Lok Sabha Elections 2024: PM Modi leading in Varanasi against Congress' Ajay Rai

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is leading at the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh by a margin of 79,566 votes against nearest rival Congress’ candidate Ajay Rai.

He led the BJP to power with an absolute majority after winning Varanasi in 2014 with 56.37 per cent of the votes and polled in 3.72 lakh votes. He increased his vote share to 63.62 per cent in 2019 Lok Sabha Elections after securing over 4.5 lakh votes. 

Besides PM Modi, there were seven other candidates who are in fray, but his main challengers are Congress's Ajay Rai. Initially, a total of 41 candidates had filed their nomination papers, including comedian Shyam Rangeela. However, only seven candidates finally managed to get past the scrutiny.

Varanasi has been a stronghold for the BJP since 1991 as the saffron party has registered win from this constituency seven times and losing it only once, in 2004, to Congress’s Rajesh Kumar Mishra.

Varanasi went to the polls on June 1 in the seventh and last phase of the 2024 Lok Sabha election.

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