Verdict 2019: Record victory for Modi's ministers; disappointment for Puri, Alphons

Riding the Modi wave, a record number of 43 Union ministers marched to Lok Sabha, while five others including former bureaucrats Hardeep Puri and KJ Alphons faced disappointment.

As many as 48 ministers of National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government were in the fray in the general elections.

Textile Minister Smriti Irani emerged as a giant-slayer against Congress president Rahul Gandhi who lost by 55,120 votes in Amethi.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi retained Varanasi by defeating Samajwadi Party candidate Shalini Yadav by over 4,79,505 votes. He increased his victory margin as compared to 2014 by over one lakh votes.

Giriraj Singh, who was up against CPI candidate Kanhaiya Kumar, defeated the former JNU students union president by a margin of 4,22,217 votes in Begusarai constituency.

Radha Mohan Singh fielded from Purvi Champaran defeated his RJD rival Aakash Singh by a margin of 2,93,648 votes. In Arrah, RK Singh defeated his nearest rival Raju Yadav of CPI(ML) by a margin of 147285 votes.

Ravi Shankar Prasad defeated Congress' Shatrughan Sinha on Patna Sahib seat by 2,84,657 votes.

Firebrand leader and Union minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey too sailed through against RJD's Jagadanand Singh, winning the Buxar seat by 117609 votes.

Cabinet minister KJ Alphons faced a humiliating defeat in Kerala. He trailed at the third place behind Congress' Hibi Eden and CPI(M) candidate P Rajeev on Ernakulam seat. Eden won by a margin of 169153 votes.

His colleague and Union Housing and Urban Affairs minister Hardeep Puri lost in Amritsar by a margin of over 99626 votes against Congress's Gurjeet Singh Aujala.

Another big loss for the BJP was minister of state for Railways Manoj Sinha who was defeated by BSP's Afzal Ansari in Ghazipur seat by 1,19,392 votes .

Shiv Sena's Anant Geete lost from Raighad by 31,438 votes while Union minister of state for Home Affairs Hansraj Gangaram Ahir lost from Chandrapur against Congress' Balubhau by 44,763 votes. Pon Radhakrishnan lost from Kanyakumari by a huge margin of 2,59,933 votes.

The big winners included Rajnath Singh and Nitin Gadkari. Singh defeated Samajwadi Party candidate and Shatrughna Sinha's wife Poonam Sinha in Lucknow by 3,47,302 votes.

Gadkari won from Nagpur by a margin 2,16,009 votes. He was up against Congress' Nana Patole. Krishna Pal won Faridabad seat in Haryana by a mammoth margin of 6,38,229 votes.

In Jodhupur, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat defeated Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gahlot's son Vaibhav Gahlot by 2,74,440 votes.

In UP's Baghpat, Satyapal Singh was also engaged in a keen fight with RLD candidate Jayant Chaudhary. Singh finally defeated Chaudhary by 23,502 votes.

Sanjiv Balyan was also engaged in an intense contest in Muzaffarpur seat in UP. He defeated RLD chief Ajit Singh by thin margin of 6,526 votes.

Maneka Gandhi, who switched to Sultanpur(UP) seat, defeated BSP's Chandra Bhadra Singh by a margin of over 14,000 votes. In West Begnal SS Ahluwalia won the Burdwan - Durgapur seat defeating

TMC's Mamtaz Sanghamita by 2,439 votes. Sudarshan Bhagat won from Lohardaga(Jharkhand) by a margin of 10,363 votes.

BJP's biggest winners included VK Singh who defeted his rival from SP Suresh Bansal by a margin of 5,01,500 in Ghaziabad constituency. Kiren Rijiju(Arunachal West) defeated former Arunachal CM Nabam Tuki by 1,72,637 votes.

Rajyavardhan Rathor defeated Olympian Krishna Poonia of Congress by 3,93,171 votes on Jaipur(Rural) seat. Arjun Ram Meghwal won in Bikaner seat by 2.5 lakh votes. Anant Kumar Hegde (Uttara Kannada) defeated JD(S) candidate Anand Asnotikar by 4,79,649 votes.

Union minister Mahesh Sharma won in Gautam Buddh Nagar (Noida) seat by 3,36,922 votes, against BSP's Satyapal. In Bareilly, Santosh Gangwar sailed through.

Prominent other winners were Ram Kripal Yadav who defeated Lalu Yadav's daughter Misha Bharti on Pataliputra seat, Harsimarat Kaur Badal(Bathinda), Babul Supriyo(Asansol), and Harsh Vardhan(Chandni Chowk).

Jual Oram(Sundargarh), Sadanand Gowda(North Bengaluru), Shripad Yesso Naik(North Goa) Ram Kripal Yadav, Jitendra Singh(Udhampur), Rao Inderjeet Singh(Gurgaon), Narendra Singh Tomar(Morena), Babul Supriyo(Asansol), Ajay Tamta(Almora) were the other winners from Modi's council of ministers.