Lok Sabha Polls 2024: Who is a star campaigner and how can they help parties win elections?

From Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and defence minister Rajnath Singh to the opposition leaders Rahul Gandhi, Akhilesh Yadav, Bhagwan Mann, Raghav Chadha are on a whirlwind tour across the length and breadth of the country amid the ongoing Lok Sabha Elections.

One common thread that binds all these leaders is that they all are star campaigners for their respective parties or alliance. Like a star, they, too, shine far brighter than their local candidates in terms of their charisma and appeal.

What is a star campaigner?

A star campaigner is a famous person — a movie actor, politician or someone accomplished in his field — who canvasses for a political party during elections and typically has a formidable stature in the social and/or political arena. 

As per the Election Commission rules, there is a cap of 40-star campaigners for each registered political party. The party must share the names with the Commission and chief electoral officer of the state within seven days of notification of election.

A Lok Sabha candidate is authorised to spend up to ₹75-95 lakh on the election campaigning, as per the latest limits set by the ECI in Jan 2022. The provisions of expenditure incurred by leaders of political parties are governed under section 77 of the Representation of the People's Act (RP Act), 1951.

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The key benefit of engaging a star campaigner is that the expenditure incurred on star campaigners on their travel and stay is not added to the election spend of the candidate, thus insulating him from the pressure of keeping expenses low as they use the national star appeal of some of the party's famous faces.   

But hold on! The expense incurred on star campaigners is not added only on the condition that they won't share a stage with the Parliamentary candidate for the party, and also, h/she won't appeal to voters to vote specifically for the local candidate — a restriction which is not quite easy to put into practice.

And if the campaigner does, the cost is added to the candidate's election spend. 

Additionally, when there is more than one candidate, the cost incurred on a star campaigner is distributed among all the candidates when they share a stage with him/her. 

When a former Prime Minister or current Prime Minister is a star campaigner, the cost of security is not added to the candidate's election spend. 

Star campaigners of political parties

BJP’s star campaigners include Yogi Adityanath, Mohan Yadav, Himanta Biswa Sarma and Vishnu Deo Sai, among others. Other star campaigners of ruling party are BJP President JP Nadda, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Smriti Zubin Irani, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Dharmendra Pradhan.

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AAP’s star campaigners include Arvind Kejriwal’s wife Sunita Kejriwal, and Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, Delhi’s ministers Atishi, Saurabh Bhardwaj and Gopal Rai.

Congress's star campaigners include AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge, Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, former Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot, Randeep Surjewala and Sachin Pilot.