Arun Govil wins Meerut Lok Sabha seat: Onscreen Ram whose career was both built and destroyed by his image

Initial trends indicated that the BJP candidate’s main competitor here was SP’s Sunita Varma. Sunita got 5,35,884 votes. Bahujan Samaj Party’s Devvrat Kumar Tyagi got 87,025 votes.

Arun Govil had three main agendas during his campaign. He promised the people of Meerut that if elected, he would establish an airport in the city, build a sports stadium and finish the city’s ring road to improve commuting in the constituency.

Govil, 66, replaced three-time BJP MP Rajendra Agarwal, who had held the Meerut seat since 2014. This was the actor’s first time contesting Lok Sabha elections after he joined the BJP in 2021. Earlier this year, as BJP invited various film and television celebrities to Ayodhya for the Pran Pratishtha, Govil was also in attendance.

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In the 2019 general elections, BJP’s Rajendra Agarwal secured victory with 586,184 votes (48% vote share), defeating BSP’s Haji Mohammad Yaqoob. In the 2014 elections, Rajendra Agarwal also emerged victorious, obtaining 532,981 votes (47.86% vote share) against BSP’s Mohammad Shahid Akhlak.

Arun Govil is known for playing the role of Lord Ram in Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan. Though Govil’s portrayal of Lord Ram became a reference point for generations to come, the actor suffered a setback in his career after concluding the show. People only wanted to see him as Lord Ram and he was unable to break out of the image, which brought him immense love and respect. After Ramayan, he appeared in many other television shows like Luv Kush, Vishwamitra and Jai Veer Hanuman where he was seen playing mythological roles.

Post-Ramayan, Govil also transitioned to films, appearing in movies like Muqabla (1993), Hathkadi (1995), Dhaal (1997), Do Aankhein Barah Haath (1997), among others, predominantly in supporting roles.