Daijiworld Media Network - Mandya
Mandya, May 23: Sumalatha, widow of former Congress MP and actor M H Ambareesh, has become the first independent candidate to win the Lok Sabha elections from Karnataka in 52 years.
The 55-year-old actor turned politician made her debut as an independent candidate from Mandya after Congress decided to give her ticket to its coalition partner JD(S).
Sumalatha is only the fourth MP from Karnataka since Lok Sabha elections were first held in 1952. The last MP to be elected from the state was Dinakar Desai in 1967 from Kanara Lok Sabha constituency, when it was still part of the Mysore state.
Sumalath defeated chief minister H D Kumaraswamy’s son Nikhil Kumaraswamy, who made his debut in politics from the Mandya seat as the coalition candidate, much to the dismay of several Congress leaders and workers who were vocal about their support to Sumalatha.
Not just that, BJP lacking a strong candidate in Mandya decided to back Sumalatha by not launching a candidate from its party. She was supported by popular Kannada actors Yash and Darshan, who campaigned for her on field.
As per the latest reports, Sumalatha is leading with 1.25 lac votes and is most likely to be declared the winner from the constituency.
When media asked her to react, she said that she never planned anything and incidents that happened in her life were unplanned. “I contested only because people demanded. They had supported Ambareesh and they expect the same from me. I have to fulfill his legacy by taking forward the work he left behind,” she said.
Even after polling completed in Mandya on April 18, Sumalatha became busy completing her pending assignments. With the upcoming release of her son Abhishek Ambareesh's movie, she had to ensure everything is on the right path.
Sumalatha has acted in more than 200 films in five languages. Born in Chennai to parents from Andhra Pradesh, she did her initial education in Bombay in a school named ‘Karnataka High School'. “May be I was destined to be here,” she told media.