Close Fight In Varanasi Constituency; Markets Slowly Recovering

As the counting of votes for the Lok Sabha elections 2024 is underway, PM Narendra Modi is trailing in the Varanasi constituency according to early trends from the Election Commission of India (ECI). Ajay Rai of Congress is leading with 11,480 votes.

As of 8:40 am, based on postal ballot counting trends, Modi was behind his nearest rival, Congress's Ajay Rai, in Varanasi. In other constituencies, Singh was leading against SP's Ravidas Mehrotra, Gandhi was ahead of BJP's Dinesh Pratap Singh in Rae Bareli, and Yadav was leading BJP's Subrat Pathak in Kannauj.

A total of seven candidates are contesting the Varanasi seat in the 2024 Parliamentary polls.

According to his election affidavit filed with the Election Commission of India and analyzed by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) for the Lok Sabha elections 2024, Modi's profession is listed as Public Life, Political Activity. Narendra Modi, 73, holds a postgraduate degree. His declared assets total Rs 3 crore, all of which are movable, with no immovable assets. His total declared income is Rs 23.6 lakh, solely from self-income, and he has no liabilities. The BJP candidate also mentioned criminal cases registered against him in his election affidavit.

In the 2014 elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi defeated Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, securing 56.37 percent of the votes with a total of 5,81,022 votes.

Meanwhile, the benchmark equity indices opened Tuesday's trading session in negative territory, following a day when markets had their best trading session in three years. Banks faced significant pressure, with Bank Nifty down by over 300 points.