Cricket stars, football great win in India elections

Cricket stars Kirti Azad and Yusuf Pathan achieved significant victories, while football great Prasun Banerjee retained his seat. However, other sports figures faced setbacks in India's general elections.

Para-athlete Devendra Jhajharia (BJP), a double Paralympic gold medallist in javelin throw, and former hockey captain Dilip Tirkey (BJD) conceded defeat in Churu (Rajasthan) and Sundargarh (Odisha) respectively.

Azad and Pathan, running on Trinamool Congress (TMC) tickets, emerged victorious. Former football captain Banerjee, also on a TMC ticket, won by 1.69 lakh votes from Howrah (West Bengal), marking his third consecutive term in the Lok Sabha.

Azad, a member of the 1983 World Cup-winning team, defeated West Bengal BJP heavyweight Dilip Ghosh from Bardhaman-Durgapur constituency by 1,37,981 votes. Ghosh, a former BJP state chief and national vice-president, represented Midnapore in his previous term.

Yusuf Pathan, originally from Gujarat, defeated five-time Congress MP and opposition leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury in West Bengal's Bahrampur constituency by over 85,000 votes. This was Yusuf's first political campaign. He was part of the Indian team that won the 2007 T20 World Cup and the 2011 ODI World Cup.

Azad, son of former Bihar chief minister Bhagwat Jha Azad, played seven Test matches and 25 One-Day Internationals for India between 1980 and 1986. He was first elected to parliament from Darbhanga in Bihar in 1999 and again in 2009 and 2014 on a BJP ticket.

Azad was suspended by the BJP in 2015 and unsuccessfully contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Dhanbad on a Congress ticket before joining TMC in 2021.

Jhajharia, a first-time contestant, lost by 72,737 votes to Congress' Rahul Kaswan in Churu, Rajasthan.

Tirkey, the current head of Hockey India, was defeated in Sundargarh by BJP's Jual Oram, a former Union minister.

(PTI)