 "From Smriti Irani to Arjun Munda, Modi ministers who lost 2024 LS polls")
As the results of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections were declared on Tuesday, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is returning to power for a third term at the Centre as its National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has surpassed the majority mark of 272 and won 292 seats.
The Opposition INDIA bloc came very close to the NDA by winning 234 seats. The others took 17 seats in the Lok Sabha polls, which took place in seven phases between April 19, 2024 and June 1, 2024.
As the Election Commission (EC) announced the results of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections on Tuesday, it was evident that many of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ministers were unseated in the 2024 polls.
BJP heavyweights such as Smriti Irani, Arjun Munda and Ajay Mishra Teni, among others, lost their seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Smriti Irani
One of the most high-profile defeats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections was that of Smriti Irani in Uttar Pradesh's Amethi.
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Smriti Irani, who defeated Rahul Gandhi in 2019, was defeated by Congress candidate Kishori Lal with a vote margin of 167,196. Lal won 539,228 votes in the Lok Sabha polls, while Smriti Irani got 372,032.
Following her defeat, Smriti Irani shared a post on social media, saying, "Such is life... A decade of my life was spent moving from one village to another, shaping lives, fostering hope and dreams, working on infrastructure like roads, drainage systems, bridges, bypasses, medical colleges, and more. I am eternally grateful to those who supported me through thick and thin. To those rejoicing today, congratulations. And to those inquiring, "How's the josh?" I say - it's still high, Sir."
Arjun Munda
Union Minister of Tribal Affairs and Minister of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Arjun Munda suffered a significant defeat in the Khunti constituency of Jharkhand. Congress candidate Kali Charan Munda won by a margin of 149,675.
Kalicharan Munda got 511,647 votes, while Arjun Munda received 361,972.
Ajay Mishra Teni
Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Ajay Mishra Teni lost the Lakhimpur Kheri Lok Sabha seat to Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate Utkarsh Verma by a margin of 34,329 votes.
Verma secured 5,57,365 votes while Ajay Mishra Teni got 5,23,036 votes. Teni came into the spotlight in 2021 when his son was accused of driving his SUV over protesting farmers. The incident resulted in the death of four farmers.
He won the seat on a BJP ticket in 2014 and repeated his victory again in 2019, but failed to make a hat-trick in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Kailash Choudhary
Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Kailash Choudhary lost the Barmer seat in Rajasthan.
Choudhary secured the third position, lagging behind the victorious Congress candidate Ummeda Ram Beniwal, and Independent candidate Ravindra Singh Bhati. Beniwal secured a substantial victory by defeating his nearest rival Bhati by a margin of 118,176 votes.
Rajeev Chandrasekhar
In Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram, Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar was defeated by Congress veteran Shashi Tharoor by a margin of over 16,077 votes. Tharoor secured 358,155 votes in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, while Chandrasekhar won 342,078 votes.
RK Singh
Bharatiya Janata Party BJP’s RK Singh lost Bihar' Arrah seat to Communist Party of India’s Sudama Prasad by 59,808 votes. Singh currently serves as the Minister of Power and Minister of New and Renewable Energy. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, R K Singh won by receiving 52.42 per cent of the votes polled. He won against Raju Yadav of CPI(ML)(L).
Other major setbacks for BJP
The BJP's setbacks were not limited to these prominent politicians. Ministers, including Mahendra Nath Pandey, Kaushal Kishore, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, Sanjeev Balyan, Rao Saheb Danve, V Muraleedharan, L Murugan, Subhas Sarkar, Nishith Pramanik, Kapil Patil, Bharati Pawar, and Bhagwanth Khuba also suffered defeats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Mahendra Nath Pandey, the Union Minister of Heavy Industries, was defeated in the Chandauli constituency of Uttar Pradesh.
Kaushal Kishore, Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs, lost to Samajwadi Party's RK Chaudhary by a margin of 70,292 votes in Mohanlalganj.
Kaushal Kishore, Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs, lost to Samajwadi Party's RK Chaudhary by a margin of 70,292 votes in Mohanlalganj.
Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, the Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food, and Public Distribution, faced defeat in the Fatehpur constituency of Uttar Pradesh.
Rao Saheb Danve, the Minister of State for Railways, was unsuccessful in retaining the Jalna seat in Maharashtra, losing to Congress' Kalyan Vaijnath Rao Kale.
Rao Saheb Danve, the Minister of State for Railways, was unsuccessful in retaining the Jalna seat in Maharashtra, losing to Congress' Kalyan Vaijnath Rao Kale.