Lok Sabha elections 2019: Ex-army chief retains his Ghaziabad seat with almost 2014-like margin - Hindustan Times
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Lok Sabha elections 2019: Ex-army chief retains his Ghaziabad seat with almost 2014-like margin

Ghaziabad | By
May 24, 2019 08:48 AM IST

BJP’s Gen (retd) VK Singh defeated his nearest rival Suresh Bansal of the Samajwadi Party by 5,01,500 votes.

For the consecutive time, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate and incumbent MP Gen (retd) VK Singh emerged winner from Ghaziabad parliamentary constituency. Singh defeated his nearest rival Suresh Bansal of the Samajwadi Party by 5,01,500 votes. The margin is higher than that secured by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who won from the Varanasi by a margin of 4,79,505 votes.

For the consecutive time, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate and incumbent MP Gen (retd) VK Singh emerged winner from Ghaziabad parliamentary constituency.(HT file photo)
For the consecutive time, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate and incumbent MP Gen (retd) VK Singh emerged winner from Ghaziabad parliamentary constituency.(HT file photo)

Singh had contested his first election in 2014 from Ghaziabad and won by a record margin of 567,260 votes by defeating Congress’s Raj Babbar. According to provisional figures till 10pm on Thursday, Singh had secured 944,503 votes while his nearest rival Suresh Bansal from the Samajwadi Party (SP) had secured 443,003 votes.

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Congress’s Dolly Sharma stood third with 111,944votes. Out of the 12 contesting candidates, no other candidates could surpass the NOTA score of 7,495 votes.

“I would like to thank people of Ghaziabad and party workers. During the last five years, we did more work than expected. We want development of all sections. So different works emerge and we plan to take these up one by one,” Singh said.

BJP supporters were speculating that he will be given another major responsibility in the Cabinet. Presently, he is Minister of State for External Affairs.

“I do not wish to comment on anything. It is up to the Prime Minister to decide. I will discharge any responsibility as a party worker,” he added.

There were speculations among voters that the BJP was pitted against a formidable alliance formed by SP, Bahujan Sanaj Party and Rashtriya Lok Dal.

“The gathdandhan (alliance) was never a challenge for us. It is just like you fill air in something and it looks big. The results are known to everyone,” he further added.

Runner-up Suresh Bansal on Thursday said that he accepted the people’s verdict.

“The results show that there was a Modi wave which parties failed to gauge. The results have shown this to everyone. I accept the results as it is the verdict of the people. People’s verdict is supreme in democracy,” he added.

The counting at Govindpuram grain market progressed peacefully and went on till late evening as the National Democratic Alliance led by the BJP secured majority win in the 2019 general elections.

During the campaigning phase political heavyweights like Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and former UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav had arrived for campaigning but failed to give much push to the prospects of their candidates contesting from Ghaziabad.

During the polling on April 11, total of 1,520,649 voters exercised their franchise out of a total registered 2,726,132 voters in Ghaziabad parliamentary constituency.

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  • ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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    Peeyush Khandelwal writes on a range of issues in western Uttar Pradesh – from crime, to development authorities and from infrastructure to transport. Based in Ghaziabad, he has been a journalist for almost a decade.

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