New Delhi: Jumping parties did not augur well for ‘turncoats’ as most of the 76 such prominent candidates are facing defeat on their respective seats, according to the Election Commission data.
Actor-politician Shatrughan Sinha, who joined Congress ahead of the Lok Sabha election, lost by 2.84 lakh votes from his nearest rival Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad from Patna Sahib constituency in Bihar.
In nearby Madhepura, former JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav, who joined the RJD before polls, was lagging behind by over 3,00,000 votes from Dinesh Chandra Yadav of JD(U).
Tariq Anwar, who switched from Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) to Congress, lost by over 57,000 votes from Katihar from DC Goswami of JD(U).
Cricketer-turned-politician Kirti Azad is trailing from Dhanbad by over 3.99 lakh votes. He had joined Congress from BJP.
Son of former Union minister Jaswant Singh, Manvendra, who contested on a Congress ticket from Barmer lost by about 3.23 lakh votes from Kailash Choudhary of BJP.
In Karnataka, BJP candidate from Hassan, A Manju who joined the party only recently failed to taste success and lost by over 1.41 lakh votes to Prajwal Revanna, grandson of former Prime Minister HD Devegowda.
Baijayant Panda, who was expelled from the BJD and is contesting from Kendrapara in Odisha on a BJP ticket. He is currently is lagging behind by over 1.07 lakh votes against his BJD rival Anubhav Mohanty.
Former Union Minister Panabaka Lakshmi who changed sides from Congress to TDP is trailing by 2.24 lakh votes in the Tirupati Lok Sabha constituency while AAP candidate Dharamvira Gandhi is trailing from Patiala in Punjab.
In West Bengal, nearly 10 out of 18 turncoats are staring at defeat as counting draws to a close. Manas Bhunia, Apurba Sarkar, Kanialal Agarwal – all former Congress MLAs – who contested from Midnapore, Baharampur and Raiganj, respectively on TMC tickets are trailing.
Paresh Adhikary and Mafuja Khatun, former MLAs of Forward Bloc and CPI(M), contested on TMC and BJP tickets, respectively. They are trailing in Coochbehar and Jangipur Lok Sabha seats.
Anupam Hazra and Mausam Noor, former MPs of TMC and Congress, fought the polls on BJP and TMC tickets, respectively. They are trailing in Jadavpur and Malda North Lok Sabha seats, respectively.
PTI