Irani among 300 new LS faces

New Delhi, May 24

The new Lok Sabha will have 300 MPs who have been elected for the first time to the Lower House, including cricketer-turned-politician Gautam Gambhir, Union Ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad and Smriti Irani, sufi singer Hans Raj Hans and Bengali actresses Mimi Chakraborty and Nusrat Jahan Ruhi.

The last Lok Sabha had 314 MPs who were elected for the first time, according to think tank PRS Legislative Research. From the outgoing LS, 197 MPs have been re-elected.

Irani emerged as a giant-killer after dethroning Congress chief Rahul Gandhi in Amethi by 55,120 votes. A two-time Rajya Sabha MP, she had unsuccessfully contested the LS polls in 2004 and 2014.

Controversial BJP candidate from Bhopal and Malegaon blast accused, Pragya Thakur, defeated Congress’ bigwig Digvijay Singh to register her maiden win in a General Election. Gambhir, who was contesting from East Delhi, trounced Congress’ Arvinder Singh Lovely by over 3.91 lakh votes.

Prasad, who was in the fray from Patna Sahib in Bihar, defeated sitting MP and Congress candidate Shatrughan Sinha by over 2.84 lakh votes, registering his first victory in a General Election.

In the national capital, where the BJP won all seven seats, BJP’s North West Delhi candidate Hans Raj Hans pipped AAP’s Gugan Singh by over 5.55 lakh votes.

But, it wasn’t just BJP candidates who scored their first-ever win in the LS election. Congress, DMK and TMC candidates also defeated their rivals to secure a berth in Parliament.

In Tamil Nadu, DMK leader and Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi scripted a win, defeating her BJP rival by over 3.47 lakh votes in Thoothukkudi.

In MP’s Chhindwara, CM Kamal Nath’s son Nakul won his first LS poll, defeating his BJP rival by 37,536 votes. In West Bengal’s Jadhavpur, actress Mimi Chakraborty scripted a maiden win on a TMC ticket over Anupam Hazra of BJP by 2.95 lakh votes.

Another actress and TMC candidate from Basirhat, Nusrat Jahan Ruhi, trounced BJP’s Sayantan Basu. — PTI