Prime Minister Narendra Modi Clinches Varanasi Lok Sabha Seat for Third Consecutive Term

Prime Minister Narendra Modi clinched victory in the Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency for the third consecutive time, triumphing over his closest rival, Uttar Pradesh Congress president Ajai Rai, by a significant margin of 152,513 votes. Securing a total of 612,970 votes, Modi garnered 54.24% of the votes, while Rai settled for 460,457 votes, constituting 40.74% of the total votes. The constituency, one among the 80 parliamentary seats in Uttar Pradesh, participated in the final and seventh phase of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections on June 1. In the 2019 elections, Modi had secured 63.62% of the votes, winning by a substantial margin of 674,664 votes against Shalini Yadav of the Samajwadi Party. Varanasi is classified as a General category parliamentary seat. The electoral contest in Varanasi was marked by grandiose campaigning, witnessing the active participation of high-profile leaders, including Narendra Modi himself, who conducted extensive roadshows across the constituency. Despite the presence of six other candidates, Modi’s primary challenger remained Congress’s Ajay Rai.