Urmila Matondkar to contest from Mumbai North

Mumbai, Mar 29: After days of speculation, Congress on Friday confirmed that actor-turned-politician Urmila Matondkar will contest from the Mumbai North parliamentary constituency.

Matondkar's rival is Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) incumbent MP Gopal Shetty in the constituency that was once regarded a BJP bastion.

However, in 2004 Bollywood actor Govinda (Ahuja) trounced the former Petroleum Minister Ram Naik, the current Uttar Pradesh Governor.

Naik had faced a second consecutive defeat in 2009 at the hands of Nirupam, who was defeated in 2014 by Shetty during the BJP-wave which catapulted Narendra Modi as Prime Minister.

Matondkar made her Bollywood debut as a child artist with the Shashi Kapoor-Rekha starrer Kalyug in 1981. In her career spanning over two decades, she has delivered memorable movies like Rangeela (1995), Satya (1998), and Pinjar (2003), among others.

The Congress' "star power" is set to get further boost with the joining of Shatrughan Sinha, a two-term MP from Patna Sahib. The BJP has already dropped Sinha and fielded Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad from the seat.

Mumbai's six Lok Sabha constituencies will vote on April 29 along with 17 others in the state's fourth phase of polling.