Smriti Irani takes Gandhi bastion; Sunny wins by margin of 82K; Gambhir scores in political debut by over 3.9L votes

Actor Sunny Deol and cricketer Gautam Gambhir made a stunning debut this year and made their parent political party proud. Both contested on a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ticket from their respective constituencies and proved victorious with an impressive margin.

Deol, contesting from Gurdaspur constituency, defeated Congress's Sunil Jakhar by a margin of 77,000+ votes.

Gambhir, on the other hand, led in East Delhi by a whopping 3,17,000+ votes.

One of the most talked about battles of the day was Union Textile Minister Smriti Irani's stint against Congress chief Rahul Gandhi. It was a neck-and-neck competition that continued through the day. While Irani took the lead in the beginning itself, the margin kept fluctuating.

However, it closed with a margin of 35,000+ votes in Irani's favour.

Today's results did not offer the Sinha family a chance to celebrate. Actor Shatrughan Sinha and his wife Poonam Sinha contested elections from two constituencies on two different political party tickets. However, neither turned out victorious.

Poonam Sinha, who debuted this year on a Samajwadi Party (SP) ticket, contested elections from Lucknow and was pitted against BJP's Rajnath Singh. Her debut was not an impressive one as she lost to Singh by a gap of 3,11,000+ votes.

The 'Dostana' actor, on the other hand, contested on a Congress ticket from Patna Sahib. He lost to BJP's Ravi Shankar Prasad by over 1,84,000+ votes.

The lady pack led the poll results in West Bengal today. All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) candidates, actresses Mimi Chakraborty and Nusrat Jahan, made Mamata Banerjee proud today. The political debutantes won the elections by an impressive margin in their respective constituencies.

Chakraborty led in Jadavpur by an impressive 1,84,000+ votes. Jahan, on the other hand, proved victorious in Basirhat with a margin of 1,86,000+ votes.

Bhojpuri stars Manoj Tiwari and Ravi Kishan, too, made BJP proud today. However, the same could not be said for actor Dinesh Lal Yadav aka Nirahua, who was pitted against Akhilesh Yadav.

Tiwari, who is also BJP's Delhi chief, was pitted against Congress candidate Sheila Dikshit and AAP's Dilip Pandey in North East Delhi, won in the constituency with an impressive margin of 3,57,000+ votes.

Kishan, contesting from Gorahkpur, made BJP proud by leading the poll tally by 3,01,000+ votes.

Nirahua, pitted against SP chief Akhilesh Yadav from Azamgarh, lost by a hefty gap of 2,03,000+ votes.

The lady power proved its worth in the 17th Lok Sabha polls. Actresses Hema Malini and Kirron Kher proved victorious from their constituencies. However, Jaya Prada failed to make a mark.

The Dreamgirl, BJP, held on to her seat from Mathura and led the battle by 2,87,000+ votes.

BJP's Kher topped the charts in Chandigarh and won the elections by a margin of 34,000+ votes.

Jaya Prada, another BJP candidate, could not defeat SP's Mohammad Azam Khan in the political battle in Rampur. She lost by a margin of 1,09,000+ votes.

The political debut proved fruitful for some celebrities. However, some could not experience the joy of winning in their first attempt. Singer Hans Raj Hans, who debuted from North West Delhi on a BJP ticket, took a strong lead right from the start. He won by a hefty margin of 5,53,075.

Boxer Vijender Singh, on the other hand, failed in his first attempt. Contesting from South Delhi constituency, Singh had to face loss at the hands of BJP's Ramesh Bhiduria by a gap of 3,96,000+ votes.

Actress Urmila Matondkar and actor Prakash Raj had an unsuccessful stint this year. While Matondkar debuted from Congress this year, Raj contested as an independent candidate from Bengaluru Central. Neither of the two proved victorious.

Matondkar lacked from Mumbai North by 4,18,000+ votes, Raj trailed in the battle by 2,70,000+ votes.

Actress Moon Moon Sen, TMC candidate faced a rather disappointing defeat at the hands of BJP's Babul Supriyo in Asanol. She lost the political battle by a margin of 1,97,000+ votes.

Weeks before the 17th Lok Sabha elections kicked off, actress Urmila Matondkar shook hands with the Indian National Congress (INC). The 45-year-old actress was welcomed in the party by Congress chief Rahul Gandhi.

The 'Rangeela' actress, who is contesting from the Mumbai North constituency against BJP MP Gopal Shetty, is hoping to score a victory.

Actress Poonam Sinha, wife of actor Shatrughan Sinha, became a part of the SP in April this year. The 69-year-old is trying her luck against BJP leader and Home Minister Rajnath Singh from Lucknow.

Actress-turned-politician Jaya Prada's ongoing political career kicked off in 1994 when she joined the Telugu Desam Party (TDP). In 2004, the 57-year-old became a part of the Samajwadi Party (SP). However, in 2010, she was expelled due to anti-party activities.

In March this year, Prada joined BJP. She is set to take on her friend-turned-foe, SP's Azam Khan, from Rampur today.

Singer Hans Raj Hans first stint with politics was in 2009 when he joined the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). He resigned from the party in 2014. Two years later, in 2016, he joined the Congress party. However, he did not feel welcome in the Rahul Gandhi-led party. In the same year, he switched to the BJP.

In the 17th Lok Sabha polls, the singer is competing against Congress's Udit Raj from North-west Delhi.

If he proves victorious today, he will be one of the leading Dalit faces from the party.

'Bhabiji Ghar Par Hai' actress Shilpa Shinde joined the Indian political scene this year. Before confirming the news, she had to face heavy trolling on social media.

Few weeks later, the 41-year-old confirmed that she was keen on contesting the elections on a Congress ticket from Mumbai.

The 'Bigg Boss 11' winner's fate in politics will be decided today.

Bengali actress Mimi Chakraborty debuted in the Indian political scene this year. The 30-year-old contested elections from Jadavpur constituency on a Trinamool Congress ticket (TMC).

Today's results could either mark the beginning of her political career or put it to an end to it altogether.

Another popular star of Bengali cinema who walked into the political world is Nusrat Jahan.

The 28-year-old contested Lok Sabha elections from the Basirhat constituency in South Bengal.

Now, the results will tell if the actress is set to embark on a political career or not.

Malayalam star Suresh Gopi has had a rather long political career starting from his college days itself.

The 60-year-old, who was an active member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPIM), was sworn as an MP for the Rajya Sabha in 2016. Later in the same year, Gopi joined the BJP.

This year, Gopi contested from Thrissur constituency. Today's poll results will tell what's next on the actor's to-do list.

Actor, director and producer Prakash Raj stepped into the world of politics in 2017. The 54-year-old initiated a political movement with the hashtag #justasking after the assassination of journalist Gauri Lankesh.

This year, the 'Dabangg 2' actor contested as an independent candidate from Bengaluru central. He was pitted against Congress's Rizwan Arshad.

Going by the results, the actor is currently trailing in his constituency.