Varanasi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is eyeing his third term, on Tuesday offered prayers at the Dashashwamedh Ghat on the banks of the Ganga in Varanasi ahead of filing his nomination from the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat.

PM Modi also performed aarti at the ghat amid chanting of Vedic mantras. Following puja at Ganga ghat, the Prime minister boarded a cruise ship at Dasaswamedh ghat in Varanasi. The PM is scheduled to visit the Kaal Bhairav Temple in the holy city today. Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath has already arrived at the temple. PM Modi is the sitting MP and BJP's candidate from Varanasi.

Several Union ministers, including Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh, chief ministers of BJP and NDA-ruled states and leaders of the party are likely to accompany Modi to the collectorate for his nomination filing.

The BJP's NDA partners Lok Dal president Jayant Chaudhary, LJP chief Chirag Paswan, Apna Dal (S) president Anupriya Patel and Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party president Omprakash Rajbhar are also expected to be present.

Besides Adityanath, chief ministers Nitish Kumar (Bihar), Pushkar Singh Dhami (Uttarakhand), Mohan Yadav (Madhya Pradesh), Vishnu Deo Sai (Chhattisgarh), Eknath Shinde (Maharashtra), Bhajan Lal Sharma (Rajasthan), Himanta Biswa Sharma (Assam), Nayab Singh Saini (Haryana), Pramod Sawant (Goa), Prem Singh Tamang (Sikkim) and Manik Saha (Tripura) are also likely to attend the prime minister's nomination filing.

Following the nomination process, Modi will hold a meeting with BJP workers at the Rudraksha Convention Centre.

Voting in Varanasi will take place in the seventh phase on June 1.

(With PTI inputs)