BJP candidate and Union Minister Rao Inderjit Singh defeated his nearest rival and Congress candidate Capt. Ajay Yadav by a margin of 3,86,256 votes to win the Gurugram Lok Sabha constituency for the third consecutive term on Thursday.
In 2014, he had defeated Indian National Lok Dal leader Zakir Hussain by a margin of 2,74,722 votes.
Having won from Gurugram in 2009 and 2014, Mr. Singh — belonging to the majority Ahirwal community — was not expected to face any major challenge from the Congress this time. Analysts attributed his victory — with an unprecedented margin of around four lakh votes — mostly to the “Modi wave”. He polled 60.94% of the total votes cast.
Mr. Singh mostly sought votes in the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, besides enumerating the host of infrastructure projects, such as Kundli-Manesar-Palwal Expressway and AIIMS, launched during his five-year tenure as MP.
Not likely to contest the next Lok Sabha election, Mr. Singh, in an emotional speech, expressed gratitude to the party cadres for working hard to ensure his victory.
He said that he felt burdened by the expectations of the people and would do everything possible to live up to them.
Nuh turnout
Even before the counting of votes, Congress’ hopes were partially dashed due to the less-than-expected turnout in the Muslim-dominated Nuh district on May 12.
Capt. Yadav, during his poll campaign, had attacked Mr. Singh for allegedly failing to complete several infrastructure projects, especially in Nuh, but could not catch the fancy of the urban voters in Gurugram and Badshahpur Assembly constituencies, which together account for more than six lakh voters.
Jannayak Janta Party’s Mehmood Khan, an IIM postgraduate, managed to poll only 8,993 votes (0.62%).
As many as 5,389 voters exercised the NOTA option.
A total of 24 candidates, including seven Independents, were in the fray.