World Cup-winning stars Yusuf Pathan, Kirti Azad win in India elections

Two cricket stars and World Cup winners, Kirti Azad and Yusuf Pathan, have been elected to India's Lok Sabha, defeating prominent candidates in their respective constituencies.

Representing the All India Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, Azad overcame the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) former state chief Dilip Ghosh. Meanwhile, Pathan defeated Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the former chief of West Bengal's Congress party and the outgoing leader of the party in Lok Sabha.

Azad garnered 720,667 votes, defeating Dilip Ghosh by a margin of 137,981 votes in the Bardhaman-Durgapur constituency. Pathan secured 524,516 votes, surpassing Congress' Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury by a margin of 85,022 votes in the Baharampur constituency.

Kirti Azad, a member of India's first World Cup-winning team in 1983, represented India in seven Test matches and 25 ODIs.

Son of Bhagwat Jha Azad, the former chief minister of Bihar, Azad was an aggressive right-hand batsman and an offspinner representing India between 1980 and 1986.

He won the 2014 Lok Sabha election from Bihar as a BJP candidate and joined Congress later and subsequently to Trinamool Congress in 2021.

Yusuf Pathan played 22 ODIs and 57 T20 games for India. He was part of the 2007 T20 World Cup-winning team and the 2011 ODI World Cup-winning team.

Originally from Gujarat, Yusuf Pathan won Indian Premier League (IPL) twice representing the Kolkata Knight Riders.