New Delhi, May 23: Two-time BJP MP C R Patil Thursday came close to surpassing the all-time victory margin in Lok Sabha polls as he won the Navsari seat in Gujarat by garnering 6.89 lakh more votes than his rival the highest margin in 2019 polls.
So far, the highest victory margin of 6.96 lakh votes in Lok Sabha polls belongs to Pritam Munde, who won the by-election to Beed seat in Maharashtra in October 2014. The by-poll was necessitated after the death of her father and senior BJP leader Gopitnath Munde.
Patil has party colleagues Sanjay Bhatia, Krishan Pal and Subhash Chandra Baheria in the 6 lakh-plus club, while about a dozen other candidates have won by over 5 lakh margin.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi widened his victory margin to 4.79 lakh votes when he defeated his nearest rival of Shalini Yadav of Samajwadi Party in Varanasi parliamentary constituency. In 2014, he had defeated Arvind Kejeriwal by 3.71 lakh votes.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah won his maiden Lok Sabha election by a huge margin of 5.57 lakh votes from Gandhinagar in Gujarat this elections, bettering senior party leader L K Advani's margin of 4.83 lakh votes in 2014.
The party got winners with huge margins primarily in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Delhi and Madhya Pradesh which it swept defeating nearest Congress rivals.
In the results declared by the Election Commission on Thursday, Sanjay Bhatia won the Karnal constituency in Haryana by a margin of 6.56 lakh votes, while his party colleague Krishan Pal won Faridabad in the same state by 6.38 lakh votes.
With his party sweeping Rajasthan, Subhash Chandra Baheria of the BJP won the Bhilwara seat in the state by 6.12 lakh votes.
Shankar Lalwani, who contested from Indore in Madhya Pradesh on BJP ticket after Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan opted out of the race, defeated his nearest Congress rival by a margin of 5.47 lakh votes. Mahajan, an eight-time Lok Sabha MP, had in 2014 had won the seat by 4.67 lakh votes.
Contesting for the first time, Ramakant Bhargava, standing in from Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh after External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj opted out, won by 5.03 lakh votes, a lakh vote higher than victory margin in 2014 elections.
In Gujarat's Vadodara, BJP Ranjanben Bhatt won by 5.87 lakh votes while in neighbouring Surat Darshana Vikram Jardosh won by 5.48 lakh votes.
In Madhya Pradesh's Hoshangabad constituency, Uday Pratap Singh returned to the Lok Sabha by a margin of 5.53 lakh votes.
Of the seven constituencies in the national capital, two BJP candidates emerged victorious by over 5 lakh votes -- Hans Raj Hans in North West Delhi (5.53 lakh) and Parvesh Verma in West Delhi (5.78 lakh).
C P Joshi of BJP won Chittorgarh seat in Rajasthan by a margin of 5.76 lakh and his colleague Diya Kumari from Jaipur royal family won by 5.51 lakh in Rajsamand constituency. General (Retd) V K Singh also won Ghaziabad seat by over 5 lakh votes.
During 2014 general elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi won his Vadodara seat with the highest margin. He defeated his nearest rival by a huge margin of 5,70,128 votes. He, however, resigned from the seat and retained Varanasi parliamentary constituency where victory margin was 3,71,784.
The second-biggest victory margin was of General V K Singh (BJP) from Ghaziabad constituency with winning difference of 5,67,260 votes. Former army chief was followed by C R Patil (BJP), who won Navsari seat in Gujarat, with a margin of 5,58,116 votes.
Another BJP candidate Ramcharan Bohara won Jaipur seat with a vote margin of 5,39,345. Darshana Vikram Jardosh (BJP) won Surat, Gujarat, seat with a difference of 5,33,190 votes.
The sixth-highest victory margin crown was with CPM candidate Sankar Prasad Datta of Tripura West. He won the seat with a difference of 5,03,486 votes. Jitendra Chaudhury followed him by winning Tripura East seat by 4,84,358 votes.
BJP patriarch L K Advani won Gandhinagar, Gujarat, seat with a margin of 4,83,121. He was followed by another senior BJP leader Sumitra Mahajan, who defeated her rival by 4,66,901 in Indore, Madhya Pradesh.
Tenth biggest victory margin was of Krishan Pal (BJP), who defeated his opponent by 4,66,873 votes in Faridabad, Haryana.
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Chennai: Journalist and political commentator Sujit Nair has expressed concern over speculation that the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam could explore a post-poll understanding to prevent Vijay-led Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam from forming the government in Tamil Nadu.
In a social media post, Sujit Nair said the election verdict in Tamil Nadu reflected a clear public demand for political change and argued that the mandate should be respected irrespective of political preferences.
Referring to reports and political discussions surrounding a possible understanding between the DMK and AIADMK, he said he hoped such developments remained only speculative conversations and did not turn into reality.
Nair stated that if such an alliance were to take shape, it would raise serious questions about ideological politics in the country. He said TVK had emerged through a democratic electoral process and that the legitimacy to govern in a parliamentary democracy comes from the people’s verdict.
According to him, attempts to prevent an electoral winner from forming the government through unexpected political arrangements may be constitutionally valid, but many people could view them as politically opportunistic.
He further said that such a move could particularly affect the political image of the DMK, which has historically projected itself around ideology, social justice and opposition politics. Nair said that in ideological terms, the DMK appeared closer to TVK than to the AIADMK, and joining hands with its long-time political rival only to remain in power could weaken its broader political narrative.
He added that the same questions would apply to the AIADMK as well, as the party had spent decades positioning itself against the DMK and such an arrangement could create discomfort among its cadre and supporters.
Drawing a comparison with Maharashtra politics in 2019, Nair said he had expressed similar views when the Shiv Sena formed an alliance with the Indian National Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party after the Assembly elections.
He said post-poll alliances between long-standing political rivals often create a public perception that ideology and electoral mandates become secondary when political power equations come into play.
Nair also said such developments increase public cynicism towards politics and reinforce the belief among voters that ideology is often sidelined after elections.
He maintained that the Tamil Nadu verdict was emphatic and said respecting both the spirit and substance of the mandate was important for the credibility of democratic politics.
