Narendra Modi leads in Varanasi, RaGa trails in Amethi

Guwahati, May 23, 2019:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has now secured a big lead in Varanasi Lok Sabha Constituency. His main opponent in the Constituency is Ajai Rai of the Congress (who came third in the 2014 polls) and Shalini Yadav of the Samajwadi party.

Voting was held in Varanasi during the last phase of the Lok Sabha election 2019 on May 19. A total of 25 contestants are fighting the elections against the PM from Varanasi. These candidates belong to various states including Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Kerala, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra.

Senior BJP leaders such as Amit Shah, Piyush Goyal, Sushma Swaraj and Yogi Adityanath held several poll campaigns in this high-profile constituency. Opposition parties, led by Priyanka Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati, also held road-shows to counter the saffron-wave in the Constituency.

In 2014, PM Narendra Modi had 41 candidates contesting the poll against him but the number this time has gone down to 25 after his strong showing in 2014. Modi won the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat by defeating Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal by a massive margin of 3.37 lakh votes.

Meanwhile, Congress President Rahul Gandhi is having mixed fortunes during the early hours of counting. The Congress president Rahul Gandhi is trailing in Amethi, his constituency in Uttar Pradesh since 2004. As early leads came in, Rahul Gandhi was trailing BJP's Smriti Irani who is also a Union Minister. Rahul Gandhi is also contesting from Wayanad in Kerala, where he is in the lead.

Modi's victory margin in the eastern UP constituency was the highest ever for the Lok Sabha seat in 2014. However, it remains to be seen if the BJP leader succeeds in breaking his own record this time.

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