Women candidates such as Congress’ Kumari Selja, the BJP’s Kangana Ranaut and Hema Malini, Samajwadi Party’s Dimple Yadav and RJD’s Misa Bharti won in their respective constituencies in the general elections.
However, Amethi’s incumbent MP Smriti Irani and Sultanpur MP Maneka Gandhi were among the parliamentarians who lost.
Selja won Haryana’s Sirsa Lok Sabha seat by over 2.5 lakh votes while Bansuri Swaraj, the daughter of BJP stalwart late Sushma Swaraj, bagged the New Delhi constituency by 78,370 votes.
A total of 797 women contested the Lok Sabha elections this time.
Actor-politician Ms Ranaut, a BJP candidate and a first-time contender, won Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi, against Congress leader Vikramaditya Singh by 74,755 votes. On the other hand veteran actor and incumbent MP from Mathura retained the seat by bagging 5.1 lakh votes.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav’s wife and Mainpuri’s incumbent MP Dimple Yadav secured a comfortable victory over her nearest rival BJP’s Jayveer Singh with a margin of 2,21,639 votes.
Misha Bharti, daughter of RJD leader Lalu Prasad Yadav, won against Union minister and incumbent MP from Bihar’s Pataliputra Ram Kripal Yadav by a margin of 85,174 votes.
Trinamool Congress candidate in West Bengal’s Krishnanagar seat Mahua Moitra won by 56,705 votes. DMK’s Kanimozhi Karunanidhi retained her Thoothukkudi seat by constituency by bagging 5,40,729 votes.
Samajwadi Party’s 25-year-old candidate for Machhlishahr, Priya Saroj, and 29-year-old Iqra Choudhary of Kairana seat, were among the youngest nominees to secure a victory.
Over 30 women candidates have won from their respective constituencies till now. The number is lower than the 2019 Lok Sabha polls when 78 women candidates had won.
After 12 hours of counting of votes that began at 8 am, the BJP emerged as the single largest party by winning 240 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha. However, it is a far cry from the 303 mark it had achieved last time.
Women candidates such as Congress’ Kumari Selja, the BJP’s Kangana Ranaut and Hema Malini, Samajwadi Party’s Dimple Yadav and RJD’s Misa Bharti won in their respective constituencies in the general elections.