The results of the 18th Lok Sabha elections were declared by the Election Commission of India on Tuesday. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led NDA is set to form the government for the third consecutive time as the ruling alliance has won 293 seats and the figure required for a majority is 272. However, this is not good fortune for some. The biggest setback came from the Gandhi family’s stronghold- Amethi where Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was defeated by BJP leader Smriti Irani in the Lok Sabha elections 2019. However, the constituency witnessed a change in 2024. Sitting MP Irani lost to Congress candidate Kishori Lal Sharma. Now, she has become a giant by defeating Union Minister Irani by a margin of over 1.5 lakh votes. Interestingly, Irani was also called a giant killer when she outplayed Gandhi. According to Election Commission data, while Sharma got 5,39,228 votes, Irani managed to get 3,72,032 votes.
Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary lost to Yusuf Pathan
Former cricketer and Trinamool Congress (TMC) ticket winner Yusuf Pathan defeated Congress veteran Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury in his bastion Baharampur in West Bengal. The former Indian cricketer defeated the Congress leader and six-time MP in the 17th Lok Sabha by 85,022 votes.
Ajay Kumar Teni lost in Kheri
Union minister and two-time MP from Kheri in Uttar Pradesh, Ajay Kumar Teni lost to Utkarsh Verma Madhur of the Samajwadi Party (SP) by 34,329 votes.
Rajeev Chandrasekhar accepted defeat
Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar conceded defeat to Congress MP Shashi Tharoor in a closely watched electoral contest. “We came very close and had a record margin and vote share. It is disappointing that I could not win today, but I fought a clean campaign,” Chandrasekhar told the media. He lost by a little over 16,000 votes.
Maneka Gandhi had to face defeat
Another major upset in the state was the defeat of senior BJP leader and former Union minister Maneka Gandhi in the Sultanpur constituency against SP candidate Rambhual Nishad by 43,174 votes.
Omar Abdullah’s defeat
Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and National Conference (NC) leader Omar Abdullah lost to independent candidate Sheikh Abdul Rashid in Kashmir’s Baramulla Lok Sabha constituency.
Annamalai failed
BJP’s Tamil Nadu president Annamalai Kuppusamy lost to DMK’s Ganapathy Rajkumar P by 1,18,068 votes in Coimbatore. The BJP has emerged as the single largest party in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections by winning 240 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha.
