PM Modi likely to file nomination from Varanasi on April 26 with mega roadshow

New Delhi, Apr 07: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to file his nomination papers for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from Varanasi on April 26 with mega roadshow.

UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, party president Amit Shah and CMs of other BJP ruled states will accompany him for nomination. Even in 2014, the BJP had held a grand roadshow on the day of the event. Last year, PM Modi had vowed to help the weavers in Varanasi the way he revived the kite business in Gujarat.

This year, neither the Congress nor the SP-BSP-RLD alliance have announced their candidate from the PM's seat. Meanwhile, Tej Bahadur Yadav, the BSF constable who was dismissed in 2017 after he posted a video online complaining about the food served to the troops has said he would take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Varanasi constituency in Uttar Pradesh.

In 2014, PM Modi contested from Varanasi as well as Vadodara in his home state Gujarat. After winning both, he decided to retain the holy city in Uttar Pradesh.

In Varanasi, he won with a huge margin over his rivals Arvind Kejriwal and Congress's Ajay Rai.

The BJP's assessment is that having PM Modi as a candidate shored up its tally in Uttar Pradesh, where it won a staggering 71 of 80 seats in 2014.

Uttar Pradesh is one of the most crucial states of the Hindi heartland. With the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party alliance in the state and the Congress fielding their trump card Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as a general secretary, the state's elections will be one to watch out for. The opposition Congress has already captured the other major states of Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh in the last concluded assembly elections.

Varanasi will vote on May 19, in the last round of seven-phase polls that start on April 11. The results will be declared on May 23.