Ajay Rai

Some Lesser Known Facts About Ajay Rai

• Ajay Rai is an Indian politician, who was an MLA from the Pindra Constituency (previously known as Kolasala; before delimitation) of Varanasi for 5 times. He started off his career with the BJP, then he shifted to SP and now he is in the Indian National Congress. He was the Congress candidate for the 2014 and the 2019 General Elections from the Varanasi Constituency against Narendra Modi.

• When he contested his first election as a BJP candidate in the 1996 Assembly Elections, he had defeated the 9-time CPI MLA, Udal, from the Kolasala Constituency of Varanasi. It made him instantly famous and also projected him as a strong leader.

• He quit the BJP and joined the Samajwadi Party (SP) in 2009; as he was not given a ticket from the Varanasi Lok Sabha Constituency by the BJP; as they fielded Murli Manohar Joshi from that seat. Annoyed by this move, Rai joined the SP and fought the 2009 General Elections on an SP ticket but lost.

• In 2009, the Samajwadi Party did not give him a ticket for the Assembly Elections; hence he quit the SP and contested the elections as an Independent candidate and won.

• In 2012, he joined the Indian National Congress (INC).

  

• For the 2014 General Elections, the Congress named him as their candidate from the Varanasi Constituency against Narendra Modi and Arvind Kejriwal.

• On 17 April 2014, Ajay Rai was accompanied by the former Union Minister of Commerce Anand Sharma and Raj Babbar during the nomination filing process for the Lok Sabha Elections. Ajay Rai filed his nomination after offering liquor to Lord Kaal Bhairav; a local tradition of Varanasi.

  

• He lost badly in the 2014 General Elections, securing third place with only 75,000 votes.

• In 2015, Ajay Rai was arrested for allegedly trying to set a trader on fire. A case was registered against him and he was taken into custody by the police. Although later he was set free as there was no conclusive evidence against him.

  

• In 2017, he lost the UP Assembly Election to BJP’s Avdhesh Singh. This was a setback for him as Ajay was the MLA from the Pindra Constituency for 5 times.

• In 2019, the Congress once again announced his name as the party’s candidate for the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections from the Varanasi Constituency, against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

• Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi extensively campaigned for Ajay Rai for the 2019 General Elections.