PORT BLAIR: In a nail-biting contest, BJP candidate Bishnu Pada Ray defeated his nearest Congress rival Kuldeep Rai Sharma by a margin of 2,990 votes for the lone Lok Sabha seat from Andaman and Nicobar islands.
The BJP candidate got 75,211 votes while the Congress candidate got 72,221 votes. The Andaman NCP candidate Uma Bharathy got 4,698 votes, RJD’s P R Ganeshan got 4,916 votes and CPM’s Tapan Bepari got 7,190 votes.“I express my whole-hearted gratitude to the people of Andaman and Nicobar islands for electing me this time. I assure them that Bharatiya Janata Party will fulfil all the promises made by the party in election manifesto,” Ray told Express soon after winning the election.He said that he will focus on health, education and security in the next five years.
Sharma personally congratulated Ray before leaving the counting room.Thousands of BJP supporters who had gathered outside the counting venue here garlanded their winning candidate and burst crackers.
“There was absolutely no law and order problem during the counting process,” said Superintendent of Police V Renganathan.
Andaman and Nicobar constituency has always been with the Congress except once, and that was when Ray won in 1999.