Munde's daughter Pritam scripts Lok Sabha history, wins by 7 lakh votes

Pritam Munde, the second daughter of late Bharatiya Janata Party leader Gopinath Munde, scripted Lok Sabha history by winning the Beed seat in Maharashtra in a by-poll by a record margin of nearly seven lakh votes.

The record for a maximum victory margin in the Lok Sabha polls is currently held by Anil Basu of the Communist Party of India-Marxist who won by 5,92,502 votes from Arambagh in West Bengal during the 2004 Lok Sabha elections.

Thirty-two-year-old Pritam, who polled 9,22,416 votes, trounced former Congress minister Ashok Patil by 6,96,321 votes from the Beed parliamentary constituency, poll officials said. Patil secured 2,26,095 votes. The Beed by-poll was necessitated following the death of Gopinath Munde in a road accident in Delhi in June this year.

The third highest victory margin has been recorded by late Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao who won from Nandyal in Andhra Pradesh with a 5.8 lakh margin in 1991.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi won the Vadodara Lok Sabha seat in May by 5.7 lakh votes. Modi later vacated this seat and retained the Varanasi seat. This is followed by Ram Vilas Paswan's 1989 margin of 5,04,448 votes from Hajipur in Bihar. Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy won from Kadapa Lok Sabha seat with a margin of 5,21,000 votes.

Modi had commenced his assembly poll campaign in Maharashtra from Beed, saying that had Munde been alive, there would have been no need for him (Modi) to canvass for votes.

The Shiv Sena chose not to put up a candidate against Munde’s daughter while the Nationalist Congress Party did not field anyone against Pritam as announced by Sharad Pawar soon after Munde’s death.

Image: Pritam Munde won from the Beed seat in Maharashtra in a by-poll, which was necessitated following her father's death in a road accident. Photograph: Pritam Munde/Facebook