New Delhi, 31 May: All plans for peaceful voting in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency, which goes to elections tomorrow, have been finished. A total of 19.97 lakh voters in Varanasi will decide the destiny of seven candidates, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his major adversary, Congress candidate Ajay Rai.
At the same time, 37,226 first-time voters aged 18 to 19 will play a significant role in this election. There are 1909 voting booths in the constituency, more than 400 of which are sensitive.
Before filing his candidacy papers on May 14, the Prime Minister attended a roadshow and spoke at a Nari Shakti convention in Varanasi. Despite attending 22 public meetings and 5 roadshows in Uttar Pradesh, the Prime Minister avoided Varanasi and instead relied on his cadre to canvass for him.
However, on the final day of the campaign yesterday, PM Modi went live on social media and delivered a speech in Bhojpuri for nearly five minutes. He even writes letters to his supporters, urging them to vote for him. At the same time, the BJP claims that four Chief Ministers, three Deputy Chief Ministers, 16 State Presidents, 14 union Ministers, and 11 ministers of the Yogi administration had campaigned and sought votes for Prime Minister in Varanasi during the last 16 days. Yogi Adityanath, the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, and Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brijesh Pathak attended several public events, as well as street-to-street public relations and informal conferences with voters.
Yogi Adityanath, the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, and Mohan Yadav, the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, campaigned in practically all Purvanchal constituencies. Eknath Shinde, Chief Minister of Maharashtra, and Conrad Sangma, Chief Minister of Meghalaya, both attended the nomination ceremony and spent the day in Varanasi. Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis also campaigned in Varanasi.
On May 14, in addition to Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Chief Ministers of three other states, national presidents of 16 political parties, and other politicians participated in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s nomination process.
Home Minister Amit Shah, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, Foreign Minister Dr S Jaishankar, union Minister Piyush Goyal, union Minister Smriti Irani, union Minister SP Baghel, union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, union Minister Mahendra Nath Pandey, union Minister Giriraj Singh, union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, union Minister Pashupati Kumar Paras, union Minister Ramdas Athawale, and union Minister Prahlad Patel, union Minister Anupriya Singh Patel and union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Surya Pratap Shahi, Minister Anil Rajbhar, Minister Jitin Prasad, Minister Arvind Kumar Sharma, Minister Sanjay Nishad, Minister Om Prakash Rajbhar, Minister Dara Singh Chauhan, Minister of State Nitin Aggarwal, Minister of State Ravindra Jaiswal, and Minister of State Dayashankar Mishra Dayalu all campaigned for the Prime Minister.
On the other hand, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and Congressman Rahul Gandhi led the opposition campaign, including public gatherings and road shows. MPs Dimple Yadav and Priyanka Gandhi performed public gatherings and roadshows. Former union Ministers Salman Khurshid, PL Punia, Pramod Tiwari, and Aradhana Mishra Mona, former Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh Bhupesh Baghel, Bihar politicians Pappu Yadav and Ujjwal Raman Singh, and former Minister Dr. CP Rai assumed responsibilities for publicity. On behalf of the PDM coalition, AIMIM President Asaduddin Owaisi and Apna Dal Kamerawadi leader Pallavi Patel campaigned in Purvanchal.
