INDIA’S political parties will rely on Bollywood star power to get out the youth vote in next month’s general election.

With 100m first-time voters and few big policy differences between the two main parties, the ruling Congress and the opposition Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) are counting on Bollywood sirens and action heroes who are being recruited in record numbers.

Every week more stars are being lined up as potential candidates or campaigners.

Vijayshanti, 44, the “Action queen of Indian cinema”, Smriti Irani, 32, who shot to fame as a demure housewife in a popular Indian soap opera, and a former Miss World, Aishwarya Rai, 35, have been touted as candidates, although not all have confirmed their interest.

Others, including the heart-throb actor Shahrukh Khan, 43, and Preity Zinta, 34, an acclaimed actress and owner of an Indian Premier League cricket team, are expected to campaign to increase turnout among the celebrity-obsessed 720m potential voters.

The Congress party, led by Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul, has said Nandita Morarji, 34, a star of the Tamil cinema, will be a candidate alongside the popular comic actor Govinda, 45, and Punjabi cinema veteran Raj Babbar, 56.

Rivals are employing similar tactics. Amisha Patel, the 32-year-old leading lady in the Hindi blockbuster Kaho Naa . . . Pyaar Hai (Say this is Love), confirmed her political debut as a candidate for the National Congress party, a breakaway from Congress, in Gujarat last week.

The BJP is depending on an older generation of stars such as Shatrughan Sinha, 62, also known as Shotgun, who was one of the great Bollywood superstars of the 1970s and 1980s.

However, Sinha, a former minister and India’s highest profile actor-politician, warned that those seeking to exploit Bollywood names were relying on a flawed strategy. “Parties think stars will bring in a big crowd, but these crowds are not serious, they present a good photo opportunity but they generally don’t turn into votes,” he said.

A Bollywood-made election trailer to boost turnout will soon be shown in cinemas and all the main parties are preparing CDs of popular Bollywood songs for use as theme music at their rallies. Congress beat its rivals earlier this month by being the first to hijack the award-winning theme tune of Slumdog Millionaire, “Jai Ho”, Hindi for “Let There be Victory”, as its campaign song.

“Bollywood stars already have the popularity. They are useful for gathering crowds, and messages can be easily communicated through them,” said Tom Vadakkam, a spokesman for Congress.

Varun Gandhi, 29, the great-grandson of Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister, was arrested yesterday over a speech threatening to cut the throats of Muslims. Gandhi is a candidate for the BJP in Uttar Pradesh.

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