Modi to file nomination in Varanasi today

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi will file his nomination for contesting elections from Varanasi on Thursday.

Media reports indicated that a retired judge, a boatman, a weaver and a singer would be proposing Modi's nomination in Varanasi.

Modi is expected to arrive in the city by chopper, which will land on a helipad inside the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) campus.

He will garland a statue of university founder Madan Mohan Malaviya, before beginning a road show to the collectorate where he will file his papers.

He will then make a stop at a statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, India's first home minister, whom Modi is said to admire greatly.

Modi is also expected to garland a statue of spiritual thinker Swami Vivekananda and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, the architect of India's Constitution, en route to the collectorate.

Among those who will propose his name are retired Allahabad High Court judge Justice Giridhar Malaviya, the grandson of Madan Mohan Malaviya, who was a noted educationist and a four-time president of the Indian National Congress.

Modi's other proposers include Chhandu Lal Mishra, a noted classical singer of Varanasi and a Padma Vibhushan recipient, boatman Virbhadra Nishad and Ashok, who represents the dominant weaver community, BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad was quoted, as saying.

Modi is facing electoral challenges from Arvind Kejriwal of the Aam Aadmi Party, Ajai Rai of the Congress and candidates of the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Samajwadi Party and Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress.