New Delhi LS seat won by woman candidate after 54 years

New Delhi, May 18: The New Delhi Lok Sabha seat has been bagged by a woman candidate after a gap of 54 years. In the just-concluded elections for the 16th Lok Sabha, BJP leader Meenakshi Lekhi defeated sitting MP and Congress heavyweight Ajay Maken from New Delhi seat by a huge margin.

Lawyer-turned-politician Lekhi, is the second woman to have gained victory on this seat after freedom fighter and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Sucheta Kriplani. Kriplani was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1952 and 1957 from the same constituency.

Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had won from the New Delhi LS seat in 1977 on a Janata party ticket. He managed to retain the seat in 1980 but on a BJP ticket. In 1984, KC Pant of the Congress was declared elected from New Delhi.

In the next two subsequent elections (1989 and 1991), the seat was wrested from the Congress by BJP's L K Advani. In the subsequent by-election in 1992, cinestar Rajesh Khanna defeated Advani and bagged the seat on a Congress ticket.

However, he lost to senior BJP leader Jagmohan in the 1996 elections who retained the seat in the next elections as well. Jagmohan was defeated by Congress' Ajay Maken who dominated the seat from 2004 to 2014 and was defeated by Meenakshi Lekhi this time.

Lekhi secured 4,53,350 votes, followed by AAP's Ashish Khaitan finishing second with 2,90,642 votes and Congress' Ajay Maken managing a mere 1,82,893 to end up third.

PTI