Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday won the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat for the second consecutive term, by over 4 lakh votes.
Retaining his sway in the Hindi heartland, PM Modi-led BJP won by a margin of 4,79,505 votes. He was pitted against Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate Shalini Yadav and Congress candidate Ajay Rai in the constituency.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP had won by a margin of 3,71,784 votes. PM Modi had defeated Rai by bagging record number of votes. Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal, too, contested the elections from Varanasi in 2014 and was defeated.
Earlier on the D-day, Prime Minister took to the micro-blogging website to thank Congress president Rahul Gandhi for his wishes. "Thank you @RahulGandhi for your good wishes," he stated in the tweet.
The Gandhi scion had congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the NDA for its victory in the Lok Sabha polls. He had said, "I accept the verdict of the people of India Congratulations to the winners, Mr Modi and the NDA.