Senior BJP leader and Prime Minister Narendra Modi today filed his nomination from Varanasi constituency. Polling will be held in Varanasi in the seventh and final phase of general elections and today is the last day of filing nominations for this phase.

 

The Prime Minister first took a dip in the holy Ganga and then after getting the blessings of Kaal Bhairav the Kotwal of Kashi, proceeded for the nomination process. Leaders of alliance partners like Chandra Babu Naidu, Eknath Shinde, Jitan Ram Manjhi, Sanjay Nishad, Ramdas Athawale along with BJP national president JP nadda and senior party leaders including Rajnath Singh and Hardeep Singh Puri were also present on the occasion. The four proposers of Mr. Modi included Pandit Ganeshwar Shashtri, Baijnath Patel, Lalchand Kushwaha and Sanjay Sonkar.

 

Congress candidate Ajay Rai, who is the Opposition I.N.D.I alliance joint nominee is contesting against Mr. Modi. The UP Congress chief, Mr. Rai was also fielded by the Congress against Mr. Modi in Varanasi in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls, but he had finished third both times. In the 2019 polls, PM Modi had defeated the Samajwadi Party’s Shalini Yadav by over 4.79 lakh votes.