Lok Sabha Election 2024: Modi leading in Varanasi with 55% votes

livemint.com:

Narendra Modi is contesting for a third consecutive term in Varanasi. He was leading against Congress' Ajay Rai, with a vote share of 56%. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was leading in both Rae Bareli and Wayanad.

In Rae Bareli, Gandhi was leading with 63.1% of the votes, while in Wayanad he was ahead with 59% of the votes, as per the latest updates. Home minister Amit Shah looks set to secure the Gandhinagar constituency. Shah, who made his electoral debut in the 2019 Lok Sabha poll, was ahead of Congress leader Sonal Ramanbhai Patel with 80% of the votes.

Bharatiya Janata Party leader Smriti Irani, who defeated Rahul Gandhi in the 2019 election from Amethi, is trailing Congress leader Kishori Lal by a 15% margin. Lal was leading in the erstwhile Congress stronghold with 54% of the votes. In Jammu and Kashmir, early trends indicate that both the senior leaders from the People's Democratic Party and the National Conference were trailing in their respective seats.

PDP's Mehbooba Mufti was trailing National Conference candidate Mian Altaf Ahmed by over 30% of the votes. Mufti, the former chief minister of the state, is contesting from Anantnag-Rajouri seat in the first Lok Sabha election held in the Union territory after the abrogation of Article 370 and its subsequent bifurcation. In Baramulla, National Conference leader Omar Abdullah was trailing independent candidate Abdul Rashid Sheikh by nearly 20% of the votes.