India, Oct. 29 -- Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Kedarnath Singh has conceded defeat in the Varanasi Graduate constituency election, sharing an emotional message on Facebook as counting of second-preference votes continues. Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate Ashutosh Sinha is leading by 16,984 votes, according to the latest figures.

After the counting of second-preference votes, Sinha secured 50,462 votes against 33,674 for Kedarnath Singh, putting the SP candidate ahead by a substantial margin.

In his Facebook post, Kedarnath Singh thanked graduate voters for their support and said he accepted the public mandate with humility, despite not achieving the expected result.

"Gratitude, appreciation, and a pledge to serve the public. I ...