Explainer: High-Profile Ministers who lost 2024 Lok Sabha Polls

BJP heavyweights Smriti Irani, Arjun Munda, and Ajay Mishra Teni, among others, were defeated in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. These losses, especially in the Hindi heartland, have compelled the BJP to rely on its NDA partners to form the government, marking a departure from the decisive victories of 2014 and 2019 when the BJP won 282 and 303 seats respectively, securing a majority independently.
The Election Commission of India has announced results for 542 out of 543 Lok Sabha constituencies. The BJP has won 240 seats, while the Indian National Congress follows with 99.
Notable Defeats:
- Smriti Irani: A significant defeat was Smriti Irani's loss in Amethi. Having famously unseated Rahul Gandhi in 2019, Irani was defeated by Congress candidate Kishori Lal Sharma by 1,67,196 votes, ending her brief tenure in Amethi.
- Ajay Mishra Teni: The Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, involved in the controversial Lakhimpur Kheri incident, lost to the Samajwadi Party's Utkarsh Verma by 34,329 votes.
- Arjun Munda: The Union Tribal Affairs Minister was defeated in Jharkhand's Khunti constituency by Congress candidate Kalicharan Munda, losing by 1,49,675 votes.
- Kailash Choudhary: In Rajasthan's Barmer, the Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare finished third, trailing by 4.48 lakh votes behind Congress' Ummeda Ram Beniwal.
- Rajeev Chandrasekhar: The Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology lost to Congress' Shashi Tharoor in Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram by 16,077 votes.
The BJP's defeats extended beyond these notable figures. Ministers such as Mahendra Nath Pandey, Kaushal Kishore, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, Sanjeev Balyan, Rao Saheb Danve, RK Singh, V Muraleedharan, L Murugan, Subhas Sarkar, and Nishith Pramanik also lost in the elections.
- Mahendra Nath Pandey, the Union Minister of Heavy Industries, lost his Chandauli seat in Uttar Pradesh.
- Kaushal Kishore, Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs, was defeated by Samajwadi Party's RK Chaudhary in Mohanlalganj by 70,292 votes.
- Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food, and Public Distribution, lost in UP's Fatehpur.
- Rao Saheb Danve, Minister of State for Railways, was defeated in Maharashtra's Jalna seat by Congress' Kalyan Vaijnath Rao Kale.
- RK Singh, the Cabinet Minister, lost to CPI(ML)'s Sudama Prasad in Bihar's Arrah.
- Sanjeev Balyan, Union Minister, was defeated in Muzaffarnagar by Samajwadi Party's Harendra Singh Malik by over 24,000 votes.
- V Muraleedharan, Union Minister of State for External Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs, lost in Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram.
- L Murugan, Minister of State for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry, and Dairying, was defeated by DMK's A Raja in Tamil Nadu's Nilgiris by 2,40,585 votes.
- Nishith Pramanik, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, lost the Cooch Behar seat in West Bengal to TMC's Jagadish Chandra Basunia by 39,000 votes.

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