1: 53 PM: BJP is leading in all three seats in Varanasi. Congress’ Rajesh Mishra is putting up a fight in Varanasi South.
1:21 PM : Congress’ Rajesh Mishra is now leading BJP’s Dr Neelkanth Tiwari in Varanasi South by 892 votes. The BJP still has a comfortable lead in the other two seats.
12:47 PM: BJP’s candidates are comfortably leading in all three seats in Varanasi. PM Modi’s three-day long campaign seems to have worked in BJP’s favour.
9:24 AM: PM Narendra Modi’s three-day campaign in Varanasi seem to have worked well for the BJP. The party is heading towards a majority in the state.
9:15 AM: Counting is on for the Muslim dominated constituency of Varanasi South. Results will start pouring in shortly.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Lok Sabha constituency is a closely watched battle. The result in the seats in Varanasi will be seen as a reflection of how the PM is being perceived as in the state. The morale of the party cadre is also highly dependent on how the party fares on the three Varanasi assembly seats.
It was due to the importance of the seat that for the first time a Prime Minister camped in poll-bound Varanasi for three days along with several other top notch party leaders.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi also did several roadshows to attract the crowds. The impact of Akhilesh and Rahul campaigning hand in hand for the Samajwadi Party-Congress alliance was visible across the city.
Though locals as well as outsiders came out in huge numbers to catch a glimpse of the Prime Minister in various rallies held by him, it didn’t manage to match the crowd that was present at Akhilesh and Rahul’s roadshow in the holy city.
Varanasi Parliamentary constituency is divided into three assembly seats, namely: Varanasi North, Varanasi South and Varanasi Cantonment.
The key candidates contesting in these seats are:
Varanasi North
BSP: Sujeet Kumar Maurya
BJP: Ravindra Jaiswal
Congress: Abdul Samad Ansari
Varanasi South
BSP: Rakesh Tripathi
BJP: Dr. Neelkanth Tiwari
Congress: Rajesh Mishra
Varanasi Cantt:
BSP: Rijwan Ahmad
BJP: Saurabh Srivastava
Congress: Anil Srivastava
