Sonia wins Rae Bareli LS seat; others forfeit security deposits

Rae Bareli, May 11: AICC President Sonia Gandhi today won the Rae Bareli Lok Sabha by-elections by a landslide margin of 4,17,888 votes.

Ms Gandhi polled a total of 4,74,891 votes while her nearest rival Raj Kumar Choudhury (Samajwadi Party) could only muster 57,003 votes.

BJP's Vinay Katiyar polled 19,657 votes while former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Uma Bharti's supported candidate Prabha Singh Lodh (Apna Dal) could only manage 6,201 votes.

Rest of the 15 candidates in the fray against Ms Gandhi lost their security deposit as they could not muster the required number of votes.

Returning officer and Rae Bareli District magistrate Jitendra Kumar announced the final tally after completion of the 24 rounds of counting.

He said that the official announcement would only be made after getting the clearance from the Election Commission.

In the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, Ms Gandhi had won the seat by over 2.49 lakh votes.

UNI