Elections 98

State:	Uttar Pradesh
Constituency:	Gorakhpur
Total Votes Polled:	638183
Winner: BJP	Adityanath	268428
Runner Up: SP	Jamuna Prasad Nishad	242222
Margin: 26206 (10%)

Elections 96

State:	Uttar Pradesh
Constituency:	Gorakhpur
Total Votes Polled:	569269
Winner: BJP	Avaidyanath	236369
Runner Up: SP	Virender Pratap Shahi	179489
Margin: 56880 (10.16%)

Mahant Avaidyanath's constituency, and has remained that way in the last three elections. Before turning saffron, it had broken out of the Congress ranks only once in the past, and that was in 1977. In the 1996 election Avaidyanath defeated his SP rival Virender Pratap Sahi by 57,000 votes.