Lok Sabha Election Result: Congress candidate Urmila Matondkar made her poll debut in this battle
Congress Lok Sabha candidate Urmila Matondkar, who lost her election debut from the Mumbai North constituency to sitting BJP lawmaker Gopal Shetty by more than 4.6 lakh votes, today described her election battle as "glorious". She said she was satisfied she fought the election with "dignity" and "integrity".
The actress had been dismissed by the BJP as "a naive girl, zero in politics".
"I think this battle has been an absolutely glorious one for me. I'm standing here defeated, but do I look a lost person to you?" she told NDTV, apparently undaunted by the scale of her loss.
"It is the spirit of a person that matters. It is the conscience of a person that matters. And I'm extremely happy that I've fought this entire election with a lot of dignity and integrity," she added.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP has secured a spectacular mandate, having crossed the 300-seat mark on its own and, with its National Democratic Alliance (NDA) allies, and will form the government at the Centre for the next five years.
The Congress is still struggling to come to terms with the scale of its defeat and party chief Rahul Gandhi, whose own position is under threat, now faces a raft of resignations from state leaders.
The party has only marginally improved its haul of 44 seats in the last election; according to results from the Election Commission's website, they've won 52 seats.
The result also serves to underline the party's woes in Maharashtra, a crucial state in Indian politics (it sends 48 lawmakers to the parliament, the most after Uttar Pradesh) that has Assembly polls coming up later this year.
The Congress has won only one of those 48 seats and zero of six in Mumbai.
Ms Matondkar mounted a spirited campaign, targeting the Prime Minister over his "56-inch chest" and PM Modi, the controversial biopic starring fellow actor Vivek Oberoi that had been barred from releasing during the election.