PM Modi to file Lok Sabha nomination from Varanasi today, eyes third term

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to file his nomination from the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, seeking a third term and hoping for a record margin. Varanasi goes in for polling on June 1 in the seventh and last phase of the general elections.

He will begin his day by offering prayers at the Kal Bhairav temple. Authorities have tightened security at the temple ahead of the Prime Minister's visit.

Before filing his nomination papers, PM Modi will offer prayers at the Dashashwamedh Ghat on the banks of the Ganges. He will also take a dip in the River Ganga boarding a cruise ship to Namo Ghat.

Security has been strengthened outside the office of the District Magistrate in Varanasi ahead of PM Modi's nomination.

Ahead of the nomination, the Bharatiya Janata Party said in a post in hindi on X that the temple town of Kashi is once again ready to send its servant (PM Modi) to the Parliament. "I have neither come here nor has anyone sent me here, Maa Ganga has called me... This relationship between Kashi, Kashi residents and the Chief Servant is one of development, trust and affection.

Kashi is once again ready to send its beloved chief servant to the parliament by winning him with record votes," BJP posted. PM Modi also posted on X about his association with the city. "My relationship with my Kashi is amazing, inseparable and incomparable... all I can say is that it cannot be expressed in words!" PM Modi is the sitting MP and candidate from Varanasi.

Voting in Varanasi will be held on June 1 in the seventh and last phase of the Lok Sabha polls. On Monday evening, PM Modi held an extravagant roadshow in Varanasi on a five-kilometer-stretch on Monday evening. PM Modi was accompanied by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and BJP state president Chaudhary Bhupendra Singh.

The whole stretch reverberated with 'Har Har Mahadev' and 'Jai Shree Ram' chants as a huge crowd of supporters and residents gathered on either side of the road to cheer the Prime Minister.The Prime Minister Narendra started his roadshow by garlanding the statue of Mahamana Madan Mohan Malviya at the Singh Dwar of Kashi Hindu University at around 5 pm.

After more than two and a half hours, the roadshow concluded at the Kashi Vishwanath Dham. After the roadshow, the Prime Minister offered prayers at the Kashi Vishwanath Dham along with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and other BJP leaders. 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 percent. In 2014, PM Modi contested two Lok Sabha seats- from Gujarat's Vadodara and Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi.