Several high-profile Union Ministers of the Modi cabinet have lost their elections. Smriti Irani in Amethi stands in the front row of Union Ministers who failed to touch the magic number. Rajeev Chandrasekhar’s defeat in Thiruvananthapuram, Arjun Munda’s loss in Khunti, Mahendra Nath Pandey’s defeat to the Samajwadi Party’s Birendra Singh in Chandauli, and Ajay Mishra Teni’s loss in Lakhimpur Kheri are other prominent faces who could not win.
Notably, ten Union ministers from the BJP were fielded from UP, and seven of them lost.They included Smriti Irani from Amethi (lost by 1.67 lakh votes), Mahendra Nath Pandey from Chandauli (21,565 votes), Sanjeev Balyan from Muzaffarnagar (24,672 votes), Ajay Mishra Teni from Lakhimpur Kheri (34,329 votes), Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti from Fatehpur (33,199 votes), Kaushal Kishore from Mohanlalganj SC reserved seat (70,292 votes), and Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma from Jalaun SC reserved seat (53,898 votes).
It is important to note that even those who secured victories, such as Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, experienced a significant reduction in their winning margins compared to 2019. Rajnath Singh, who campaigned with the slogan “abki baar 5 lakh paar,” saw his victory margin in Lucknow shrink from 3.47 lakh votes in 2019 to just 1.3 lakh votes in the recent election.
In Rajasthan, Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Kailash Choudhary lost in Barmer. In Maharashtra, Raosaheb Danve, who is the Union minister of state for railways, lost the Jalna seat. Kapil Patil, Union minister of state for panchayati raj, did not secure a seat in Bhiwandi and minister of state for tribal affairs Bharati Pawar lost from Dindori.
Cabinet minister R K Singh did not manage to clinch a seat from Bihar’s Arrah Lok Sabha constituency. In Kerala, Chandrasekhar lost to Congress leader Shashi Tharoor in a close fight for the Thiruvananthapuram seat. V Muraleedharan, who is the Union minister of state for external affairs and parliamentary affairs, also lost the Attingal seat in the southern state.
Murugan L, the minister of state for information and broadcasting, lost to Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader A Raja from the Nilgiris seat in Tamil Nadu by a margin of 2.40 lakh votes. In Karnataka, minister of state for chemicals and fertilizers Bhagwant Khuba was defeated from the Bidar Lok Sabha constituency.
In West Bengal, Minister of State for Home Affairs Nisith Pramanik lost the Cooch Behar seat and Minister of State for Education Subhas Sarkar was defeated in Bankura.
