Smriti Zubin Irani (née Malhotra; Hindi pronunciation: [smɾɪt̪ɪ iːɾɑːniː] born 23 March 1976) is an Indian politician and former actress, fashion model and television producer.

She subsequently lost the constituency to long time Indian National Congress worker Kishori Lal Sharma in the 2024 elections.

Previously in the 2000s, Irani was the most popular actress on TV playing the lead role of Tulsi Virani in Ekta Kapoor's blockbuster Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi on Star Plus for which she won five consecutive ITA Best Actress awards and 2 Indian Telly Awards.

[20][21] Irani was one of the participants of the beauty pageant Miss India 1998 but couldn't reach the top 9, along with Gauri Pradhan Tejwani.

[18][22][23] In 1998, Irani appeared in a song "Boliyan" of the album "Saawan Mein Lag Gayi Aag" with Mika Singh.

Kyunki.. was the most successful serial at that time, largely attributed to Irani's performance and chemistry with lead actors Amar Upadhyay and Ronit Roy.

[31] In the general elections held that year for the 14th Lok Sabha, she contested unsuccessfully against Kapil Sibal from the Chandni Chowk constituency in Delhi.

In December 2004, Irani, blaming then Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi for BJP's electoral losses, threatened to fast unto death until he resigned.

[52] In June 2015, a lower court held that the allegations against Irani were maintainable and a delay in prosecution was not a valid reason for dismissal.

[55] Irani made a speech in Parliament in which she discussed the 2016 JNU sedition controversy and the Suicide of Rohith Vemula.

[60] In 2019, Irani became a member of parliament for Amethi constituency after winning the Lok Sabha seat in the 2019 general elections from Rahul Gandhi.

[65] Some of her key achievements in various portfolios held by her have been listed below: In her term as the HRD minister, Irani undertook a number of decisions which helped in improving the quality, inclusivity and outcome of education in the country.

Some of the key achievements have been listed as under: In July 2016, Irani was given charge of the Textiles Ministry, taking over from Santosh Kumar Gangwar.

[81] Her contribution to the sector has been appreciated by various industry bodies like the textile council TEXPROCIL, the Clothing Manufacturers Association of India and the Indian Texpreneurs Federation (ITF).

[97] In August 2023, Irani introduced ‘Naya Savera’ scheme (‘Free Coaching and Allied’ scheme) to assist students belonging to the six minority communities namely Sikh, Jain, Muslim, Christian, Buddhist and Parsi by way of special coaching for qualifying examinations for admission in technical/professional courses and competitive examination for recruitment.

[100][101] Irani, in 2019 general elections, in Amethi constituency of Uttar Pradesh, won against Rahul Gandhi, President of the Indian National Congress, by a margin of 55,120 votes who previously seat held since 2004.

[102][103][104][105] The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its leadership put in an all around effort over the past five years to ensure this win after her loss to Gandhi by 1,07,923 votes, a 12.32% margin in 2014 general elections.

[106][107] Irani made multiple visits to Amethi after her loss to launch central development schemes in the constituency, to underscore her message that she would provide better representation than the incumbent member.

In the 2024 general elections however, Irani lost the Amethi seat to the Indian National Congress' candidate Kishori Lal Sharma by a margin of 167,196 votes.

The plea said that the facts and circumstances reveal commission of offences by Smriti under section 125A (which deals with penalty of filing false affidavit and entails a jail term[112]) of the Representation of People Act, 1951.

Also, in pursuance of the court's earlier direction, Delhi University had also submitted that the documents pertaining to Ms. Irani's BA course in 1996, as purportedly mentioned by her in an affidavit filed during 2004 Lok Sabha elections, were yet to be found.

[117][118] In December 2021, while at the same time holding a portfolio of Union Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani posted an image on Instagram which read, "When I was a kid, they didn't take me to a psychologist... My mom was able to open my chakra, stabilize my karma and clean my aura with one single slap."

In an earlier interview on a food critic's YouTube channel, Smriti Irani's daughter agreed that the bar is owned by her.