Modi in Varanasi

Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi who was voted as ‘world’s most powerful leader 2019’ in a UK magazine poll, has seen a significant fall in his vote share despite winning for the third consecutive time in the Lok Sabha election 2024.

Varanasi, a constituency of Uttar Pradesh that is considered the saffron party’s stronghold, surprised many this time when the Congress candidate was leading against Modi in the early trends on vote-counting day, June 4.

In 2019, Modi bagged a total of 6,74,664 votes, with a margin of 4.79 lakh votes over his nearest rival Shalini Yadav of the Samajwadi Party (SP).

In 2014, he got 5,81,022 votes and won with a majority against AAP’s Arvind Kejriwal and Congress’s Ajay Rai in Varanasi. His victory margin was 3.7 lakh votes.

This time, Modi who has been the  face of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won from Varanasi for the third time, but with a much lesser margin of 1,52,513 votes. His vote share dipped from 63.6% to 54.2%. Political observers termed the win as a “dent to his image” and “fading magic of Modi” after the results.

Despite the consecration of the Ram Mandir in UP’s Ayodhya bolstered the party’s Hindutva credentials, the Modi-led BJP failed to convince the majority of the voters  to vote for them in the most populous state of India. 

The BJP has consistently claimed the seat since 1991 except in 2004 when Rajesh Mishra from the Congress secured victory over Shanker Prasad Jaiswal of the BJP by a margin of 57,436 votes.

Other candidates in the fray from Varanasi were Congress’ Ajay Rai, Ather Jamal Lari of Bahujan Samaj Party,  Kolisetty Shiva Kumar of  Yuga Thulasi Party, Gagan Prakash Yadav of Apna Dal and two independent candidates.

Some Opposition leaders have termed BJP’s performance as a “lesson” to their politics and a “harbinger of positive change” in the country.