The 2024 Lok Sabha elections witnessed a significant number of political defections, with 76 candidates contesting on party tickets different from the ones they represented in previous elections. Of these turncoats, only 20 managed to secure victory.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) fielded the highest number of turncoats in Telangana, with 8 candidates, but only 2 emerged victorious. The Indian National Congress (Congress), on the other hand, fielded 4 turncoats in Punjab, and 2 of them were successful.
An analysis of the results reveals that out of the 33 turncoats fielded by the Congress, only 7 won. In contrast, the BJP had a higher success rate, with 13 of its 43 turncoats securing victory.
In Uttar Pradesh, 10 turncoats were tracked, and 3 of them won the 2024 polls. Punjab also saw 7 turncoats, with 2 of them emerging victorious.
Among the notable turncoats who contested in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections were Jagadish Shettar, a BJP candidate who won from the Belgaum seat. He had previously contested on behalf of the Congress and had also been a member of the BJP before that. Another prominent turncoat was Naveen Jindal, a BJP candidate who won from the Kurukshetra seat in 2024. He had previously contested on a Congress ticket from the same seat in 2014. On the other hand, Congress candidate Geetha Shivarajkumar, who contested from Shimoga, lost the election. She had previously contested on a JD(S) ticket in the 2014 elections from the same seat.
