Tinsel town to election battleground, celebrity candidates rule Google too

Their glamour on the cinema screen has always attracted fans and now celebrity candidates, who are contesting the Lok Sabha elections, are hot on the internet too.

Their glamour on the cinema screen has always attracted fans and now celebrity candidates, who are contesting the Lok Sabha elections, are hot on the Internet too.

According to internet giant Google's search trends, Telugu actor-turned-politician Chiranjeevi’s brother Pawan Kalyan is the most searched celebrity candidate this election season.

"Celebrities have always been a major draw for political parties in the Indian electoral process especially in the campaigning phase but they are expected to play a bigger role in this election season," Google said in a release on Wednesday.

Pawan Kalyan, who recently launched a political party Jan Sena, tops the search charts followed by actor Ramya who is contesting from Mandya Lok Sabha constituency in Karnataka.

Aam Aadmi Party's Kumar Vishwas, who will face Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi in Amethi, has emerged third on the search popularity graph.

Google said online searches for Bollywood actor and political debutant Nagma, a Congress candidate from Uttar Pradesh's Meerut, has almost doubled compared to Hema Malini, who is her senior in the tinsel town and is contesting the elections from Mathura for the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Jaya Prada, who is a Rashtriya Lokdal candidate from Bijnor in UP, and Bengali film star Dev who is contesting from West Midnapore constituency in West Bengal on Trinamool Congress ticket have also marked their presence in the list.

The clash between actor Gul Panag from AAP and Kirron Kher from BJP for the Chandigarh Lok Sabha seat has also created a lot of buzz on the net and the young AAP leader has taken a good lead, according to Google.