Smriti Irani defeats Rahul Gandhi at Amethi

Irani polled 3,39,743 votes while Gandhi, who had been winning the seat since 2004, got only 2,94,290 votes.

The election in Amethi was closely contested with Irani having maintained her lead since morning. It was only in the afternoon that the margin between her and Rahul Gandhi began increasing.

Union minister Smriti Irani, termed a 'giant-slayer' by many after managing an unbeatable lead over Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, quoted a line from a famous poem to assert that nothing was impossible.

"Kaun kehta hai aasmaan mein suraakh nahin ho sakta," she tweeted.

The line is taken from an inspirational poem of famous Hindi poet Dushyant Kumar. Her tweet came immediately after Gandhi conceded defeat in Amethi and congratulated Irani.

Gandhi had also contested the Lok Sabha election from Wayanad in Kerala, a decision political pundits believed was widely influenced by the tough fight Irani posed to him in his home turf.

The Gandhi scion had defeated her in Amethi in 2014 by a margin of 1.07 lakh vote