PM prays at Dashashwamedh Ghat before filing nomination in Varanasi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered prayers at the Dashashwamedh Ghat on the banks of the Ganga here on Tuesday morning before his nomination filing from the Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency.

He also performed aarti at the ghat amid chanting of Vedic mantras.

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!"

He is eyeing a hattrick in the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat, which he had won for the first time in 2014.

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."

Several Union ministers, including Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh, chief ministers of BJP and NDA-ruled states and leaders of the party are likely to accompany Modi to the collectorate for his nomination filing on Tuesday.

The BJP's NDA partners Lok Dal president Jayant Chaudhary, LJP chief Chirag Paswan, Apna Dal (S) president Anupriya Patel and Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party president Omprakash Rajbhar are also expected to be present.

Besides Adityanath, chief ministers Nitish Kumar (Bihar), Pushkar Singh Dhami (Uttarakhand), Mohan Yadav (Madhya Pradesh), Vishnu Deo Sai (Chhattisgarh), Eknath Shinde (Maharashtra), Bhajan Lal Sharma (Rajasthan), Himanta Biswa Sharma (Assam), Nayab Singh Saini (Haryana), Pramod Sawant (Goa), Prem Singh Tamang (Sikkim) and Manik Saha (Tripura) are also likely to attend the prime minister's nomination filing.

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

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