Lok Sabha Elections: Narendra Modi Files Nomination From Varanasi

Narendra Modi filed his nomination for the Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency on Tuesday. The prime minister was accompanied by political heavyweights from the Bharatiya Janata Party and allies from the National Democratic Alliance as he filed the documents.

Polls will be held in Varanasi on June 1 in the seventh and final phase of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. Modi is looking to secure his third term from the seat. He went to the Lok Sabha for the first time in 2014 from this constituency, and then again in 2019.

Modi will be contesting against Congress' Ajai Rai, Bahujan Samajwadi Party's Athar Ali Lari and comedian Shyam Rangeela.

The four proposers of Modi's nomination were Pandit Ganeshwar Shastri, long-time RSS functionary Baijnath Patel, Lalchand Kushwaha and Sanjay Sonkar, said BJP's Varanasi district unit media co-incharge Arvind Mishra. Shastri and Patel were present during the nomination filing.

BJP chief JP Nadda, Union ministers Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Hardeep Singh Puri, Anupriya Patel and Ramdas Athawale were present at the Varanasi collectorate for the occasion.

Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) president Nitish Kumar did not attend the event citing health reasons.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, his Meghalaya counterpart Conrad Sangma, NCP leader Praful Patel, TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu were present for the nomination filing.

Jana Sena Party president Pawan Kalyan, Hindustani Awam Morcha-Secular founder Jitan Ram Manjhi, Rashtriya Lok Morcha chief Upendra Kushwaha, UP minister Sanjay Nishad, Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party chief Omprakash Rajbhar, RLD Chief Jayant Chaudhary, LJP (Ram Vilas) Chief Chirag Paswan were also in attendance.

(With PTI inputs)