Gujarat: Independents, small parties failed to derail BJP's Mission-26

Ahmedabad, May 20: Small parties and independents are known to play the role of spoilsport for political big-wigs, but this time even their vote count could not create a significant dent in the 'NaMo-wave' which swept all the 26 Lok Sabha seats in

.

Figures in Narendra Modi's home turf reveal that the total number of votes polled in favour of small parties like AAP, SP, JD(U),BSP along with independents put together too could not cross the margin of lead obtained by BJP nominees.

In Jamnagar Lok Sabha seat of the state, the highest number of nominees fought the electoral battle, where 23 'other' candidates were in poll fray against BJP's Poonam Madam and Congress candidate Vikram Madam.

Poonam Madam defeated two-time MP Vikram Madam with a margin of 1,75,289 votes while 23 other candidates of political parties like AAP, SP, BSP including 19 independents manage to poll 51,450 votes.

Jamnagar is followed by Navsari Lok Sabha seat where 19 'others' had contested against BJP's candidate C R Patil and Congress' Maqsood Mirza and secured 67,879 votes.

Patil won Navsari Lok Sabha seat with a huge margin of 5,58,116 votes and stood at second after Narendra Modi. Interestingly, no independent contested from Vadodara Lok Sabha seat where BJP's Narendra Modi had beaten Congress's Madhusudan Mistry with a margin of 5,70,128 votes.

Parties like AAP, BSP, SUCI (c), SP, JD (U) along with a less known Apna Desh Party altogether got 22,724 votes and could not derail Modi's mission in Gujarat.

In Gandhinagar seat of BJP veteran L K Advani, 16 other candidates obtained 58,761 votes while the winning margin was 4,83,121.

Saurashtra regions' Surendranagar Lok Sabha seat had witnessed the impressive presence of 17 others who had secured 75,554 votes but could not cut the winning margin of BJP's candidate Devji Fatehpura who defeated Congress's Soma Patel with 2.02 lakh votes.

In Rajkot seat, 15 others were in fray against BJP's Mohan Kundaria and Congress's Kunvarji Bavaliya. Others got 42,200 votes, while Kundaria won against Bavaliya with a margin of 2,46,428 votes.

PTI