Election 2019: Modi Is Leading In Varanasi

Narendra Modi of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is leading by 10,000 votes  in the Lok Sabha constituency of Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh as of 9:40 am. He is followed by SP’s Shalini Yadav who has over 11,000 votes.

Prime Minister Modi is widely expected to retain his seat in Varanasi. In 2014, Modi secured over five lakh votes, defeating Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal by more than three lakh votes, and receiving 56.40% of the votes.

This time around, he is facing virtually no competition.   

Yadav, who was formerly with the Congress Party, is the SP-BSP alliance candidate. Her father-in-law Shyam Lal Yadav, a Congress Party leader, won the Lok Sabha election from Varanasi in 1984. 

Tej Bahadur Singh, the former Border Security Force (BSF) personnel who exposed the poor quality of food served to Indian soldiers, was disqualified from running by the Election Commission (EC).

Earlier this month, Yadav toldHuffPost India that with the powerful caste-combine and Modi’s diminished popularity, she was in a position to “give him a tough fight.”

After hinting that she may contest against Modi, Priyanka Gandhi eventually did not run.  

The Congress Party has fielded Ajay Rai, a five-time MLA, and a prominent figure in Varanasi, who has previously contested elections for the Congress, SP and the BJP. With just over 75,600 votes, Rai and the Congress placed third in 2014.

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