Meghwal, Paswan, Raja emerge victorious from reserved LS seats, Rana loses from Amravati

New Delhi: NDA candidates emerged victorious on at least eight reserved Lok Sabha seats, with the most prominent among them being Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal from Bikaner, Chirag Paswan from Hajipur and former Bihar chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi from Gaya.

However, the Congress' Balwant Baswant Wankhade defeated the BJP's Navneet Rana from the Amravati (SC) seat.

On the opposition side, INDIA bloc constituent DMK's A Raja won from the Nilgiris constituency in Tamil Nadu, and the Congress picked up the Sasaram seat in Bihar and the Thiruvallur constituency in Tamil Nadu, according to the Election Commission (EC) website.

With support from key allies N Chandrababu Naidu's Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Nitish Kumar's JD(U), and other partners, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) crossed the halfway mark by winning 273 seats in the Lok Sabha elections, setting the course for a third consecutive term as prime minister for Narendra Modi despite the opposition's resurgence.

Uttar Pradesh and Bihar send 80 and 40 MPs, respectively, to the Lok Sabha.

Polls were held for 542 seats with the BJP winning the Surat seat in Gujarat unopposed.

Of the 543 seats, 84 are reserved for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and 47 for Scheduled Tribes (STs).

From Bikaner in Rajasthan to North West Delhi in the national capital, the BJP-led NDA won several reserved seats.

In Mohanlalganj (SC) in Uttar Pradesh, RK Chaudhary of the Samajwadi Party won by a margin of 70,292 against BJP leader and junior Union minister Kaushal Kishore.

In Bihar's Goplaganj (SC) seat, Alok Kumar Suman of the JD(U) emerged victorious against Prem Nath Chanchal of the Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP).

Chirag Paswan of the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) won by a margin of 1.70 lakh against Shiv Chandra Ram of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).

In Samastipur (SC), Shambhavi of the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) won against the Congress' Sunny Hazari.

Of the other reserved seats in Bihar, Sasaram (SC) was won by the Congress, Gaya (SC) bagged by former Bihar chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi of the Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular), and Jamui (SC) by the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas).

In Uttar Pradesh's Bulandshahr (SC), the BJP's Bhola Singh won by a margin of 2.75 lakh votes, defeating Shivram of the Congress.

In Hathras (SC), Anoop Pradhan Balmiki of the BJP secured victory while the saffron party's Agra (SC) candidate SP Singh Baghel won against the Samajwadi Party's Suresh Chand Kardam.

Other key reserved seats in Uttar Pradesh include Etawah (SC), Barabanki (SC) and Bahraich (SC).

In Bikaner (SC), Union Minister Meghwal won by 55,711 votes against the Congress' Govindram Meghwal.

In Udaipur (ST), the BJP's Manna Lal Rawat won by 2.61 lakh votes against Tarachand Meena of the Congress.

In West Bengal's Cooch Behar (SC), Jagadish Chandra Barma Basunia of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) won against the BJP's heavyweight candidate and junior Union minister Nisith Pramanik.

The DMK's Raja won from the Nilgiris (SC) seat by 2.40 lakh votes against L Murugan of the BJP.

The Thiruvallur (SC) seat in Tamil Nadu was won by the Congress' Sasikanth Senthil.

In North West Delhi (ST), former mayor Yogender Chadoliya of the BJP won by 2.90 lakh votes against the Congress' Udit Raj.