New Delhi: In his speech on June 4 from the Bharatiya Janata Party headquarters in Delhi, Narendra Modi suggested that his third “win” – even though his party had been unable to reach the majority mark on its own – was because of all the development work carried out by his government in the last 10 years. “All the decisions in the last decade have been committed to ‘Nation First’ & an ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’,” he claimed.
That would suggest that his ministers were popular with their constituents, but the results have thrown up a rather different picture. At least 20 BJP leaders who were serving as ministers at the time of the elections have failed to be re-elected, some losing their seats by rather high margins. This is after the BJP decided not to even field some ministers.
Here’s a list of Union ministers who lost.
1. Rajeev Chandrasekhar
Chandrashekhar was serving as Union minister for jal shakti, minister of state for skill development and entrepreneurship and minister of state for electronics and information technology when the elections were held. He lost the Thiruvananthapuram seat in Kerala to Congress’s Shashi Tharoor, by a margin of 16,077 votes.
2. Smriti Irani
Irani, who was Union minister for women and child development and minority affairs, lost the Amethi seat to Congress’s Kishori Lal Sharma, a Gandhi family loyalist, by 1,67,196 votes.
3. Ajay Kumar Mishra
Controversial former Union minister of state for home affairs Ajay Kumar Mishra, whose son’s convoy had allegedly run over protesting farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri leading to five deaths, has failed in his re-election bid. He lost to Samajwadi Party’s Utkarsh Verma Madhur by 34,329 votes.
4. Subhas Sarkar
Sarkar, who served as Union minister of state for education, lost the Bankura seat to Trinamool Congress’s Arup Chakraborty by 32,778 votes.
5. Arjun Munda
Arjun lost the Khunti seat in Jharkhard to Congress’s Kali Charan Munda by 1,49,675 votes. Arjun was the minister of agriculture and farmers’ welfare.
6. Kailash Choudhary
Choudhary, who was Union minister of state for agriculture, came in third in the Barmer constituency in Rajasthan – behind both Congress’s Ummeda Ram Beniwal and independent candidate Ravindra Singh Bhati. He lost by 4,17,943 votes.
7. L. Murugan
Murugan lost the Nilgiris (reserved SC) seat in Tamil Nadu to DMK’s A. Raja by 24,0585 votes. Murugan was Union minister of state for information and broadcasting.
8. Nisith Pramanik
Formerly Union minister of state for sport and youth affairs, Pramanik lost the Cooch Behar seat in West Bengal to TMC’s Jagadish Chandra Barma Basunia by 39,250 votes.
9. Sanjeev Balyan
Balyan was serving as Union minister of state for fisheries, animal husbandry and dairying. He lost the Muzaffarnagar seat to Samajwadi Party’s Harendra Singh Malik by 24,672 votes.
10. Kapil Patil
The former Union minister of state for panchayati raj lost the Bhiwandi seat in Maharashtra to NCP (Sharad Paward)’s Balya Mama-Suresh Gopinath Mhatre by 66,121 votes.
11. Raosaheb Danve
Danve, who served as Union minister of state for railways, lost the Jalna seat in Maharashtra to Congress’s Kalyan Vaijinathrao Kale by 1,09,958 votes.
12. Bharati Pawar
Modi’s Union minister of state for tribal affairs lost the Dindori (reserved ST) seat in Maharashtra to NCP (Sharad Pawar)’s Bhaskar Murlidhar Bhagare by 1,13,199 votes.
13. Kaushal Kishore
Kishore served as Union minister of state for housing and urban affairs, but finds himself unhoused from parliament. He lost the Mohanlalganj (reserved SC) seat in Uttar Pradesh to Samajwadi Party’s R.K. Chaudhary by 70,292 votes.
14. Bhagwanth Khuba
Khuba, who was Union minister of state for chemicals and fertilisers, lost the Bidar, Karnataka seat to Congress’s Sagar Eshwar Khandre by 1,28,875 seats votes.
15. V. Muralidharan
Modi’s Union minister of state for external affairs, Muralidharan came in third in Kerala’s Attingal constituency, after Congress’s Adoor Prakash and CPI(M)’s V. Joy. He lost by 16,272 votes.
16. Mahendranath Pande
Union heavy industries minister Pande lost the Chandauli seat in Uttar Pradesh to Samajwadi Party’s Virendra Singh by 21,565 votes.
17. Sadhwi Niranjan Jyoti
Jyoti, Modi’s Union minister for steel and minister of state for rural development, lost in UP’s Fatehpur to Samajwadi Party’s Naresh Uttam Patel by 33,199 votes.
18. Bhanu Pratap Singh
Singh was serving as Union minister of state for MSMEs. He lost in Jalaun, UP (reserved SC) to Samajwadi Party’s Narayan Das Ahriwar by 53,898 votes.
19. Raj Kumar Singh
Singh, was Modi’s Union minister for power and renewable energy, lost the seat in Bihar’s Arrah to CPI(ML)-Liberation’s Sudama Prasad by 59,808 votes.
20. Debasree Chaudhuri
Chaudhuri was Union minister of state for women and child development. She lost to TMC’s Mala Roy by 1,87,231 votes in the Dakshin Kolkata seat.
