- Monday, February 24, 2025
The Indian PM had picked massive victories in Varanasi in the 2014 and 2019 parliamentary elections.
By: Shubham Ghosh
SUPPORTERS of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were in for early shock as prime minister Narendra Modi was trailing his nearest rival Ajay Rai of the Indian National Congress in Varanasi, a constituency in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh he has represented since 2014, by nearly 2,000 votes, the Election Commission of India’s website revealed.
However, the gap was down from over 6,000 votes as was reported earlier on Tuesday (4) when counting of votes for the general election was underway.
Modi had defeated Rai, chief of the Uttar Pradesh unit of the Indian National Congress, in the 2014 and 2019 parliamentary elections by more than 371,000 and 479,000 votes, respectively. In the 2014 election, Modi had also contested from Vadodara constituency in his home state of Gujarat besides Varanasi which he also won by 570,000 votes and vacated later.
Read: India election results: Modi’s BJP, NDA take early leads
However, the BJP and its National Democratic Alliance were looking strong to touch the magic figure of 272 required to form the next government in the 543-member Lok Sabha or Lower House of the parliament.
The NDA was leading in 273 seats when the last reports came in while the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance featuring the main opposition Indian National Congress was leading in 197 seats.
