ArvindKejriwal will file his nomination today for the high-voltagefight in Varanasi where he will face tough challenge from BJP's prime ministerial candidate NarendraModi.

 

45-year-old Kejriwal, who had steered his ramshackleparty – AAP, to a hugewin in the Delhi Assembly polls last year (December), has been hoping to redo the successful Delhi campaign model in Varanasi by holding scores of road shows and corner meetings across Varanasi.

 

Scores of AAP volunteers are resorting to door-to-door campaign to garner support from people. BJP too is leaving no stone unturned to consolidate its vote bank. Senior BJP leader MurliManohar Joshihadwon from the holy city in 2009 LokSabha election by defeating gangster-cum-politician Mukhtar Ansari by a margin of 17,000 votes.

 

QuamiEkta Dal's, Ansari, enjoying strong backings from Muslims, has decided not to contest against Modi from the seat "to avoid division of secular votes". Ansari – four-time MLA from Mau, is currently behind bar in Agra jail. He was incarcerated for the murder of BJP MLA KrishnanandRai.

 

Congress has fielded Ajay Rai, a Varanasi local, who is an MLA from Pindra assembly constituency. Samajwadi Party candidate KailashChaurasiya is also a sitting MLA from nearby Mirzapur. Both of them have already filed their nominations. With the entry ofModi and Kejriwalin the fray the political temperature has increased tremendously and the fightswears to be one of the most keenly watched contests in the 2014 LokSabha polls.

 

Radiatingpoise and confidence of pulling off a wonder, Kejriwal says people of Varanasi will stand behind him and throw out the BJP strongman while the saffron party feels Modi will not face any significant fight in the constituency.

 

The constituency has around 1.5 lakh Muslim voters and Kejriwal has been trying hard to consolidate his position here.