People have made up their minds for a second Modi government, PM tells Varanasi workers

Prime Minister Narendra Modi told BJP workers in Varanasi on Friday that the country was witnessing a pro-incumbency wave for the first time, and that people had decided they wanted his government back. He addressed the workers before filing his nomination papers for the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat.

Message to party workers

Modi told workers that they were the real candidates in the election and that the mood was upbeat across the country, from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. He asked them to break every voting record in this general election.

In a dig at the Congress, he warned workers against arrogance, saying those who had shown it had been reduced from 400 seats to 40.

The Varanasi contest

Senior leaders of the BJP, the NDA and the North East Democratic Alliance were expected in the city for the nomination.

Modi faces the Congress’s Ajay Rai and the Samajwadi Party’s Shalini Yadav. The Congress announced Rai’s candidature on Thursday, ending speculation that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra might contest against the Prime Minister. This is the second time Modi and Rai are facing each other in Varanasi.

Varanasi votes on May 19, in the last of the election’s seven phases.

What happened next

When votes were counted on 23 May 2019, the BJP won 303 of the 543 Lok Sabha seats, and Modi was sworn in for a second term as Prime Minister on 30 May 2019.

See also: constituencies, Samajwadi Party

Originally published on 26 April 2019. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.

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