BJP nominates Smriti Irani (Tulsi) for RS seat from Gujarat

Television-actor-turned politician Smriti Irani was on Saturday nominated by BJP as one its two candidates from Gujarat for the biennial Rajya Sabha elections.

Irani, who also heads the BJP's mahila morcha or women's wing, shot to fame with her role in a family soap opera. She was nominated as the party's candidate for the Upper House by BJP's central election committee here on Saturday.

Irani has been an active member of the party and a popular campaigner for elections since she joined the BJP in 2003. She had lost Delhi's Chandni Chowk Lok Sabha seat to Congress's Kapil Sibal in 2004.

Dilipbhai Pandya is the other BJP candidate from Gujarat who has been nominated for the Rajya Sabha. Pandya has been a minister in Narendra Modi's cabinet.