17 MPs enter Lok Sabha with huge victory margins
Though the election to the 12th Lok Sabha was held against the backdrop of widespread cynicism resulting from a
string of botched governments at the Centre, the poll outcome had as
many as 17 winners with a victory margin of more than 200,000 votes.
Leading the pack of these megawinners is Dr Vallabhbhai Ramjibhai Kathiria of the
Bharatiya Janata Party, who trounced Radadiya Vithalbhai (Rashtriya Janata Party) by 354,183 votes in Rajkot.
Dr Ramjibhai is among the five BJP candidates who blitzed their
opponents with a margin of more than 200,000 votes, while the
Congress and the Communist Party of India-Marxist have got three
winners in this category. The Samata Party, the CPI, the Trinamul
Congress, the United Minority Front in Assam and Shiv Sena in Maharashtra,
with one winner each, and an Independent, complete the tally of high-profile winners.
Of the 17 constituencies where voters shrugged off their
cynicism to display robust faith in balloting, West Bengal accounts
for five, followed by Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra with
three each, Assam two and Bihar one.
In West Bengal, where voting percentage has always been high,
Mamata Banerjee, who recently floated Trinamul Congress, came
up trumps in Calcutta South constituency against Prasanta Sur of
the CPI-M with a margin of 251,092 votes.
The other four winners in the Left bastion are Somnath
Chatterjee, Sar Nikhlananda and Rupchand Murmu (all CPI-M) and
Indrajit Gupta (CPI). Somnath Chatterjee retained his Bolpur
seat defeating Gour Hari Chandra (TC) by 251,092
votes. Murmu and Nikhlananda emerged triumphant in Jhargram
and Burdwan respectively while Indrajit Gupta romped home in
Midnapore against BJP rival Manoranjan Datta by 275,519 votes.
Besides Dr Kathiria, the other two BJP winners from Gujarat are
party president L K Advani (Gandhinagar) who defeated P K Datta
(Congress) by 276,701 votes, and Kashiram Rana
(Surat) who edged past Thakor Bhai, also of the Congress, by 295,022 votes.
The two BJP winners in Uttar Pradesh are Atal Bihari
Vajpayee, who retained the Lucknow seat by carving out a facile win
against film director Muzaffar Ali by 219,222 votes, and Ashok Kumar Pradhan who emerged victorious in
Khurja against Vijay Singh of the Bahujan Samaj Party by 229,359 votes.
The only other winner in this category from the state is
Maneka Gandhi who fought the Pilibhit seat as an Independent and
defeated Anis Khan (BSP) by 211,876 votes.
In Maharashtra, the three winners are Sharad Pawar (Congress) in Baramati, who defeated his BJP rival Viraj Kakde by 268,184 votes, Prakash Paranjpe (Shiv Sena)
trounced Chandrika Kenia (SP) in Thane by 249,579 votes and
Prithviraj Chavan (Congress) in Karad had an easy sway over
Jayawantrao Bhonsale (Shiv Sena) by 292,132 votes.
The megawinners in Assam are A F Golam Osmani (UMF) and
Tarun Gogoi (Congress) who emerged triumphant in Barpeta and Koliabor
respectively. While Osmani defeated Dr Manju of the BJP,
Gogoi walked past Keshab Mahanta of the AGP in a one-sided
contest.
In Bihar, Prabhunath Singh (Samata Party) was the lone winner
with a margin of more than 2,00,000 votes. He defeated his Congress
rival Manchandra Prasad Singh in Maharajganj.
UNI
Elections '98
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