The profile of Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency, a BJP stronghold for decades, was further raised in 2014 when it witnessed a high-stakes contest between the BJP’s then prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and a relative new entrant in politics, Arvind Kejriwal . After being successful in forming the government in Delhi last year, he is trying to leave his mark on the national stage.

The battle ended with Narendra Modi emerging victorious by a margin of over 3 lakh votes, but AAP’s Mr Kejriwal also managed to poll more than 2 lakh people.

History

Composed of five assembly seats, Varanasi constituency is one of the holiest cities in India. Since 1957, the BJP has won this seat seven times and the Congress six times. The BJP’s record since 1991 has been perfect, however, it has lost to the Congress only once – in 2004.

The constituency has also been the stage for the election battle of two Prime Ministers – PM Modi and former PM Chandra Shekhar, who won the seat by a huge margin of 47.9% in 1977. It is one of the eleven constituencies in Uttar Pradesh where the Samajwadi Party or the Bahujan Samaj Party have never won.

2014 strategy

Before PM Modi, Varanasi seat was held by veteran BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi. In 2014, the party knew that its path to oust the Congress and come to power at the Center would pass through Uttar Pradesh, which sends 80 MPs to the Lok Sabha, the most from any state. It was also aimed at influencing the elections in the neighboring state of Bihar and its 40 Lok Sabha seats.

Paving the way for the BJP to get an absolute majority on its own, the seat was chosen by the Prime Minister in 2019 and she won it by a stunning margin of over 4.7 lakh votes against Samajwadi Party’s Shalini Yadav.

number game

In Varanasi constituency 75% of the total population are Hindus, 20% are Muslims and 5% are from other religions. 65% of its population is urban and 35% is rural. Of the total residents, 10.1% are from Scheduled Tribes and 0.7% are from Scheduled Castes.

The vote share of winning candidates has fluctuated over the years. In 1999, BJP won with 33.4% vote share and in 2004, Congress won with 32.6% vote share. In 2009, Murli Manohar Joshi had won with 30.5% vote share, which increased to 56.4% and even further for Narendra Modi in 2014. 63.6% in 2019.

Infra development, what next?

The city has seen considerable development during PM Modi’s tenure, with initiatives like the Kashi Vishwanath Temple Corridor Project reflecting its increased stature on the political and cultural map of India.

With Varanasi going to the Congress in a seat-sharing agreement with the Samajwadi Party for 2024, there is speculation that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra may make her electoral debut from this constituency. Although BJP has also not officially announced the candidate for this seat, there is a possibility of PM Modi contesting from there again.