From L-R: BJP's Anil Antony, Navneet Rana, and Congress' Rahul Kaswan
Often referred to as “Aaya Ram Gaya Ram” syndrome, defection continues to be a challenge in Indian politics. While many political turncoats switched their affiliations in search of victory, several achieved successes, but many failed. Nearly 168 candidates who contested the Lok Sabha elections were defectors.
When Two Defectors Meet
Four-time MLA and founder of the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP), Hanuman Beniwal, had joined hands with the BJP in 2019 but cut associations following the party’s proposal of the three controversial farm laws and also accused the saffron party of corruption. Joining the INDIA alliance, Beniwal faced fellow defector Jyoti Mirdha of the BJP in Nagaur constituency in Rajasthan. Following her 2009 victory, Mirdha lost twice to the BJP as a Congress candidate. Eventually, she left the grand old party and switched sides just ahead of the 2023 assembly elections.
While RLD’s Beniwal secured victory with 5.9 lakh votes, BJP’s Mirdha once again lost the elections with a margin of 42,225 votes.
A Saffron-Coloured Loss For Many
Former UDF member and the only woman MLA in the 8th Meghalaya Legislative Assembly, Mazel Ampareen Lyngdoh, rejoined Congress after her stint as the party’s Youth Wing member. After being suspended by the party for supporting the state government backed by the BJP, she joined the National People’s Party (NPP), a BJP ally, but lost the elections from the Shillong seat, finishing third with 1.8 votes and a margin of over 3.8 lakh votes. Voice of the People Party candidate Ricky Andrew J. Syngkon won the seat with 5.7 lakh votes.
Another northeastern candidate, Dr. Chumben Murry, was part of the Naga People’s Front before he joined the National Democratic People’s Party, a BJP ally. Coming in second, Murry lost the Nagaland seat by a margin of more than 50,000 votes against Congress candidate S. Supongmeren Jamir, who won with over 4 lakh votes.
With at least 90 criminal cases against him, Arjun Singh, the BJP candidate who contested from West Bengal’s Barrackpore constituency, has shifted allegiances several times. From once being a BJP member to a TMC candidate and then back to BJP, the party hopper lost the elections with a margin of 64,000 votes against TMC’s Partha Bhowmick, who bagged 5.2 lakh votes.
Moving down the map, in Maharashtra’s Amravati is Navneet Rana. During the 2019 elections, Rana won as an independent MP from the Amravati Lok Sabha constituency, backed by the Congress-NCP. Switching loyalties, Rana contested under the BJP banner in the 2024 general elections and faced defeat against Congress’ Balwant Wankhede with a margin of 19,731 votes, as per the EC data.
Anil Antony, son of Congress leader AK Antony, contested the election as a BJP candidate against Congress’ Anto Antony, who won 3.76 lakh votes and a margin of over 1 lakh votes in the Pathanamthitta seat. Anil Antony left Congress and joined the saffron party in 2023 after he faced criticism following his critical tweets against the grand old party’s views. The BJP had appointed him as its national spokesperson soon after he joined. He had served as the head of the Kerala Congress digital media cell.
Some Turncoats Achieved Victory
Chairman of Jindal Steel and Power Ltd. and two-time MP, Naveen Jindal, ended his association with the Congress after twenty years and joined the BJP. Jindal secured victory and a second term by bagging over 5.4 lakh votes, defeating Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate Dr. Sushil Gupta with a margin of 29,021 votes.
Former BJP candidate, Rahul Kaswan joined Congress ahead of the elections after the saffron party nominated 2016 Paralympic gold medalist Devendra Jhajharia as their candidate from Rajasthan’s Churu Lok Sabha seat. For the Kaswan family, Churu is a family seat. His father, Ram Singh Kaswan, has been elected four times on the BJP ticket. Kaswan himself has been elected three times to the seat. Following his father’s footsteps, Kaswan secured a fourth term, but this time as a Congress candidate with over 7.2 lakh votes, defeating Jhajharia by a margin of over 72,000 votes.
Another candidate similar to Kaswan is Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia. From Congress to the BJP, the Scindia family has defected parties several times to win the Guna Lok Sabha seat. Grandmother Vijayaraje Scindia won the seat from 1957 to 1998 on a Congress, BSP, and Swatantra Party ticket. Madhavrao won the seat three times: as a Bharatiya Jana Sangh (predecessor of the BJP) candidate in 1971; as an independent in 1977; and then on a Congress ticket in 1980.
In 2020, Scindia joined the BJP following disagreements with the Congress leadership. Defeating his rival and Congress candidate Rao Yadvendra Singh with a huge margin of over 5,40,929 votes in the Lok Sabha elections, Scindia won the Guna seat with a whopping 9.2 lakh votes.
