AMETHI: Congress candidate Kishori Lal Sharma, pulled off a major upset by defeating Union Minister Smriti Irani from Amethi, termed this a victory of the 'Gandhi family' and the people of Amethi. KL Sharma defeated Smriti Irani from Amethi by over 1,50,000 votes. Sharma bagged 5,13,412 votes while Smriti Irani got 3,56,064. Sharma, the long associate of the Gandhi family was given the responsibility of winning back the party's once-held bastion. Irani emerged as 'giant killer' in 2019 by defeating Rahul Gandhi. Now, KL Sharma has emerged as the slayer of the 'giant killer'.
"This is the victory of the Gandhi family and the people of Amethi...the counting is still taking place, so I won't call it a victory now," Sharma told ANI. "I didn't fight this election, the people of Amethi did," the Congress candidate said. "The Gandhi family gave me the ticket and bestowed a responsibility on me, and I think I am fulfilling their expectations."
In 2019, Smriti Irani won the seat of Amethi by defeating Rahul Gandhi by a margin of over 55,000 votes. In the state of Uttar Pradesh, BJP is leading on 35 seats, while the INDIA bloc, of Samajwadi Party and Congress, has won 34 and 7 seats respectively.
The Congress is leading/won seats of Amethi, Rae Bareli, Amroha, Saharanpur, Sitapur, Allahabad and Barabanki. Rahul Gandhi, who is contesting from the other party bastion of Rae Bareli is leading by a huge margin of 3,85,501 votes. He is also contesting from Wayanad in Kerala and leading by a margin of 3,59,170 votes.
Kuwar Danish Aliis leading in Amroha from 12,896 votes. Ujjwal Raman Singh is leading in Allahabad by 42,492 votes and Tauj Punia is leading in Barabanki with 2,04,180. Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA crossed the majority mark in early leads and the INDIA bloc above 200, defying all exit poll predictions. As per the Election Commission data, the NDA alliance is leading on around 300 seats while the INDIA bloc is at 230 seats.
Most exit polls predicted a straight term for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with quite a few of them projecting a two-thirds majority for the ruling BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
