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ISSUES '98
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State:	Maharashtra
Constituency:	Chandrapur
Total Votes Polled:	770875
Winner: BJP	Ahir Hansaraj Gangaram	253679
Runner Up: INC	Potdukhe Shantaram Rajeshwar	157548
Margin: 96131 (12.91%)

This Naxal-infested region elected Independents in 1962 and 1967, and barring 1977 when the BLD won from here it has been the Congress all the way. In 1989 and in 1991 the BJP came second behind the Congress, before the saffron party came upfront in 1996, its candidate Hansaraj Ahir defeating sitting Congress MP Shantaram Potdukhe by nearly 100,000 votes.