Varanasi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi filed nomination papers Friday in Varanasi, hoping to hold onto the seat for a second time in India’s general elections.
He prayed at a temple before arriving at the election office in Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh state, flanked by Amit Shah, president of his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and several state chief ministers. As his car passed, people shouted “Har Har, Modi!” or “Hail, Modi!”
Thousands of BJP activists, some carrying party flags and sporting saffron caps, waived at Modi who responded with a smile. People also showered rose petals on him. Many were perched on the road dividers and many more watched from windows and roofs.
In 2014, Modi won the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat, defeating Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal by a massive margin of 337,000 votes.
Modi garnered 516,593 votes — about half the total votes — while Congress’ Ajay Rai finished third.
Rai is the Congress candidate again this time in the constituency, which goes to the polls on May 19.
Voting in three of the seven phases of the staggered elections has finished. In total, some 900 million people are registered to vote for candidates to fill 543 seats in India’s lower house of Parliament. Voting concludes on May 19 and counting is scheduled for May 23.
With around 1.7 million voters, Varanasi will go the polls on May 19. The election is seen as a referendum on Modi and his party. The campaigning has been marred by accusations, insults and unprecedented use of social media to spread false information.
Varanasi is one of the holiest cities for Hindus in India and is based at the banks of the Ganges River, or Ganga.
Invoking Hindu symbolism, Modi told party workers before filing his nomination papers: “Mother Ganga will take care of me.”
“Last time when I contested nobody told me to come here, nobody sent me to Varanasi. Mother Ganga has invited me,” he said.
Modi supporters say Modi has improved the nation’s standing. But critics say his party’s Hindu nationalism has aggravated religious tensions in India.
In his five years as prime minister, Modi has pushed to promote this secular nation of 1.3 billion people and nine major religions as a distinctly Hindu state. He has rallied his support base with Hindu mega projects across India, including in Varanasi, but has also been blamed for rising attacks by Hindu mobs against minorities, mainly Muslims who number about 170 million.
Manish Shukla, a science doctorate student at Benaras Hindu University, said though he had no particular political leanings, he would vote for Modi. “I do not see any alternative because the different alliances have so far failed to tell people who will be their prime minister candidate,” he said.
“Modi is sure to win here. There is no scope for others. The opposition has fielded weak candidates,” said Ramesh Singh, a local trader.
