A native of Jalgaon scored the highest record margin in the country, beating even Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah.
Chandrakant Raghunath Patil, a BJP MP from Navsari, defeated Congress' Dharmesh Patil by a record margin of 6.89 lakh votes. CR Patil, as he is popularly known, bagged 9,72,739 votes (74.37%) while his nearest opponent from Congress, Dharmesh Patil, garnered 2,83,71 (21.64%) votes. CR Patil's vote margin beat PM Modi's (4.79 lakh) and Shah's (5.58 lakh). In the 2014 polls, CR Patil's vote margin ranked third.
Patil's father migrated to Gujarat in search of a job in 1950, when the borders between the two states were hazy. "We never went back, but have relatives in Jalgaon and Dhule. We go back to attend family functions, but have made Gujarat our home," he said.
He underwent industrial training and worked in a local industry before following his father's footsteps into the police force.
"I resigned after 15 years and decided to get into social work," he said. "In 1989, I was appointed chairman of the Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation. In 2009, I was elected as a Member of Parliament for the first time from Navsari."
He calls his constituency 'Mini India' – a microcosm of the nation with a representation of every community and religion.
He credits his success to religious implementation of all Central government schemes. "We distributed gas cylinders at subsidised rates to those living below poverty line (BPL)," he said. "With the help of several NGOs, we gave free cylinders to those not covered by BPL. Our constituency is now smoke-free. When the Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana was conceived, we deposited the initial amount into bank accounts held by girls to show them the government is here to help them. We even improved air connectivity."
