NEWS
VIEWS
INTERVIEWS
CAMPAIGN TRAIL
ISSUES '98
MANIFESTOS
OVERHEARD
INDIA SPEAKS!
YEH HAI INDIA
CHAT

State:	Uttar Pradesh
Constituency:	Varanasi
Total Votes Polled:	576473
Winner: BJP	Shankar Prasad Jaiswal	250991
Runner Up: CPM	Raj Kishore	150299
Margin: 100692 (17.90%)

In 1980 Kamlapathi Tripathi defeated Raj Narain, thus avenging Indira Gandhi's defeat at his hands in 1977. In 1989, Anil Shastri fought the election on the JD ticket and won the seat. In 1991, S C Dixit won the seat for the BJP for the first time, defeating the CPI-M. In 1996, Shankar Prasad Jaiswal enabled the BJP to retain the seat, defeating the CPI-M's Raj Kishore by 100,000 votes.