Victory for Kirti Azad, Rathore as Azharuddin, Bhaichung suffer huge defeats

Adding to the celebrations of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Kirti Azad – a member of India`s 1983 World Cup winning team, won from Bihar`s Darbhanga after beating RJD`s Mohammed Ali Ashraf Fatmi by 35043 votes.

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: Adding to the celebrations of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Kirti Azad – a member of India`s 1983 World Cup winning team, won from Bihar`s Darbhanga after beating RJD`s Mohammed Ali Ashraf Fatmi by 35043 votes.

Azad had defeated Fatmi in 1999 but the RJD candidate avenged his defeat in 2004. However, Azad retained the seat in 2009.

A two-time sitting Lok Sabha MP, Azad contested again from Darbhanga this year.

Meanwhile, star footballer Bhaichung Bhutia lost to SS Ahluwalia of BJP by 197239 votes, from Darjeeling (West Bengal).

India`s most-capped footballer Bhutia had raised many eyebrows with his decision to join hands with the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC). Bhutia, who retired from international football in August 2011, was the TMC candidate for the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat.
However, Bhutia`s party colleague Prasun Banerjee, also a former India football captain, retained his Howrah seat in West Bengal by an impressive margin. Banerjee, who was elected to Lok Sabha last year in a by-poll, got 488,461 votes.

On the other hand, former Indian hockey skipper Dilip Kumar Tirkey – the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) candidate from Sundergarh, was trailing by 20262 votes against BJP`s Jual Juel Oram, as the counting was still in progress.

Earlier in the day, two other cricketers – Mohammad Azharuddin and Mohammad Kaif— suffered heavy defeats.

Kaif, who was Congress candidate from Phulpur, failed to woo the voters and was ranked fourth with just 58127 votes, as compared to BJP`s Keshav Prasad Maurya, who registered a comprehensive win with 503564 votes.
Azharuddin, who was contesting on Congress ticket from Tonk-Sawai Madhopur seat in Rajasthan, lost by 1.34 lakh votes. BJP candidate Sukhbir Singh Jaunapuria emerged victorious with 5,48,179 votes, while NPP party`s Jagmohan Meena was placed third with 14, 600 votes.

Another sportsperson who emerged victorious, was celebrated double trap shooter Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, who humiliated the Congress veteran and former Railway minister CP Joshi by an overwhelming 1,50,000 votes in a landslide victory for Modi-led BJP.

Rathore became the first individual Olympic medalist to win an LS seat.

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