Prime Minister Narendra Modi filed nomination papers from the Varanasi constituency at the district magistrate's office for the ongoing Lok Sabha elections in the presence of Union Ministers, including Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP national president JP Nadda, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and other NDA leaders.
PM Modi, the sitting MP and BJP candidate had secured win with large margins from the Varanasi constituency for the past two consecutive terms and is eyeing a third term with a record margin. Varanasi goes for polls on June 1 in the seventh and last phase of the general elections.
PM Modi Files Nomination From Varanasi
Before filing the nomination, Prime Minister Modi offered prayers at the Dashashwamedh Ghat on the banks of the Ganga and visited the Kaal Bhairav temple here on Tuesday morning. PM Modi participated in prayers and performed the Ganga Aarti at the Ghat.
Pandit Ganeshwar Shastri, Baijnath Patel, Lalchand Kushwaha, Sanjay Sonkar are the four proposers of PM Modi were also present with him during nomination filing.
Expressing his emotions and gratitude, PM Modi had said, "I am overwhelmed and emotional! I did not even realize how 10 years passed under the shade of your affection. I had said that Maa Ganga had called me. Aaj Maa Ganga ne mujhe god le liya hai (today Maa Ganga has adopted me)."
Varanasi is the stronghold of the Bharatiya Janata Party and PM Modi. He won the seat twice- the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections.The Congress has pitted Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Ajay Rai against PM Modi in Varanasi. This is the third time Ajay Rai will face PM Modi in the Lok Sabha contest.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, PM Modi won the seat with over 6,74,664 votes and commanded a vote share of 63.6 per cent. In 2014, PM Modi contested two Lok Sabha seats- from Gujarat's Vadodara and Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi.