New Delhi: Several veteran parliamentarians, including L.K. Advani, H.D. Deve Gowda and Sushma Swaraj, who had been regulars in the Lower House for decades, were missed in the new Lok Sabha on Monday as they either did not contest the polls or lost.
The familiar faces which were not seen included Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) veteran Murli Manohar Joshi, former Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge, M. Veerappa Moily and Jyotiraditya Scindia.
While Mr Advani, Mr Joshi and Ms Mahajan did not contest the polls due to the party’s norm of not fielding leaders older than 75 years, Ms Swaraj had not contested the polls, citing ill health.
Former Prime Minister Gowda and Congress leaders Kharge, Moilly and Scindia lost the Lok Sabha polls.
Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia lost the party bastion of Guna in Madhya Pradesh to BJP’s Krishna Pal Yadav. He lost to Yadav by a margin of 1,25,549 votes.
While AIADMK leader and former Deputy Speaker M. Thambidu-rai and Akali Dal leader Prem Singh Chandum-ajra lost the polls, BJD leader Tathagata Satpathy did not contest the polls. Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, his party colleagues Sushmita Dev also lost the elections.
