It’s a hat-trick for Mahesh Sharma in Gautam Budh Nagar, victory margin of 5.6L biggest in UP

NOIDA: BJP’s Mahesh Sharma secured his third win from Gautam Budh Nagar, leading by a margin of 5.6 lakh votes – the highest among the 80 seats in UP and over three times the 1.5 lakh victory margin of Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Varanasi.
Sharma secured 8.6 lakh votes, about 59.7% of the 1,437,244 votes cast in the NCR constituency, to better his performances in the last two elections — he won the Lok Sabha polls by a margin of 2.8 lakh votes in 2014 and by 3.4 lakh votes in 2019.

SP’s Mahendra Nagar finished second with nearly 3 lakh votes, which is 20.8% of the vote share, while BSP’s RS Solanki bagged 2.5 lakh votes (17.5%). Twelve other candidates, including four Independents, were in the fray but none of them could garner more than 4,000 votes. NOTA accounted for fourth largest share of votes at 10,324.
Sharma maintained a consistent lead since the counting began. Till 10 am, he had cornered 73,925 votes compared to Nagar’s 27,279 and Solanki’s 18,108. By noon, Sharma’s margin widened to 3.3 lakh, while Nagar was still at 1.15 lakh and Solanki at 78,682. By 5 pm, Sharma took a formidable lead of more than 5 lakh votes.
Sharma’s win underscores his firm hold in the region and highlights the sustained support for the BJP in both urban and semi-urban areas.
Sharma told TOI that the huge victory margin reflected the love and affection the people showered on him.
“I congratulate the people and party workers for their unprecedented love and support for letting the lotus (the party’s symbol) bloom under the able leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. I am overwhelmed by your love and affection. We will together make a strong and developed Gautam Budh Nagar,” he posted on X (formerly Twitter).
Sharma began his political journey as a grassroots worker but rose through the ranks quickly. He contested the Lok Sabha election from GB Nagar in 2009 and secured 2.3 lakh votes but lost to BSP’s Surendra Nagar by 16,000 votes. In 2012, he won the assembly elections from Noida with 77,226 votes, defeating BSP’s Omdutt Sharma, who secured 49,582 votes.
In 2014, riding the ‘Modi wave’, Sharma cornered 5,99,702 votes, defeating SP’s Narendra Bhati, who garnered over 3 lakh votes. Sharma served as the MoS (independent) culture and tourism in Narendra Modi’s cabinet.
In 2019, Sharma was polled 8,30,812 votes to defeat his nearest rival, BSP’s Satveer Nagar, by a 3.4 lakh margin.
SP’s national spokesperson Pradeep Bhati said despite the party’s poor show in GB Nagar, it made gains across UP — with 37 seats, SP put its best Lok Sabha performance in the state, while Congress won six seats (its vote share rising from 6.5% to nearly 10%.“The INDIA alliance has got a lot of support from people who are badly affected by the policies of the Modi govt. It will not be easy for the BJP to form the govt,” Bhati said.