Jaswant Singh loses in Barmer

Jaswant-SinghJaipur, May 16 : Expelled BJP leader Jaswant Singh, who fought as an Independent candidate from Barmer constituency of Rajasthan, lost by a big margin against BJP's Colonel Sonaram.

The BJP candidate, who had joined the party recently from the Congress, defeated the former union minister by a margin of over 87,000 votes. Congress's Harish Chaudhary came third.

Sonaram secured over 4.87 lakh votes while Jaswant Singh was able to get over 4 lakh votes. Chaudhary got over 2.20 lakh votes.

Jaswant Singh represented Darjeeling in the outgoing 15th Lok Sabha.

Jaswant Singh wanted to contest from Barmer but the party fielded Sonaram instead. He filed nomination as an independent candidate and was expelled from the BJP for refusing to withdraw his candidature.

Jaswant Singh hails from Jasol village in Barmer district. He was a member of the union cabinet during the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government.(IANS)