Lok Sabha Election Results 2024: As per the results announced by the Election Commission of India on Tuesday (June 4), the BJP won 240 seats and along with its allies, it stands at 293 seats in the recently-held general elections. In the upcoming 18th Lok Sabha, as many as 526 candidates will be from the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). The Congress-led I.N.D.I.A bloc bagged 233 seats.
The remaining 17 to-be Members of Parliament (MPs) do not belong to either bloc and seven of them contested and won as independent candidates. Chandrababu Naidu's Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal-United (JDU), having won 16 and 12 seats respectively in their respective states, have extended support to the NDA. The I.N.D.I.A bloc has 234 MPs in the new parliament with the Congress having won 99 seats.
Who are these seven independent candidates?
- Amritpal Singh (currently in jail)
- Sarabjeet Singh Khalsa
- Patel Umeshbhai Babubhai
- Mohamad Haneefa
- Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav
- Vishal Patil
- Sheikh Abdul Rashid alias Rashid Engineer (currently in jail)
Know more about independents who can play relevant roles-
1. Amritpal Singh
Amritpal, who heads pro-Khalistan outfit 'Waris Punjab De', is currently lodged in Assam's Dibrugarh jail under the National Security Act (NSA). He returned to India in September 2022 from Dubai, where he moved in 2012 to join his family's transport business.
Singh won the Khadoor Sahib seat by a margin of around 1,97,120 votes over his nearest rival and Congress candidate Kulbuir Singh Zira. Political greenhorn and radical Sikh preacher Singh is lodged in a jail after being slapped under the stringent NSA a year ago. His father Tarsem Singh thanked the almighty and expressed gratitude to the 'sangat' (community) for their overwhelming support.
2. Sarabjeet Singh Khalsa
Sarabjeet Khalsa is the son of Beant Singh, one of the two bodyguards who assassinated then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in October 1984. Singh's grandfather, Baba Sucha Singh, also served as a Lok Sabha member, representing Bathinda.
Sarabjeet Singh won in Faridkot by around 70,053 votes over AAP's Karamjit Singh Anmol.
3. Rajesh Ranjan (Pappu Yadav)
Rajesh Ranjan who is popularly known as Pappu Yadav has merged his Jan Adhikar Party (JAP) with the Congress in March. Pappu Yadav, who has served multiple terms as a Lok Sabha member, contested independently after the Congress party gave ticket of Purnia to the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) under their seat-sharing agreement.
4. Sheikh Abdul Rashid
Engineer Sheikh Abdul Rashid is currently lodged in Delhi's Tihar Jail in a terror-funding case. The former two-time legislator was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in 2019 on charges of terror-funding activities, becoming the first mainstream leader to be held under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Abdul Rashid is the founder of the Jammu and Kashmir Awami Ittehad Party. He is a former two-time MLA from the Langate constituency of the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir, which he won in 2008 and 2014. He also contested the 2019 Lok Sabha polls but was defeated. He contested all these polls as an independent candidate.
5. Umeshbhai Babubhai Patel
According to the ADR report, Babubhai is a social worker. His victory is significant as he defeated sitting BJP MP Lalubhai Babubhai Patel, who was seeking a fourth successive term from the Daman and Diu seat.
Umesh Patel, who won by a margin of around 6,225 votes, gained popularity among voters through his public criticism of Praful Patel, the administrator of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, during the campaign. His victory signals a shift in the region's political landscape, challenging the longstanding dominance of major parties.
6. Vishal Prakashbapu Patil
The grandson of former Maharashtra chief minister Vasantrao Patil rebelled against the Congress after the grand old party's ally, Shiv Sena (UBT), fielded its own candidate. Vishal who won as an independent candidate from Maharashtra extended support to the party on Thursday (June 6).
7. Mohmad Haneefa
A former district president of the National Conference, Haneefa is the fourth independent to win the Ladakh seat, which came into existence in 1967. Independents won here in the 1984, 2004, and 2009 national election as well.
Haneefa is the fourth Independent candidate to win the seat, the largest in the country in terms of area, having more than 1.84 lakh eligible voters- a majority 95,926 in the Muslim-dominated Kargil district and 88,877 in the Buddhist-dominated Leh district.
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