The 17th Lok Sabha will witness close to 200 sitting MPs, from the Lok Sabha and returning to the House for another term. Among them, there are around 30 women parliamentarians. The Lok Sabha polls this time have seen the largest number of women being elected with their tally standing at 78.
According to the Election Commission’s data, as many as 197 sitting MPs, including 27 women parliamentarians, from the 2014 Lok Sabha polls have managed to retain their seats this general election.
Kiren Rijiju, Jual Oram, Radha Mohan Singh, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari and Babul Supriyo are among over 145 sitting BJP MPs from across the country who have retained their seats. Bihar saw 12 BJP MPs successfully retesting their fate, while Congress’ Supaul MP lost. The Congress had also fielded former BJP MP from Patna Sahib, Shatrughan Sinha, but he could not retain the seat.
Two sitting MPs were nominated by the JD(U), while three were fielded by the LJP. All five of them won. Three RJD MPs were also renominated from the State, but had to face defeat. In Andhra Pradesh, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) had renominated nine of its MPs, but could retain only two of the seats, including Vijaywada and Guntur. The YSR Congress party retained the Kadapa and Rajampet seats in the State.
Assam saw two sitting MPs each from the BJP and the Congress in the fray. While the BJP duo won, the Congress ones lost. The All India United Democratic Front retained its Dhubri seat. The NCP had renominated sitting MP Mohammed Faizal PP from Lakshadweep and secured the seat in 2019 as well. The CPI(M) had renominated its MPs from two seats in Tripura, but both of them lost to BJP. The TRS had renominated six of its MPs in Telangana, but could only retain two, while four of them lost to BJP. The AIADMK had reposed its faith in seven sitting MPs in Tamil Nadu, but did not wrest a single seat.
In West Bengal, the Trinamool Congress had fielded 23 of its sitting MPs of which nine could not retain their constituencies. BJP had renominated its lone MP from the state, Babul Supriyo, who emerged victorious.
The BJP fielded 16 sitting MPs in Rajasthan and all of them emerged victorious with comfortable margins. Similarly 14 of the 15 recontesting BJP MPs were successful in Maharashtra, while 15 of the Shiv Sena sitting MPs retained their seats. In Punjab, the Congress had fielded three sitting MPs who won and two were fielded by Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). While Prem Singh Chandumarja lost from Anandpur Sahib, Harsimrat Kaur Badal retained the Bathinda seat.
The AAP’s only seat in the Lok Sabha elections came from Punjab where its sitting MP Bhagwant Mann retained the constituency.
As far as women parliamentarians are concerned, 78 are women with Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal leading at 11 each. A total of 724 women candidates contested from across the country with the Congress fielding the maximum women at 54 followed closely by the BJP at 53. As many as 27 out of 41 sitting women MPs, including Sonia Gandhi, Hema Malini and Kirron Kher, retained their seats in the Lok Sabha polls, but the likes of Smriti Irani and Pragya Thakur stole the show with their victories over their more renowned rivals.
With over 14 per cent female MPs, the 17th Lok Sabha will have the highest number of women candidates since 1952. In 16th Lok Sabha, 64 women had won, while 52 women were elected to the 15th Lok Sabha.
Irani emerged as a giant-slayer — this time scripting a historic win by dethroning Rahul Gandhi in the Congress’ home turf Amethi. Controversial BJP candidate from Bhopal and terror-accused Thakur won against former Chief Minister Digvijay Singh. Other prominent names to enter Parliament are DMK candidate from Thoothukkudi Kanimozhi Karunanidhi and BJP’s Rita Bahuguna, who won from Uttar Pradesh’s Allahabad constituency. Locket Chatterjee, Bengali actress-turned-politician from the BJP, won in Hooghly constituency.
