52 Congress MLAs come from 18 states, UTs
New Delhi: Who are the 52 candidates of the Congress who won despite the Narendra Modi wave in the just-concluded Lok Sabha elections?
Congress had fielded 421 candidates across the country but only 52 of them got elected from 18 states and union territories, marking the second dismal performance by the grand old party in the second successive general elections.
The Congress won the maximum number of 15 seats in Kerala followed by eight in Punjab and Tamil Nadu each. In 17 states and union territories, it could not even open its account.
Among the party leaders who lost were 4 members of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the highest decision-making body of the party.
Among the victorious candidates, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi is the only Congress nominee to win from electorally-crucial Uttar Pradesh. She managed to retain her Rae Bareli seat in Uttar Pradesh by winning by 1,67,178 votes.
Congress President Rahul Gandhi, while losing his family pocket borough seat of Amethi in Uttar Pradesh which had elected him thrice earlier, got elected from the second seat of Wayanad in Kerala by 431770 votes.
Here is the list of other Congress candidates who won:
3. Kuldeep Rai Sharma: He is the Congress chief of Andaman and Nicobar Islands and won the seat by a narrow margin of 1,407 votes.
4. Abdul Khaleque: A Congress MLA, he won from Barpeta in Assam by a margin of 1,40,307 votes.
5. Pradyut Bordoloi: He is a former Assam minister and won from Nowgong in Assam by 16,752 votes.
6. Gaurav Gogoi: A sitting party MP and son of former Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, he retained Kaliabor by 2,09,994 votes
7. Mohammad Javed: He won from Bihar’s Kishanganj, a seat traditionally considered strong for Congress, but not with a big margin. He won by 34,466 votes.
8. Deepak Baij: A Congress MLA, he won from Bastar in Chhattisgarh by 38,982 votes.
9. Jyotsna Mahant: She is wife of Chhattisgarh assembly Speaker Charan Das Mahant and won from Korba in Chhattisgarh by 26,349 votes
10. Fransciso Sardinha: He is a former MP and won by 9,755 votes from South Goa in a tight contest.
11. Geeta Kora: The only Congress candidate to win from Jharkhand, she won from Singhbhum with a margin of 72,155 votes.
12. Komatireddy Ventkat Reddy: A four-time legislator, he won from Bhongir in Telangana by 5,219 votes
13. D. K. Suresh: The only Congress candidate to win from Karnataka, he has retained Bangalore Rural by 2,06,870 votes.
14. Shashi Tharoor: The former Union Minister won from Thiruvananthapuram with a margin of 99,989 votes
15. Ramya Haridas: A former block panchayat president, she won from Kerala’s Alathur by 1,58,968 votes. The seat was considered tough for the Congress.
16. Adoor Prakash : He won from Attingal, considered a citadel of the Left by 38,247 votes.
17. Benny Behanan: He had to be hospitalised during his campaign but won from Chalakudy by 1,32,274 votes.
18. Hibbi Eden: A young leader of the Congress, he won from Erankulam by 1,69,153 votes, which is a record margin for the constituency.
19. Dean Kuriakose: He took part in agitations organised by the UDF concerning farmers and won from Idukki by 1,71,053 votes
20. K. Sudhakaran: He raised the issue of political violence in his campaign and won from Kannur by 94,559 votes
21. Rajmohan Unnithan: He won his first-ever election and has been elected from Kasargod by 40,438 votes. The seat was considered tough for the Congress.
22. M. K. Raghavan: He has scored a hat-trick and won from 85,225 from Kozhikode.
23. K. Suresh: He won for the third time from Mavelikkara and defeated his rival by 61,138 votes
24. V. K. Sreekantan: He gave a surprise defeat to the Left front wresting the Palakkad seat for the UDF by 11,637 votes.
25. Anto Antony: He is sitting Congress MP from Pathanamthitta and won the seat by 44,243 votes.
26. T. N. Prathapan: He is a three-time MLA and won from Thrissur by 93,633 votes
27. K. Muraleedharan: He is a MLA and highlighted the cult of violence in the state. He won from Vadakara by 84,663 votes.
28. Nakul Nath: He is son of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath and won from Chhindwara by 37,536 votes.
29. Suresh Dhanorkar: He won from Maharashtra’s Chandrapur by defeating union minister Hansraj Ahir by margin of 44,763
30. Vincent H. Pala: A two-time MP and a businessman, he won from Shillong by 1,52,433 votes
31. V. Vaithilingam: A former Chief Minister, he won from Puducherry by a record margin of 197,025 votes
32. G. S. Aujla – He is a sitting MP and won again from Amritsar by 99,626 votes.
33. Manish Tewari : A former Union Minister and a senior spokesperson of the Congress, he won from Anandpur Sahib by 46,884 votes.
34. Mohammad Sadique: He is Punjabi folk singer and won by 83,256 votes from Faridkot.
35. Amar Singh: He is a former IAS officer of Madhya Pradesh cadre and won from Fategarh Sahib by 93,898 votes.
36. Santokh Singh Chaudhary: He is a sitting party MP and won from Jalandhar by 19,491 votes in 2019 elections.
37. Jasbir Singh: A former Congress MLA, he won from Khadoor Sahib by 140,573 votes.
38. Ravneet Singh Bittu: He is grandson of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh and a sitting Congress MP. He won from Ludhiana by 76,372 votes.
39. Preneet Kaur: Wife of Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and a former MP, she won from Patiala by 162,718 votes
40. Revanth Reddy: He is Telangana Congress working president and won from Malkajgiri by 10,919 votes
41. Uttam Kumar Reddy: He is Telangana Congress chief and won from Nalgonda by 25,682 votes
42. Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury: A vocal critic of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, he retained Baharampur by 80,696 votes.
43. Abu Hasem Khan Chowdhury: He is sitting Congress MP and won by 8222 votes from Malada Dakshin.
44. Saptagiri Ulka: He is Btech in computer science and has worked with top IT companies. He won from Koraput in Odisha by 3,613 votes.
45. M.K. Vishnu Prasad: He is working president of Tamil Nadu Congress and won from Arani by 2,30,806 votes .
46. H. Vasanthakumar : He is working president of Tamil Nadu Congress and won from Kanniyakumari by 2,59,933 votes.
47. S. Jothimani: She has been associated with Youth Congress and won from Karur by 4,20,546.
48. A. Chellakumar – He is a permanent invitee to Congress Working Committee and won from Krishnagiri by 156,765 votes.
49. Karti Chidambaram: Son of senior Congress leader and former union minister P. Chidambaram, he won from Sivaganga by 332,244 votes.
50. K.Jayakumar: A former MLA, he raised issues concerning farmers and s won from Tiruvallur by 356,955 votes. The seat had been won by AIADMK in 2014.
51. S Thirunnavukkarasar: He is former chief of Tamil Nadu Congress and won from Tiruchirappalli by 4,59,286 votes.
52. Manickam Tagore: He has been associated with Indian Youth Congress and had won Virudhunagar in 2009. He won the seat by 1,54,554 votes in 2019.