NEW DELHI (Rahnuma): Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi Thursday won from the Varanasi constituency of Uttar Pradesh, defeating his nearest rival from Samajwadi Party with a margin of 479,505 votes, officials said.
According to the Election Commission of India (ECI), an independent body responsible for administering election processes in the country, Bhartiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Modi bagged 674,664 votes, while Shalini Yadav from Samajwadi Party got 195,159 votes.
The main opposition Congress party candidate Ajay Rai got 152,548 votes and finished at rank three.
In the last elections, Modi also won in the constituency.
So far the election commission has declared results of only 135 seats out of 542 and BJP has registered its victory on 82 seats.
The party is leading on 220 seats, which if remain unchanged will help BJP get 302 seats at its own.
Meanwhile, the main opposition party Indian National Congress has won 20 seats and is leading on 31 others, which if remain unchanged would help it get 51 seats at its own.
The counting of votes began Thursday at 8:00 a.m. local time and is still going on.
The 2019 elections registered a 67.11 percent voter turnout, the highest so far in the history of Indian parliamentary elections.
In India’s 543-strong parliament, a party or coalition needs at least 272 seats to form government.
In the 2014 elections, Modi’s BJP bagged 282 seats and Congress 44 seats.
