Navneet Rana is BJP's Amravati candidate. Here are some facts about her

From Hanuman Chalisa row to submitting a fake 'mochi' caste certificate, BJP leader Navneet Rana has managed to stay in the headlines. Now, she's the BJP candidate for the Amravati Lok Sabha seat in Maharashtra.

She was elected to the Lok Sabha in 2019 as an Independent candidate. This year, she joined BJP in the presence of the party's state unit chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule.

Before joining politics, Rana pursued a career in modelling. She has also appeared in several movies.

In 2011, she married Ravi Gangadhar Rana in a mass wedding blessed by Baba Ramdev. Ravi Rana is an independent MLA from the Badnera constituency in Maharashtra.

She unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha elections from Amravati in 2014 on a Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) ticket. In 2019, Navneet defeated Anandrao Adsul, Shiv Sena MP from Amravati by a margin of 36,951 votes.

In June 2021, she landed in controversy after the Bombay High Court imposed a ₹2 Lakh fine for submitting a fake 'mochi' caste certificate. Rana then moved the Supreme Court challenging the High Court order. The apex court completed the hearing in February 2024 and has reserved its verdict.

In April 2022, Navneet Rana and her husband Ravi Rana were arrested by Mumbai Police for insisting on reciting the Hanuman Chalisa in front of then-Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's residence Matoshri. They faced charges of sedition and assault on a public servant. For this, the couple was sent to 14-day judicial custody. They were later granted bail.

Also watch: Court issues non-bailable warrant against Maharashtra MP Navneet Rana