Elections 2024: PM Modi files Lok Sabha nomination from Varanasi, eyes third term

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday filed his nomination from the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat after offering prayers at the Dashashwamedh Ghat and the Kaal Bhairav temple here. He is eyeing a hattrick in the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat, which he had won for the first time in 2014.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was among those present at the collectorate when Modi filed his papers.

The four proposers of his nomination were Pandit Gyaneshwar Shastri, who has played a key role in the consecration ceremony of Ram temple, Baijnath Patel, Lalchand Kushwaha; and Sanjay Sonkar.

Varanasi goes to the polls on June 1 in the seventh and last phase of the general elections.

Modi exuded confidence in his party's win for the third successive time and said that he will participate in the G-7 Summit next month following the declaration of the results of the ongoing parliamentary elections.

Show of strength with NDA leaders

A total of 25 NDA leaders attended the nomination of the Prime Minister, including Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP National President JP Nadda, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri. Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Chief Minister of Meghalaya Conrad Sangma were also present.

Other NDA leaders, including TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu, LJP (Ram Vilas) President Chirag Paswan, NCP (Ajit Pawar faction) leader Praful Patel, Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan, HAM chief Jiten Ram Manjhi, President of the SBSP Om Prakash Rajbhar, President of RLM Upendra Kushwaha, UP minister and Nishad party Chief Sanjay Nishad, MoS and Apna Dal(S) Anupriya Patel, RLJP chief Pashupati Kumar Paras, RLD chief Jayant Singh, Tamil Maanila Congress President GK Vasan, and PMK president Dr Anbumani Ramadoss, were present at the DM office in Varanasi.

Ahead of filing nominations from his Lok Sabha constituency of Varanasi, PM Modi, in an exclusive interview with India Today, said, "I've already received the invitation (for G7). I'm preparing for the summit. After the oath-taking ceremony, I'll go."

In a post in Hindi on X, Modi said, "My relationship with my Kashi is amazing, inseparable and incomparable...all I can say is that it cannot be expressed in words!"

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 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.

On Monday evening, PM Modi held an extravagant roadshow in Varanasi on a five-kilometre stretch. He was accompanied by UP 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, in 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.

(With inputs from PTI and ANI)