Prime Minister Narendra Modi has clinched victory in the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat for the third time in a row, defeating Uttar Pradesh Congress president Ajai Rai by a margin of 1,52,513 votes. According to data from the Election Commission of India (ECI), PM Modi secured 6,12,970 votes (54.24%) while Rai garnered 4,60,457 votes (40.74%).
Varanasi, one of the 80 parliamentary constituencies in Uttar Pradesh, has been a stronghold for Modi, who has previously been elected twice from this seat, serving as the Prime Minister of India. The constituency voted in the final and seventh phase of the Lok Sabha elections 2024 on June 1.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Modi won by an even larger margin, securing 63.62% of the votes and defeating Shalini Yadav of the Samajwadi Party by 674,664 votes. Varanasi is classified as a General-category parliamentary seat.
This year's election in Varanasi was marked by extravagant campaigning, with high-profile leaders, including Modi himself, conducting roadshows in the constituency. Besides Modi, there were six other candidates in the fray, with his main challengers being Congress's Ajai Rai and Ather Jamal Lari of the Bahujan Samaj Party. In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Modi defeated Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal with 56.37% of the votes, securing 5,81,022 votes.
Over his 10-year tenure, Modi has spearheaded multifaceted development in Varanasi. His dream project, the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor, has significantly boosted the city's economy. Starting as an RSS pracharak in 1971, Modi joined the BJP in 1985, steadily rising through the ranks to become the party secretary, then serving as the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2013, before assuming the role of Prime Minister in 2014.
