New Delhi, Mar 2: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is all set to contest for the third consecutive time from the Varanasi constituency in Uttar Pradesh in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, on Saturday expressed his gratitude to the party and its workers for showing a 'constant' faith in him.

PM Modi, in a post on X, said that he is looking forward to 'serving the people of Varanasi' for the third time.

"I thank the @BJP4India leadership and bow to the crores of selfless Party Karyakartas for their constant faith in me. I look forward to serving my sisters and brothers of Kashi for the third time. In 2014, I went to Kashi with a commitment to fulfil people's dreams and empower the poorest of the poor," the PM said.

He further said that the efforts made by the central government in the last ten years continue with even greater vigour.

"Over the last ten years, we have made significant progress across various sectors and worked towards a better Kashi. These efforts will continue with even greater vigour. I would also like to convey a special gratitude to the people of Kashi for their blessings, which I cherish greatly," the PM added.

PM Modi, in another post on X, said that his party is going to the people on the basis of our track record of good governance and ensuring the fruits of progress reach the poorest of the poor.

"Our party has announced candidates for some of the seats and will be announcing the rest in the coming days. I congratulate all those who have been nominated as our party's candidates and wish them the very best. We are going to the people on the basis of our track record of good governance and ensuring the fruits of progress reach the poorest of the poor," he said.

Further, the PM exuded his confidence in the people of the country to make his party manage another victory.
"I am sure that the 140 crore people of India will bless us yet again and give us even more strength in fulfilling their aspirations and creating a Viksit Bharat," PM Modi added.

The BJP Saturday released its first list of 195 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, days after a marathon meeting of the party's Central Election Committee (CEC) that was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

This is the third time PM Modi will be contesting from the Varanasi seat. In 2014, he defeated AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal and in 2019, won against Samajwadi Party's Shalini Yadav.

Even before Modi, Varanasi had been a BJP stronghold, with the party retaining it consistently since 1991 except in 2004, when the Congress's Rajesh Kumar Mishra had won.

In the first list of 195 candidates, the BJP included 28 women, 47 youth, 27 Scheduled Castes, 18 Scheduled Tribes and 57 OBCs. The party announced 51 candidates in Uttar Pradesh, 24 in Madhya Pradesh, 15 each in Gujarat and Rajasthan, 20 for West Bengal, 12 in Kerala, 11 each for Assam, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, nine in Telangana, five for Delhi, two for Jammu and Kashmir, two for Arunachal Pradesh, one for Goa, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Daman and Diu also.

The first list of 195 candidates released by the BJP on Saturday, however, made some drastic changes in Delhi, it has decided to field only Manoj Tiwari, the sitting Lok Sabha member from northeast Delhi, and Union Minister Meenakshi Lekhi has been replaced with young face Basuri Swaraj, daughter of late BJP veteran Sushma Swaraj, from New Delhi; former Madhya Pradesh Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, has been chosen to contest from Vidisha constituency in the state; and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla from Kota.

With Prime Minister Modi urging senior ministers from Rajya Sabha to contest Lok Sabha elections, the party fielded Union Ministers Bhupender Yadav from Alwar in Rajasthan, Mansukh Mandaviya from Porbandar and Parshottam Rupala from Rajkot (Gujarat), Rajeev Chandrasekhar from Thiruvananthapuram, and V Muraleedharan from Attingal constituency. Another Rajya Sabha member and national vice president of the BJP Saroj Pande will contest from the Korba Lok Sabha constituency in Chhattisgarh. Union Minister Rameshwar Teli is replaced by Cabinet minister and former Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal in Dibrugarh (Assam) constituency.

Union Ministers who are being fielded from their sitting seats are Gajendra Shekhawat in Jodhpur, Smriti Irani in Amethi, S P Singh Baghel in Agra, Sanjeev Balyan in Muzaffarnagar, Ajay Mishra Teni in Kheri, Arjun Ram Meghwal in Bikaner, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti in Fatehpur, Subhash Sarkar in Bankura and Nishit Pramanik in Cooch Behar. (ANI)

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