New Delhi: There was no respite for the Congress in these Lok Sabha elections, with the party facing a drubbing for the second consecutive Parliamentary polls. For the party’s dynasts, the 2019 polls have been disastrous.
Of the 11 well-known dynasts who contested in these elections, nine lost, including Congress president Rahul Gandhi (in Amethi) and Guna MP Jyotiraditya Scindia. Only two — Nakul Nath, son of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath and Gaurav Gogoi, son of former Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi — managed to buck the trend.
ThePrint takes a look at how the party’s candidates from political families fared.
Jyotiraditya Scindia: Son of the late Madhavrao Scindia, Jyotiraditya is set to lose the family’s pocket borough of Guna, a first for the Scindias.
The family has never lost Guna — Jyotiraditya, his father, the late Madhavrao Scindia, and his grandmother, late Vijayaraje Scindia, have all represented the constituency since 1957, except in 1967 and 1984. On both occasions, the seat was not fought by the family, which had shifted to the nearby Gwalior Lok Sabha seat.
Guna is set to be won by BJP’s K.P. Yadav, an MBBS doctor who was leading by over 1.25 lakh votes. Only last year, Yadav was seen taking a selfie with Scindia.
Ahead of assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh in 2018, Yadav joined the BJP after being denied a Congress ticket; he contested the assembly elections but lost.
Also read: 2019 message — India tired of dynasts with a foot in London, New York or Dubai
Rahul Gandhi: Although Gandhi won in Wayanad, he lost his family bastion of Amethi to BJP’s Smriti Irani by about 47,000 votes.
Gandhi had been winning the seat since 2004 and had won it in 2014 by a margin of around one lakh votes. His family, including his late father Rajiv Gandhi and uncle, late Sanjay Gandhi, had been winning the seat since 1980, except in 1991 when family loyalist Satish Sharma won on a Congress ticket and in 1998 when Sanjay Singh won on a BJP ticket.
Milind Deora: Son of Congress leader and former union minister, the late Murli Deora, Milind is set to lose in the Mumbai South constituency to Shiv Sena’s Arvind Sawant, who was leading by over a lakh votes at 8.30 pm. Industrialists Mukesh Ambani and Uday Kotak had endorsed his candidature.
This is the second successive loss for Deora, a friend of Rahul Gandhi who was appointed as the Mumbai Congress chief ahead of the elections.
Lalitesh Tripathi: The great-grandson of former union minister Kamalapati Tripathi, Lalitesh is set to lose the Mirzapur seat to Apna Dal leader Anupriya Patel. He was trailing by over 2.30 lakh votes as of 8.30 pm.
Also read: Why the Congress party should stop apologising about dynasty
Vaibhav Gehlot: Son of Rajasthan’s Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Vaibhav, contesting from Jodhpur, lost to Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat by a margin of over 2.74 lakh votes. It was his electoral debut.
To ensure his son’s victory, Gehlot was reported to have addressed and participated in 93 rallies, meetings and roadshows in Jodhpur.
Sushmita Dev: The daughter of former union minister Santosh Mohan Dev, Sushmita lost the Silchar seat in Assam, a family bastion, to the BJP’s Rajdeep Roy, by a margin of over 80,000 votes.
Bhavya Bishnoi: Son of Congress leader Kuldeep Bishnoi, Bhavya lost the Hisar seat by 3,11,526 votes to the BJP’s Brijendra Singh.
Also read: How 5 families over 3 generations have controlled Haryana’s politics from day one
Priya Dutt: Daughter of actor-turned-politician Sunil Dutt, Priya lost the Mumbai North Central seat by over 1.30 lakh votes to BJP’s Poonam Mahajan, daughter of late Pramod Mahajan.
Deepender Hooda: The son of former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Deepender is in the middle of an extremely tight contest, trailing the BJP’s Arvind Kumar Sharma by 2,636 votes (as of 9 pm).
Deepender has represented Rohtak seat since 2005 while his father held the seat since 1991, except in 1999. Deepender’s grandfather, freedom fighter Ranbir Singh Hooda had represented the constituency in the first and second Lok Sabha.
The two who swerved the tide
Nakul Nath: Son of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, Nakul won his family bastion of Chhindwara by 3,80,00 votes, defeating Nathan Shah Kavreti of the BJP. Kamal Nath has won this constituency for nine terms and his wife Alka Nath once.
Gaurav Gogoi: Son of former Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi, Gaurav won from Kaliabor seat for the second consecutive time by a margin of 13,000 votes. The seat is a Congress stronghold with the party having lost it only twice — in 1984 and 1996
Shri Sanjay Nirupam messed up the Bombay Congress. Both Ms Priya Dutt and Shri Milind Deora had to be persuaded at the last moment to contest. Which begs the question : Who hired Nirupam and tolerated him for so long …