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March 11, 1998

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ELECTIONS '96

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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