Varanasi: It was billed by his party as a fight for his margin of victory. They claimed that he would smash all past records of win.
However, the result was quite different.
Prime minister Narendra Modi managed to defeat his nearest Congress rival and state party president Ajay Rai by a little over 1.52 lakh votes from Varanasi. In fact Modi, after the first round of counting trailed by six thousand votes.
Modi bagged 6, 12, 970 votes as against Ajay Rai’s 4,90, 457 votes. BSP nominee Athar Jamal Lari secured 33, 766 votes.
Modi had won this seat by more than 4.79 lakh votes in 2019 LS poll. He had then secured more than 6.74 lakh (63.6 per cent) votes. His nearest rival Shalini Yadav of Samajwadi Party (SP) had received 1.95 lakh votes while Congress’ Ajay Rai had secured a little over 1.52 lakh votes. In 2014 LS polls, he had won the seat by 3.72 lakh votes.
While the saffron party workers burst crackers and distributed sweets among themselves, the celebrations were a little subdued. A local BJP leader said that the party had not expected such a sharp dip in Modi’s victory margin.
BJP sources said that a large section of the dalits as well as urban voters appeared to have voted for the I.N.D.I.A alliance. ‘’We knew that Muslims and Yadavs would be supporting Rai…..but it seems the dalits and upper caste voters have also voted for him in good numbers,’’ said a state BJP leader here while speaking to DH.
Modi had held a grand road show in Varanasi and also addressed election meetings to garner support of the electorate. The sharp dip in the victory margin is certain to trigger alarm bells in the BJP camp.
In 2019, Modi's victory margin was 4,79,505. He defeated SP's Shalini Yadav that time while Congress' Ajay Rai was the runner up.
In 2014, Modi had won by a margin of 3,71,784 votes when he defeated AAP's Arvind Kejriwal.
This time, the BJP leaders were claiming that PM Modi's victory margin will create a record.
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