Modi files nomination with allies by his side; Nitish absent

Prime Minister Narendra Modi filed his nomination from the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat on Tuesday, an event attended by several National Democratic Alliance leaders including Union ministers and chief ministers in a show of strength as he seeks a third term from the constituency.

In the morning, he offered prayers at the Dashashwamedh Ghat and the Kaal Bhairav temple in Varanasi.

He performed Ganga aarti at the ghat amid chanting of Vedic mantras and then took a cruise ride to reach the Namo Ghat.

From there, Modi reached the Kaal Bhairav temple. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath accompanied Modi during his visit to the temple where the prime minister offered his prayers.

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

After visiting the Kaal Bhairav temple, the prime minister reached the Varanasi collectorate to file his nomination.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and two of the four proposers of the prime minister's nomination were present when Modi submitted the papers.

Bharatiya Janata Party chief J P Nadda, Union Ministers Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Hardeep Singh Puri, Anupriya Patel and Ramdas Athawale, and a host of chief ministers and other leaders of the ruling party and NDA constituents were present at the collectorate for the occasion.

Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal-United president Nitish Kumar did not attend the event citing health reasons.

According to the BJP's Varanasi district unit media co-incharge Arvind Mishra, the four proposers of Modi's nomination were Pandit Ganeshwar Shastri, long-time Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh functionary Baijnath Patel, Lalchand Kushwaha and Sanjay Sonkar.

While Shastri was the one who decided the auspicious time for the consecration event at the Ram temple in Ayodhya, Lalchand Kushwaha hails from the OBC category and Sanjay Sonkar, a Dalit, is the general secretary of the BJP's Varanasi district unit.

Among the proposers, Shastri and Patel were present during Modi's nomination filing.

Modi is eyeing a hattrick at the Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency, a seat he won for the first time in 2014.

He was dressed in a white kurta-pyajama and blue sadri when he arrived at the Varanasi collectorate to file his nomination paper. He waved at the crowd gathered there on the occasion.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, his Meghalaya counterpart Conrad Sangma, Nationalist Congress Party leader Praful Patel, Telugu Desam Party chief Chandrababu Naidu, Jana Sena Party president Pawan Kalyan, Hindustani Awam Morcha-Secular founder Jitan Ram Manjhi, Rashtriya Lok Morcha chief Upendra Kushwaha, UP minister and NISHAD (Nirbal Indian Shoshit Hamara Aam Dal) party chief Sanjay Nishad, Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party chief Omprakash Rajbhar, Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Jayant Chaudhary, Lok Janshakti Party-Ram Vilas chief Chirag Paswan, Anbumani Ramadoss, G K Vasan, Devanathan Yadav, Tushar Vellappalli and Atul Bora were also present at the collectorate.

After the nomination process, Modi will hold a meeting with BJP workers at the Rudraksha Convention Centre.

The prime minister held a dazzling roadshow in Varanasi a day ago and vowed to do a lot more to serve the holy city in his third term.

A day later, he posted a clip from his Monday's roadshow on 'X' and said, 'The love and blessings that my family members of Kashi showered on me during the road show has become an unforgettable moment in my life.'

Voting in Varanasi will take place in the seventh phase on June 1.