NEWS
VIEWS
INTERVIEWS
CAMPAIGN TRAIL
ISSUES '98
MANIFESTOS
OVERHEARD
INDIA SPEAKS!
YEH HAI INDIA
CHAT

State:	Maharashtra
Constituency:	Solapur
Total Votes Polled:	553400
Winner: BJP	Valyal Lingraj Balairayya	184075
Runner Up: JD	Patil Ravikant Shankarappa	166988
Margin: 17087 (3.14%)

After electing the PWP in 1952, the constituency stayed firmly with the Congress till 1991. After S R Damani won the election thrice on a trot, from 1967 to 1977, G S Kuchan was elected the next two times. In 1989 and in 1991, S D Mondayya was elected on a Congress ticket from here, but it was the BJP that had been coming second. In 1996, the BJP's V L Baliraya, who was defeated by Mondayya in 1989, defeated the sitting MP, who actually came third, after the JD. The BJP was ahead by just 18,000 votes, while the Congress was behind the JD by just 4,000 votes.