look news india
Lok Sabha elections 2024 will prove to be lucky for cricketers. Not one but two former cricketers have won this election. Interestingly, both these cricketers have been part of world champion teams at one time and both contested and won the elections on the ticket of the same party.
The cricketers we are talking about are Yusuf Pathan and Kirti Azad from Gujarat. Kirti Azad was part of the World Cup winning team in 1983 under the captaincy of Kapil Dev. He contested the Lok Sabha elections from Bardhaman-Durgapur seat of West Bengal and won. Kirti Azad defeated BJP veteran Dilip Ghosh by 1,37,981 votes.
At the same time, former cricketer Yusuf Pathan defeated five-time MP and veteran Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. Gurat K Pathan won the Behrampur Lok Sabha seat in West Bengal by 59,351 votes. Yusuf Pathan has been a member of the World Cup winning Indian team in 2007 and 2011. Yusuf Pathan tried his luck in politics for the first time and won while Kirti Azad has good experience in politics. He has been an MP before as well.
Talking about other athletes, two-time Paralympic champion in javelin throw Devendra Jhajharia lost from Churu seat of Rajasthan. He was defeated by Rahul Kasava of Congress by 72,737 votes. Veteran hockey player and current President of Hockey India Dilip Tirkey also lost the election. He contested from Sundargarh seat from Biju Janata Dal, where he was defeated by BJP veteran and former Union Minister Joel Oram by 1,36,737 votes.