Modi margin dips from 4.8 lakh to 1.5 lakh, vote share 63.6% to 54.2%

VARANASI: Narendra Modi won Varanasi Lok Sabha seat by defeating INDIA bloc candidate and UP Congress chief Ajay Rai, but the 1.5-lakh-vote victory margin on Tuesday marked the closest contest he has faced since 2014, and a steep fall from 2019 when he won by 4.8 lakh votes.

Rai, jubilant even in defeat, said he had scored a “moral victory”. As the sole challenger, he had not only stopped Modi from making a new victory margin record but also set one himself—losing to Modi with the smallest margin.

It is not just Modi’s margin that has fallen. He got about 62,000 fewer votes this time (6.1 lakh compared to 6.8 lakh in 2019) despite the total votes in the constituency rising by about 70,000 (from 10.6 lakh to 11.3 lakh). His vote share dropped from 63.6% to 54.2%

Modi bagged 6,12,970 votes to defeat Rai, who secured 4,60,457. In 2014, Modi’s victory margin was 3.7 lakh. Earlier in the day, TV news flashes had created a flutter when they showed Rai leading by 6,000 votes after the first three rounds of counting.

Rai’s parliamentary constituency poll management team convenor, Surendra Narain Singh Audhe, said, “In 2014, anti-BJP votes were divided among four contenders, while it was divided between two contestants in 2019. Moreover, this time, an entire chunk of non-BJP votes went to the INDIA bloc candidate. This was the reason for the reduced victory margin.”

But why did Modi’s vote count fall despite the total number of votes polled on June 1 being greater than in 2019? BJP Kashi region unit president Dilip Singh Patel said, “We are scheduling an organisation meeting in which all reasons for the 2024 Lok Sabha poll performance in Varanasi seat will be reviewed.”

Rai was happy. “The people of Varanasi showered their blessings on me to show the mirror to those who in their arrogance of power raised slogans of notching up 10 lakh votes and had engaged money power and their best force in Kashi to achieve the target of winning the election with the biggest margin. INDIA bloc unitedly shattered this dream,” said Rai, who had finished third in 2014 and 2019.

Early results shocked BJP as in the initial three rounds Rai was leading. But once Modi took the lead, he maintained it till the last round. However, the lead increased slowly, unlike the galloping seen in 2014 and 2019 when Modi was in the lead right from the first round.

At Gulab Bagh, where victory celebrations took place late evening, it was evident the jubilation lacked the vigour of the past two elections.
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