The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) threw a glamour challenge to Congress candidate Kuldeep Bishnoi, the son of stalwart of Haryana's dusty and defection-ridden politics and three-time Chief Minister - late Bhajan Lal, in the Jat-dominated Adampur seat in Haryana. The party pitted TikTok star Sonali Phogat against sitting legislator Bishnoi of the Congress.
The small screen actress and greenhorn activist has gone viral (more than she ever was) since then and the search for TikTok videos featuring her has only tripled.
Sonali Singh Phogat hails from Bhuthan village of Fatehabad district and was married to late Sanjay Phogat of Harita. Sonali's elder sister is also married in the same Phogat family -- to Sanjay's elder brother.
The Twitterverse had varied reactions on her appointment. Some were disappointed, a few were happy. A few even hailed the power of social media -- especially, TikTok. And all tweets were accompanied by TikTok videos featuring Phogat.
Sonali started her television career by anchoring Haryanvi shows for Doordarshan eight years ago. She played the wife of Nawab Shah in Zee TV's popular serial Amma.
Politically speaking, elections to the 90-member Haryana Assembly will be held on October 21 and results will be declared on October 24.
