Bhojpuri Singer-Actor Pawan Singh, BJP's Pick for Bengal's Asansol Seat, Opts Out of Lok Sabha Race

Bhojpuri singer-actor Pawan Singh, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s pick for West Bengal’s Asansol seat in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, has said he won’t be able to contest the Lok Sabha polls citing personal reasons.

भारतीय जनता पार्टी के शीर्ष नेतृत्व को दिल से आभार प्रकट करता हु।

Taking to microblogging site X (formerly Twitter) the Bhojpuri superstar wrote, “I express my heartfelt gratitude to the top leadership of the Bharatiya Janata Party. The party trusted me and declared me as the candidate from Asansol, but due to some reason, I will not be able to contest the elections from Asansol.”

Singh’s post on X comes in the backdrop of severe criticism of his candidature by the BJP’s political opponents, including West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress, who accuse his work and songs of objectifying women.

Faced with a barrage of critical tweets, the BJP issued a sharp response earlier on Saturday, with party leader Amit Malviya asking the TMC to “stop pontificating” and respect those “who work for a living”.

Soon after Singh posted on X about his decision, TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee took to X and expressed that Pawan Singh’s move showed the “indomitable power and spirit of the people of West Bengal”.

BJP sources told News18 that Singh has informed the party leadership that he is unavailable to contest the polls due to family reasons.

The BJP on Saturday released its first list of 195 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, days after a marathon meeting of the party’s Central Election Committee (CEC) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and attended by several prominent leaders.

While the Prime Minister will be contesting from Varanasi for the third time, party heavyweights like Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh have been fielded from Gandhinagar and Lucknow seats respectively.

In a surprise nomination for the seat of Asansol in West Bengal, the party had fielded Bhojpuri actor and singer Pawan Singh from the constituency, which lies in the coal mine belt of West Burdwan district in Bengal.

The BJP had fielded Singh against Bollywood actor Shatrughan Sinha from Trinamool Congress (TMC) in Asansol.

Pawan Singh’s tweet came after BJP MP Jayant Sinha asked the party to relieve him of electoral duties, signalling that he did not want an active role or a ticket for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Sinha’s announcement came hours after party leader Gautam Gambhir, hinted at his exit from electoral politics.