Lok Sabha MPs elected with the highest margin have been the ones associated with the winning alliance in the last two decades. This is according to the data from Ashoka University’s Lok Dhaba portal.

The last general elections were held in 2019. At that time, the top five MPs who won with the highest margin were all members of the ruling BJP. CR Patil, the BJP MP representing Gujarat’s Navsari had the highest margin of 6.89 lakh votes then. He is set to fight the polls from the same constituency for the fourth time this year.

Patil was followed by four other BJP MPs: Sanjay Bhatia, Minister of State of Power and Heavy Industries Krishan Pal, Subhash Chandra Baheria and Ranjanben Bhatt. They won by huge margins of 6.56 lakh, 6.38 lakh, 6.12 lakh and 5.89 lakh respectively.

The elections of 2014 were indeed historic, with a Modi wave across the country. The UPA government was voted out of power with the BJP-led NDA forming the government. At that time too, the top five MPs who won with the highest margin were all BJP members. The list also included Pritam Munde, the MP from Beed, who won the elections with the highest margin in Indian election history - 6.96 lakh. She is the second daughter of former BJP leader Gopinath Munde and faced her first elections in 2014. Despite this, in 2024, Pritam wasn’t given the ticket to fight the elections from her constituency and was replaced with her older sister Pankaja Munde.

Pritam Munde was closely followed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who won his first Lok Sabha election from Vadodara with a margin of 5.7 lakh votes. He was followed by three other BJP leaders, Vijay Kumar Singh, CR Patil and Ramcharan Bohara.

During the 2009 elections, among the top five candidates who won with the highest margin, three were members of the Indian National Congress, the party with the majority seats at that time. The list included Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and current Rajya Sabha MP Deepender Singh Hooda. The person who won the elections with the highest margin at that time was former Naga People’s Front MP CM Chang, who won with a margin of 4.83 lakh votes. The third position in the list was however occupied by former BJP minister Sushma Swaraj, who was elected from Vidisha, with a majority of 3.89 lakh votes.

The picture was quite different in 2004. The MP who won with the highest margin at that time was former CPM politician Anil Basu. He won the polls from West Bengal’s Arambag with a majority of 5.92 lakh votes. In 2004, CPM was an ally of the United Progressive Alliance, which formed the government. Another former CPM MP Nikhilananda Sar was also part of the list, winning the elections from West Bengal’s erstwhile Burdwan constituency with a 4.71 lakh margin. Then, independent MP Sansuma Khunggur Bwiswmuthiary from Assam had the second highest margin of 4.84 lakh votes.

The others on the list were NCP’s Sharad Pawar and NPF’s W Wangyuh. While NCP was a member of the UPA, NPF wasn’t part of any alliance at that time. 

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