MEERUT Bharatiya Janata Party ( BJP) candidate and actor Arun Govil, best known for portraying the character of Lord Ram in the popular TV serial Ramayan, filed his nomination papers for Meerut-Hapur Lok Sabha seat on Tuesday. Govil said that this election was the ‘beginning of a new innings’ for him and ‘ Ramji theek karenge sab (Lord Ram will give his blessings.)
Visibly happy after filing his nomination papers in the presence of Uttar Pradesh deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya and other party leaders, he said that his candidature from the seat was like a ‘homecoming’ .
Govil was born in Meerut and passed his high school from Government Inter College in 1966, intermediate from UP Board in 1968 and thereafter took admission in G F College Agra to pursue his B Sc which he completed in 1972.
He posted on X: “ Meerut’s love, trust, faith and support are biggest blessings of my life” and posted a few pictures of his nomination and road show.
He further said: “ It feels great. This is the beginning of a new innings for me. I am thrilled. But I am at peace. I see no problems anywhere...I also feel good that it is like homecoming, as I have been made the candidate from here. I will be able to do something for the people,” and added , “Ram ji theek karenge sab (Lord Ram will give his blessings)”
Earlier, he took out a road show with Maurya and other senior leaders and a huge crowd of party workers and supporters participated in it. It passed through different places of the city where people greeted the actor and halted to have a glimpse of him.
{{/usCountry}}Earlier, he took out a road show with Maurya and other senior leaders and a huge crowd of party workers and supporters participated in it. It passed through different places of the city where people greeted the actor and halted to have a glimpse of him.
{{/usCountry}}His wife Lekha Arun Govil accompanied him during nomination. In his affidavit, Arun Chandraprakash Govil has shown an income tax return of ₹61,02 850 for the financial year 2022-23 and his wife’s return was of ₹16,74,660. The actor has no criminal or any other case against him and owns a Mercedes car worth ₹62,99,000.
The affidavit shows that Govil possesses 220 gram gold jewellery while his wife Lekha has 600 grams gold jewellery.
Govil has cash of ₹3,75,000 and his wife ₹4,07,500. The actor has ₹1,03,49071in his bank account and wife has ₹80,43,149. The actor has shares worth ₹12,20,7890 in his name and worth ₹1,43,59,555 in the name of his wife. He has also invested ₹16,51,383 in mutual funds.
The BJP has fielded him Meerut- Hapur Lok Sabha seat, replacing its three-term MP Rajendra Agarwal who was hoping to contest for the 4th term.
Arun Govil made his TV debut in 1987 with Ramanand Sagar’s ‘Vikram Betaal’ and eventually shot to fame with ‘Ramayan’. The show made him a household name.
Polling in Meerut, Baghpat, Bulandshahr, Amroha, Ghaziabad and Gautambuddh Nagar will be held in the second phase on April 26.
Govil’s main contender will be Congress- Samajwadi Party alliance candidate Atul Pradhan who is also MLA from Sardhana constituency.
The Samajwadi Party had earlier given ticket to Supreme Court lawyer and dalit leader Bhanu Pratap Singh but later replaced him with Pradhan.