26 candidates in Amethi take away 60,545 votes.
The difference between the victorious Smriti Irani and Rahul Gandhi is 55,120 votes.
Smriti Irani turned out to be the biggest giant-killer in this election, defeating Congress President Rahul Gandhi in Amethi by 55,120 votes.
She did that in spite of the fact that the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party did not contest elections from Amethi, thus supporting Rahul Gandhi indirectly.
However, there were 26 other candidates in the fray who together bagged around 60,545 votes, including NOTA with 3,940 votes, thus helping Smriti Irani defeat Rahul Gandhi.
If these 60,545 votes had not been diverted, who knows what the outcome in Amethi could have been!
So who are the 26 and how many votes did they take away?
Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com takes a look:
| Sr No | Candidate | Party | Total Votes | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Smriti Irani | Bharatiya Janata Party (Winner) | 468,514 | |
| 2 | Rahul Gandhi | Indian National Congress | 413,394 | |
| DIFFERENCE IN VOTES | 55,120 | |||
| OTHERS IN THE FRAY | ||||
| 3 | Afajal Varis | Bahujan Mukti Party | 6,183 | |
| 4 | Gopal Swaroop Gandhi | Kisan Majdoor Berojgar Sangh | 1,574 | |
| 5 | Durgesh Singh | Bharat Prabhat Party | 958 | |
| 6 | Nathu Ram | Janvadi Party (Socialist) | 847 | |
| 7 | Prem Shankar | Moulik Adhikar Party | 1,729 | |
| 8 | Pankaj Ramkumar Singh | Akhand Rashtrawadi Party | 1,057 | |
| 9 | Bas Deo Maurya | Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Red Star | 988 | |
| 10 | Ram Milan | Rashtriya Apna Dal | 1,144 | |
| 11 | Ram Sidh Yadav | Manavtawadi Samaj Party | 3,055 | |
| 12 | Shatrunjai Pratap Singh | Lok Gathbandhan Party | 1,716 | |
| 13 | Shiv Nandan Singh | Bharatiya Sampuran Krantikari Party | 1,948 | |
| 14 | Gopal Prasad | Independent | 3,177 | |
| 15 | Dinesh Kumar | Independent | 4,301 | |
| 16 | Dhruv Lal | Independent | 7,816 | |
| 17 | Bhagwandeen | Independent | 3,860 | |
| 18 | Ram Sajiwan | Independent | 5,616 | |
| 19 | Lal Babu | Independent | 2,318 | |
| 20 | Vipin Yadav | Independent | 1,039 | |
| 21 | Shiv Kumar | Independent | 495 | |
| 22 | Dr U P Shivananda | Independent | 547 | |
| 23 | Saritha S Nair | Independent | 569 | |
| 24 | Suresh Kumar Shukla | Independent | 779 | |
| 25 | Mohammad Hasan Lahari | Independent | 1,224 | |
| 26 | Harun Rasheed | Independent | 2,085 | |
| 27 | Hemant Kumar | Independent | 1,580 | |
| 28 | NOTA | None of the Above | 3,940 | |
| TOTAL VOTES POLLED BY OTHERS | 60,545 |
Tell PM Modi what you'd like him to do
Appeasement politics boomeranged on Mamata
Modi2: What does the future hold for India's Muslims?
Modi's Parliament speech decoded
Wisdom demands Modi dial back on Hindu nationalism