan finished a distant third, 50,616 votes behind the winner.