BJP's C R Patil wins by 6.89 lakh votes, biggest victory margin in 2019 elections
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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BJP claims Kejriwal spent Rs 31 lakh monthly on maintenance of CM's bungalow from 2015 to 2022
New Delhi, Apr 5 (PTI): The BJP lashed out at AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday citing an RTI reply that revealed Rs 3.69 crore was spent annually between 2015 and 2022 for the regular maintenance of the former chief minister's bungalow at 6, Flagstaff Road.
Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva, quoting the RTI reply, said a total of Rs 29.56 crore was spent between March 31, 2015, and December 27, 2022, on general repairs, sewage, electricity and structural works of the bungalow that was occupied by Kejriwal when he was the chief minister.
While the BJP leader asked Kejriwal to "come forward and explain what exactly was lacking in his bungalow that required Rs 31 lakh to be spent every month on its maintenance", the AAP sought to know what the ruling party would achieve by abusing Kejriwal.
The opposition party pointed out that the bungalow was a government accommodation, not Kejriwal's private property.
Sachdeva said details obtained through a Right To Information (RTI) query have shown that Rs 3,69,54,384 was spent annually on regular maintenance of the bungalow.
Kejriwal, who came to power with promises of leading a government for the common man, was exposed by his "luxurious lifestyle" at the "Sheesh Mahal" constructed "secretively at a cost of Rs 52 crore", Sachdeva claimed.
The BJP has been targeting the AAP and Kejriwal over the reconstruction works at the bungalow, describing it as a "Sheesh Mahal" for its "expensive" interiors and household goods.
"We are presenting more evidence of Kejriwal's five-star lifestyle and corruption, and we demand an immediate response from him," Sachdeva said at a press conference here.
The Delhi BJP chief said a person from Maharashtra had filed the RTI query, seeking details of the maintenance expenses on the bungalow and added that the figures revealed Kejriwal's "extravagant lifestyle" and "corruption" in government works.
"In Delhi, where one can build a decent 250-300 square yard house spending Rs 3 to 4 crore, the cost of maintenance of Kejriwal's bungalow at Rs 3.69 crore annually is astonishing," he said.
The BJP leader said that Kejriwal has been avoiding answering the questions for a long time. The people of Delhi expect him to come forward and clarify what exactly was so deficient in his bungalow that Rs 31 lakh per month was needed for its maintenance, he added.
AAP hit back, saying the BJP "betrayed" Delhi and did not provide Rs 2,500 for women and free cylinders on Holi which proved that their poll promises were just gimmick.
While Delhi is suffering due to power cuts and arbitrary fee hikes by private schools, the BJP president is busy hurling abuses at Kejriwal, the opposition party alleged.
