Prime Minister Narendra Modi will contest once again from Varanasi in the Lok Sabha polls as he seeks a record third term. PM Modi had defeated Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in 2014 and Samajwadi Party candidate Shalini Yadav in 2019.
In BJP's first list for the Lok Sabha polls, announced on Saturday, 195 candidates were named.
5 facts about Prime Minister Narendra Modi:
1) Born on September 17, 1950, in Vadnagar town of North Gujarat's Mehsana district, Narendra Modi lived with his entire family in a single-storey house. At a very young age, he balanced his studies with work. The third child of the family, Narendra Modi also worked at the family-run tea stall.
2) Narendra Modi's friends from school remember him as someone always curious, spending a lot of his time in a local library and, of course, someone who loved to debate and discuss issues. Even as a child, Narendra Modi, was believed to have been inspired by the teachings of Swami Vivekananda.
3) At the age of 17, Narendra Modi left Vadnagar to travel across India, exploring cultures, and getting to know his country better. In 1972, Narendra Modi went to Ahmedabad and joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
4) In 1987, Narendra Modi entered mainstream politics and was made the General Secretary of BJP's Gujarat unit in a year. He was the chief architect of the then BJP chief L K Advani's Somnath to Ayodhya Rath Yatra and the march from Kanyakumari to Kashmir between 1988 and 1995. In 2001, the party's high command chose Narendra Modi to replace Keshubhai Patel as the Gujarat chief minister, a post he went on to hold until 2014.
5) In 2014, the BJP came to power at the Centre after a decade of Congress rule, and Narendra Modi, who by then had established himself as a name synonymous with development, was sworn in as India's Prime Minister. In 2019, PM Modi once again contested from the Varanasi seat and catapulted BJP and NDA to an even bigger victory.
