As the 2024 Lok Sabha election results were declared on June 4, Smriti Irani of the Bharatiya Janata Party conceded defeat to Kishori Lal Sharma of Congress, by a vast margin of over 1.6 lakh votes. Irani, who unseated Rahul Gandhi from his family bastion in the 2019 elections, managed to secure 3,72,032 votes, while Sharma clinched 5,39,228 votes. Despite the defeat, Irani expressed a confident attitude, as reflected in her recent social media post.
The BJP leader posted a textual statement on her Instagram page, congratulating the winners and expressing gratitude to her supporters. "To those who stood by me through loss and victory, I am forever grateful. To those celebrating today, congratulations. And to those asking, 'How's the josh?' I say- it's still high, Sir," she wrote.
Congress Reclaims Amethi
BJP leader Smriti Irani was defeated in Amethi by a margin of over 1,60,000 votes, while Congress' Gandhi-family loyalist KL Sharma won the seat with about 5.4 lakh votes. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, while campaigning for Sharma in Amethi, had said, "He has been associated with Amethi for the last 40 years. He has dedicated his entire life to Amethi".
In Uttar Pradesh as a whole (80 seats), the INDIA bloc comprising Samajwadi Party (won 37 seats) and Congress (won six seats) swept the majority of votes, followed by BJP (won 33 seats), according to the Election Commission. Smriti Irani had successfully contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, defeating the then Congress president Rahul Gandhi from Amethi by over 50,000 votes.
Known for her prominence as a former actor, Irani first entered the Rajya Sabha from Gujarat in 2011 and was re-elected in August 2017. She has held several key positions in the BJP, including national general secretary, vice president of the BJP's Maharashtra Youth Wing, and national president of the BJP's Mahila Morcha.
Between May 2014 and July 2016, Irani served as the minister of human resource development, and from July 2017 to May 2018, she managed the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Most recently, she served as the Union minister for women and child development and textiles. Irani was defeated by Congress candidate KL Sharma.
In 2019, Irani had 468,514 voters, 49.7% of which were voters, while Rahul Gandhi had 413,394 voters, 43.9% of which were voters. The Amethi seat comprises five assembly segments: Tiloi, Salon, Jagdishpur, Gauriganj, and Amethi. It is a general seat. Voting was held on May 20, in the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha elections in 2024.
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