Prime Minister Narendra Modi has won Varanasi Lok Sabha seat for a third time.
Modi has emerged the winner on Varanasi seat by defeating Congress’ Ajay Rai with a margin of over 1.5 lakh votes. Congress’ candidate was followed by Bahujan Samaj Party’s Ather Jamal Lari, who finished nearly 5.8 lakh behind the PM.
Earlier in the day, Rai – who has contested and lost each of the past three general elections from Varanasi – had sent shock waves (briefly) throughout the country. During the initial rounds of counting, Rai was leading PM Modi by 6,223 votes.
As the day wore on, the PM stretched his legs and disappeared into the distance; Modi polled over 55 per cent of the votes in the 2014 and 2019 elections.
