Election 2019 Results: Of major gains and some losses

Amit Shah, president of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), gestures to supporters as he arrives at the party's headquarters in New Delhi on Thursday. Pic/AFP

BJP president Amit Shah won by 5.57 lakh votes against Congress' CJ Chavda in Gandhinagar. Known as an astute strategist whose non-political interests range from playing chess and watching cricket to stage performances and classical music, 54-year-old Shah is often hailed as the BJP's most successful president for crafting its way to power, state after state.

Shah took over as the BJP president soon after NDA emerged victorious in the 2014 general elections. A trusted lieutenant of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he was appointed party in-charge of Uttar Pradesh just ahead of the 2014 national elections.

For the 2019 elections, he deployed over 7,000 leaders for nearly 500 poll committees across the country, with special focus on 120 seats that the BJP had lost in 2014, and brought in 3,000 "full-timers" across parliamentary seats. Leading from the front, Shah held over 161 rallies and visited over 312 Lok Sabha seats, clocking over 1.58 lakh km, more than any other leader.

INC president Rahul Gandhi at a press conference in New Delhi after the results

Rahul respects people's decision

Congress president Rahul Gandhi was ahead of P P Suneer in the Wayanad seat by about 4.31 lakh votes clearly heading for a win, but lost Amethi to BJP's Smriti Irani. Gandhi won 3,31,305 votes while Irani won 3,78,863 votes. Dismissed as Pappu by some and crown prince by others, Gandhi appeared to take the poll debacle on the chin, congratulating Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP and expressing hope that Irani takes care of Amethi "with love". At a press conference, he said the CWC will decide on whether he should resign as party chief following the electoral debacle. The Congress could manage to add only a few seats to its 2014 Lok Sabha tally of 44 seats. "I congratulate Narendra Modiji and BJP for their electoral victory. People of India have decided that Narendra Modi will be the PM again and I fully respect that," Gandhi said.

Rajnath Singh won the Lucknow seat with a striking margin

Rajnath wins with margin of 3.4 lakh votes

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has won the Lucknow seat with a margin of 3.4 lakh votes. In 2014, he had won with a margin of 2.72 lakh. Singh polled a total of 6,27,881 votes while his nearest rival Poonam Sinha of Samajwadi Party got 2,82,858 votes. The Congress candidate Acharya Pramod Krishna polled 1,78,904 votes. In a series of tweets, Singh said the people of the country have once again given a decisive mandate to the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and reposed their faith in PM Modi's leadership and vision. "This historic victory in the General Elections is the outcome of Modiji's visionary leadership, Amit Shahji's dynamism and the hard work of millions of BJP karyakartas on the ground," he tweeted, adding Modi is now all set to build a New India.

Shashi Tharoor said, he felt like a batsman who has scored a century while his team has lost. Pic/PTI

Tharoor wins for the third time

Shashi Tharoor had a third straight win from Thiruvananthapuram, with 3,33,415 votes over his nearest rival of the BJP. He said he felt like a batsman who has scored a century while his team has lost. "Since 1997, we never had such a good result in Kerala. We are winning 19 and we may as well, all 20 seats. The state has become an exemplar for what the politics of the Congress nationally could be. I just hope we will be able to build from the very disappointing result nationally because ours is the right message for future growth and prosperity in India," he said.

Nitin Gadkari waves to supporters outside his residence in Nagpur. Pic/PTI

Bad weather prevents Gadkari from joining celebrations

Senior BJP leader and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, was conspicuous with his absence at the BJP's victory function held after its meeting. He was flying to the national capital to attend the party meeting after its stupendous victory in general elections, but could not land because of bad weather as his plane was diverted to Lucknow Thursday, his office said. Gadkari from Nagpur with 2,83,332 votes.

Sonia Gandhi won by a margin of 1,67,178 vote

Sonia Gandhi wins from Raebareli

Congress leader Sonia Gandhi won from the Raebareli Lok Sabha seat, defeating her nearest rival, BJP candidate Dinesh Pratap Singh. Gandhi won by a margin of 1,67,178 votes, the Election Commission's website said. While Gandhi got 5,34,918 votes, Singh secured 3,67,740 votes. Amethi, on Thursday, snapped its 39 years long relationship with the Gandhi family. Sonia Gandhi entered politics and won the Amethi seat which she retained till 2004. Rahul Gandhi won the seat in 2004, 2009 and 2014.

Modi won the seat by a margin of 4,79,505 votes. Pic/AFP

Modi thanks Varanasi for victory

Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked the people of Varanasi as he retained the seat by a margin of over 4.79 lakh votes. In a tweet, he said, the people of Kashi are "remarkable". "When I had gone to Kashi to file my nomination papers, they confidently said that they would manage the entire campaign without me having to come back even once and manage they did! I bow to the citizens of Kashi. Looking forward to serving them," Modi said. He won the seat by a margin of 4,79,505 votes, defeating his nearest rival Shalini Yadav of Samajwadi Party, according to the Election Commission's website. Modi on Thursday removed the 'chowkidar' prefix from his Twitter handle. He had added it after launching the "Main Bhi Chowkidar" campaign on social media. "Now, the time has come to take the Chowkidar Spirit to the next level. Keep this spirit alive at every moment and continue working for India's progress," he tweeted.

Pragya Singh celebrates with supporters. Pic/PTI

The monk who cursed wins

Controversial candidate of the BJP, Pragya Singh beat Digvijay Singh, the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister, with 8,66,482 votes from Bhopal. He received 5,01,660 votes. Her campaign was marred by her remarks on Nathuram Godse whom she called a patriot. She also claimed that former Mumbai ATS chief Hemant Karkare died due to her "curse".

BJP Bengaluru South candidate, Tejasvi Surya, at a counting centre. Pic/PTI

BJP's rising star wins in Bangalore

BJP's first-time contestant and its young turk, Tejaswi Surya won with 7,36, 605 votes against Congress Rajya Sabha member B.K. Hariprasad in the high-profile Bangalore South.

Gautam Gambhir began his second innings with a good start

Century on debut, Gambhir set for second innings in the political game

Gautam Gambhir, in cricketing parlance, hit a century on 'debut', winning his maiden Parliament elections by a massive margin. He sort of demolished his opponents, securing close to seven lakh votes, leaving close rivals - Congress' Arvinder Singh Lovely and AAP's Aatishi Marlena - way behind. He was leading with 6,96,156 votes. As a player, Gambhir certainly wasn't the most talented in the Indian set-up which boasted the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, VVS Laxman, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid but it was his big heart that made him indispensable between 2007-2011, something he would like to bring to his political career. But politics will be an entirely different ball game. The pitch will be very different and unpredictable.

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