JOIN USBut out of seven prominent sportspersons in the poll fray, only cricketers Mohammad Azharuddin, Kirti Azad and Navjyot Singh Sidhu could make it to the 15 th Lok Sabha on Saturday.
Azharuddin, in his maiden attempt on a Congress ticket from Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh and Azad (Darbhanga) and Sidhu( Amritsar) – both from BJP were declared successful whereas Chetan Chauhan (East Delhi) and Chetan Sharma (Faridabad) bit the dust. Chauhan had contested from a BJP ticket and lost to Sandeep Dikshit of Congress and the son of Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit. However, Sharma who had contested on a BSP ticket from neighbouring Faridabad in Haryana got the third position in the multi-cornered contest. The other sportspersons who lost the electoral battle are former Hockey Olympian Aslam Sher Khan, ace shooter Jaspal Rana and sprinter Jyotirmayee Sikdar.
Azharuddin, 46, who joined the ruling Congress party in February, 2009 was successful from Moradabad whereas he belongs to Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh. Azharuddin who had played 99 test matches had said that his victory would be his 100 th test in his life. “I have faced bigger challenges in life,” he had said. With the win, Congress got back the seat for the first time since 1984.
Sidhu, a former team mate of Azharuddin and a popular TV personality scored a hat-trick with his win from Amritsar in Punjab.
He won the general election in 2004 and resigned two years later after the Punjab and Haryana HC convicted him of culpable homicide, following a road rage incident a decade back. Kirti Azad, a member of India’s 1983 World Cup winning team, made it to Lok Sabha for the second time on a BJP ticket from Darbhanga in Bihar. Azad wins the seat this time which he lost in the previous polls.
Aslam Sher Khan contested on a Congress ticket and lost to Bhupendra Singh of BJP from Sagar in MP. So did Jyotirmayee Sarkar, a LS member from Krishna Nagar in WB from CPM, who was trounced by Bengali actor Tapas Pal of TMC.