The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) on Tuesday released a list of 11 candidates for parliamentary constituencies including Varanasi, the stronghold of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The polls scheduled to be held in seven phases beginning from April 19.
The Mayawati-led political party has fielded Athar Jamal Lari from Varanasi Lok Sabha seat against PM Modi who is presently representing the constituency in the Lower House of Parliament.
Besides Lari, the party has also fielded Umesh Kumar Singh from Ghazipur, Chotelal Gangwar from Bareilly, Kranti Pandey from Farrukhabad, and changed its Maipuri candidate, offering the ticket to Shiv Prasad Yadav.
Modi’s bastion
Modi is contesting the Lok Sabha elections from Varanasi for the third time since he became the Prime Minister in 2014. He secured thumping victories during the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections from the seat, and even surpassing the victory margins of his predecessor and BJP stalwart Murli Manohar Joshi.
In Indian politics, it is said that “the road to Delhi goes through Uttar Pradesh”. Hence, the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) had no issues to fielded their prime ministerial candidate from the Varanasi seat of Uttar Pradesh– which sends the largest contingent of 80 MPs to the Lok Sabha– in 2014.
Fighting his first Lok Sabha elections, Narendra Modi was pitted against AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal, who vowed to crush BJP’s ride to power by defeating its prime ministerial candidate. The third candidate was influential Congress leader Ajay Rai.
Putting his oratory skills to good use, Narendra Modi stole the show in Varanasi and trounced his rivals with a staggering 56.37% vote share.
In the 2019 general elections, Narendra Modi, riding on a wave of nationalism in the wake of the Pulwama attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, secured an even bigger victory margin with a 63.62% vote share. He trounced Shalini Yadav of SP and Ajay Rai of Congress.
This year, the contest in Varanasi is expected to be more interesting as the Opposition parties have formed the INDIA bloc. As part of the seat-sharing arrangement, the Samajwadi Party (SP) has decided to support Congress candidate Ajay Rai in Varanasi.
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Published: 16 Apr 2024, 09:38 AM IST