BJP leaders Smriti Irani, Rajeev Chandrasekhar and Congress' Kanhaiya Kumar were major upsets. (Photos courtesy: Wikimedia/Facebook)
The Lok Sabha election results were nothing but a big surprise for the country’s political landscape. While many seasoned politicians and popular leaders managed to secure their seats, this election was also marked by some surprising upsets. Here are a few hits and misses:
BJP's Smriti Irani lost to Kishori Lal Sharma, a Gandhi loyalist, by a margin of 1.67 lakh votes.
In Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram, Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar, was defeated by Congress veteran Shashi Tharoor by a margin of over 16,077 votes.
In Jharkhand’s Khunti Lok Sabha constituency, Union Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda suffered a significant defeat to Congress’ Kali Charan Munda by a margin of 1.4 lakh votes
BJP leader Maneka Gandhi lost to Samajwadi Party leader Rambhual Nishad in Sultanpur by a margin of over 43,000 votes
Actress Hema Malini, who was seeking a third term in the Lok Sabha as a BJP candidate from Mathura, won by a margin of 2.7 lakh votes against Congress candidate Mukesh Dhangar.
TMC leader Mahua Moitra returned to the Lok Sabha after winning the Krishnanagar parliamentary constituency by over 56,000 votes after defeating BJP's 'Rajmata of the Rajbari' Amrita Roy
BJP's K Annamalai, fielded from Tamil Nadu’s Coimbatore seat lost to DMK candidate Ganpathy Rajkumar P by a margin of over 1 lakh votes
Congress leader Kanhaiya Kumar lost to BJP’s Manoj Tiwari from the North East Delhi constituency by a margin of 1,38,778 votes
Congress leader Raj Babbar lost to BJP candidate and Union minister Rao Inderjit Singh by a margin of 75,079 votes in Gurugram
Congress leader Vikramaditya Singh lost by a margin of 74,755 votes to actor-turned-politician and BJP candidate Kangana Ranaut in Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi
National Conference’s Omar Abdullah conceded defeat to Independent candidate Sheikh Abdul Rashid in the Baramulla Lok Sabha constituency, North Kashmir
BJP candidate and actor Ravi Kishan won by 1,03,526 votes against Samajwadi Party candidate Kajal Nishad
