Varanasi Lok Sabha Constituency is one of the 80 parliamentary constituencies of the state of Uttar Pradesh. Among all the constituencies in the state, Varanasi is going to be the most watched-out constituency in the 2019 Lok Sabha election.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP's main face for 2019 polls, has filed his nomination papers to contest the general election from Varanasi again.
Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency of Uttar Pradesh: Full list of candidates, polling dates
The PM was accompanied by BJP chief Amit Shah, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and a galaxy of NDA leaders including Nitish Kumar, Ram Vilas Paswan, Parkash Singh Badal and Uddhav Thackeray.
PM Modi had won the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat by defeating AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal by a massive margin of 3.37 lakh votes.
Congress candidate Ajay Rai, who came third after the counting of votes, is contesting the 2019 polls against PM Modi this time too.
The constituency will vote in the seventh phase of the seven-phase 2019 Lok Sabha election.
Formed in prior to the 1952 constituency elections, the Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency comprises of five Vidhan Sabha segments.
The Assembly Constituencies that fall in Varanasi parliamentary constituency are Rohaniya, Varanasi North, Varanasi South, Varanasi Cantt and Sevapuri.
In total, the polling will be held in 51 Lok Sabha constituencies spread across seven states and one Union Territory (Chandigarh) on May 19.
In Uttar Pradesh, the polling will be held in Maharajganj, Gorakhpur, Kushi Nagar, Deoria, Bansgaon, Ghosi, Salempur, Ballia, Ghazipur, Chandauli, Varanasi, Mirzapur, Robertsganj Lok Sabha constituencies on May 19.
The stakes are high for the BJP, which is in power at the Centre and in the state, as the party had won 72 out of the total 80 seats here. In view of the newly formed SP-BSP alliance, BJP-led NDA faces a tough challenge in retaining all those seats it won in the 2014 polls.
The Election Commission had on March 10 announced the dates for the 2019 Lok Sabha election. The general elections will take place in seven phases between April 11 and May 19, and the results will be declared on May 23.
Along with Lok Sabha Elections, voting will also take place in this phase for Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Odisha Assembly Elections 2019.
