People will go "vocal for local" while voting in Varanasi: Congress candidate Ajay Rai

Varanasi: Calling himself a 'local" of Kashi, state Congress chief and the party's candidate from Varanasi, Ajai Rai, exuded confidence that the people will go "vocal for local" and vote for him against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Rai said this while he arrived at a polling booth here to cast his vote for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
"It will be absolutely Vocal for Local. People will give priority to local. Someone who doesn't know his lanes, his soil, a show-off son of Maa Ganga who is meditating by the seashore -- if you (PM Modi) have to do it, do it on the banks of River Ganga," Rai said, referring to PM Modi's meditation in Kanyakumari.
Exuding confidence in his victory against PM Modi, Rai claimed earlier too Prime Ministers had lost against "Banaras ke laal"
"Public decides everything. Prime Ministers have lost earlier too against 'Banaras ke laal'. With the blessings of Baba Vishwanath and the people of Kashi, I will win. The love of Kashi is with me...," Rai claimed.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a two-time MP from Varanasi, has defeated Rai in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls too.
Bahujan Samaj Party has fielded Athar Jamal Lari from the seat.
In 2014, PM Modi contested two Lok Sabha seats- from Gujarat's Vadodara and Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi. PM Modi won from both the constituency.
The Prime Minister is seeking a third consecutive term from the Varanasi and hoping to win with a record margin.
13 Lok Sabha seats of Uttar Pradesh have gone to polls in the seventh and the last phase of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The seventh phase marks a grand finish to the world's largest polling marathon that began on the 19th of last month and has already covered six phases and 486 Lok Sabha seats.
Voting started in the last 57 parliamentary constituencies at 7 am today across seven states and the Union Territory of Chandigarh.
According to the Election Commission of India, over 10.06 crore electors including approximately 5.24 crore male, 4.82 crore female and 3574 third gender electors are expected to exercise their franchise.
The seven states in which polling is underway include Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, and the Union Territory of Chandigarh. Polling for the remaining 42 Assembly constituencies of the Odisha State Legislative Assembly is also taking place simultaneously.