While the Narendra Modi's BJP government swept the nation this Lok Sabha election, several former chief ministers faced the brunt of the saffron wave
New Delhi: The Narendra Modi-led BJP not only registered a mammoth victory in Lok Sabha elections but uprooted several star candidates of the Congress. Apart from key candidates, close to 13 former chief ministers had to face defeat during this election.
Congress fielded its strongest candidate and three-time chief minister against Delhi BJP chief BJP’s Manoj Tiwari. The grand old party was looking at a revival in Delhi but Dikshit had to face defeat at North East Delhi constituency by a margin of 3.66 lakh votes. Tiwari had won the seat in 2014 as well, though Dikshit had not contested in the year 2014.
The Congress had fielded 'party stalwart' former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda from Sonipat. The stakes were high for Hooda in this election as he had tried to prove that he was still a mass leader and could lead the Congress in the forthcoming Assembly polls. He was crushed by BJP’s Ramesh Chander Kaushil who won the seat with a margin of over 1.64 lakh votes.
Former Uttarakhand chief minister and All India Congress Committee general secretary Harish Rawat faced one of the most humiliating defeats of his political career from Nainital parliamentary seat in this Lok Sabha polls. He was defeated by BJP’s Ajay Bhatt who won the seat by over 3.39 Lakh votes. Rawat could only get 34.41% votes during this election.
The BJP Prataprao Chikhalikar defeated two former chief ministers and Maharashtra Congress Committee president Ashok Chavan by about 40,0o0 votes. Chikhalikar, won the Loha Assembly seat in 2014 on a Shiv Sena ticket, was formally inducted into the BJP prior to the elections. Nanded was considered Chavan’s bastion, who won the seat in 2014 by 81,455 votes.
Sushil Kumar Shinde was beaten by BJP’s Jai Sidheshwar Shivacharya Mahaswamiji by the margin of 1.58 lakh votes. The BJP preferred fielding Maharaj considering his huge popularity among the influential Lingayat and Padmashali communities in Solapur district. Second consecutive defeat of Shinde has raised shadow over his political career.
Senior Congress leader and former Karnataka chief minister M Veerappa Moily was defeated by BJP's B N Bache Gowda in Chikkballapur, Karnataka. While Gowda secured 7,45,912 votes, Moily got 5,63,802 votes. Gowda lost to Moily during 2014 Lok Sabha elections by a narrow margin. Moily, a former union minister, was the joint candidate of Congress and JDS coalition.
Union Minister of state for home affairs, Kiren Rijiju, who was locked in a multi-cornered contest in the Arunachal West Parliamentary seat with total seven contestants, won from the constituency by a huge margin of 1,74,843 votes defeating his nearest rival Nabam Tuki of the Congress. Two-time former chief minister Nabam Tuki could only manage 50,000 votes.
National People’s Party (NPP) leader Agatha Sangma defeated Congress leader and former chief minister Mukul Sangma from Tura parliamentary constituency in the Lok Sabha elections. Agatha, the daughter of former Lok Sabha Speaker Purno A Sangma retained her Tura seat. Mukul Sangma was defeated by Sangma by a margin of 64,030 votes.
In one of the most important seat, BJP’s Sadhvi Pragya defeats Congress veteran Digvijaya Singh with more than 3.64 lakh votes. Former chief minister Digvijaya Singh could secure 5.01 lakh votes.
The former Prime Minister and Janata Dal (Secular) supremo HD Deve Gowda lost the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from the Tumkur parliamentary seat in Karnataka. He lost from the margin of 20,000 votes to the BJP’s GS Basavaraj.
The BJP's Sunil Soren defeated JMM President and two-time former chief minister Shibu Soren by 47,590 votes. JMM president Shibu Soren has won all the elections from Dumka since 1991 except in 1998 and 1999. Sunil Soren, who was once a disciple of Shibu Soren, has been fighting the seat since 2009. He was defeated both in 2009 and 2014.
The first chief minister of Jharkhand Babulal Marandi lost to BJP’s Annpurna Devi from Koderma parliamentary seat. He could manage to get only 24.6% vote while her opponent Annpurna Devi got 62.3% vote by getting 7.53 lakh votes.
HAM leader and former Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi lost from Gaya, his home constituency, against JD (U)’s Vijay Kumar Manjhi. Manjhi seems to have lost his credibility as a leader of Dalits, especially the Musahar community, which has a sizeable population in Gaya and central parts of Bihar. But the most worrying factor for him is that his party may lose the status of a regional party if it does not win even one seat. A six-time MLA, Manjhi has jumped from Congress to RJD and then to JD(U) before floating his own party HAM after he was unceremoniously removed from the post of the chief minister.
Read Exclusive COVID-19 Coronavirus News updates, at MyNation.