Lok Sabha elections 2024 results: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has secured a decisive victory in the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat, winning for the third consecutive time. Modi defeated Congress’ Ajay Rai by a margin of over 1.5 lakh votes, while the Bahujan Samaj Party’s Ather Jamal Lari trailed in third place, finishing nearly 5.8 lakh votes behind the Prime Minister.
The BJP has maintained a stronghold on this seat, winning it nine times since 1991, with only Congress’ RK Mishra breaking the streak in 2004. Earlier on Tuesday, Ajay Rai momentarily sparked hopes of an upset by leading Modi by 6,223 votes. However, as the counting progressed, Modi surged ahead, ultimately securing over 6.12 lakh votes.
Despite Modi’s personal victory, the BJP’s overall performance in Uttar Pradesh has not met expectations. Since the 2014 ‘Modi wave,’ the party has been dominant, winning 61 of the state’s 80 Lok Sabha seats.
This dominance continued at the state level with Yogi Adityanath’s BJP winning 312 of 403 Assembly seats in 2017 and securing a second term in 2022, even amid criticism over farmers’ protests. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won 62 seats in UP.
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For the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, exit polls had predicted a big win for the BJP, projecting 68 seats, while the Congress-led INDIA bloc was expected to secure only 12 seats. However, the actual results have diverged significantly from these predictions.
Led by Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party, the INDIA bloc has posed a formidable challenge to the BJP in Uttar Pradesh. The SP is on track to win 38 seats, a record for the party in Lok Sabha polls, while the Congress is set to win seven.
Notably, the Congress is poised to reclaim the Amethi seat, lost to BJP’s Smriti Irani in the previous election, with Kishor Lal Sharma defeating Irani this time. Rahul Gandhi, meanwhile, is winning both the Raebareli seat and his Wayanad seat.
The unexpected shift in Uttar Pradesh underscores the INDIA bloc’s challenge to the BJP, mirrored in other key states. In West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress has fended off an early BJP surge and is likely to improve on its previous haul of 22 seats. In Maharashtra, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition, despite internal splits, is set to win 29 of 48 seats, thwarting BJP’s hopes for significant gains.
These developments reflect a broader contest in Indian politics, as regional parties and coalitions mount substantial challenges to the BJP’s previously unassailable position.
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