The battle for Varanasi heats up 7 Photos . Updated: 15 May 2014, 09:23 PM IST Livemint Varanasi, in Uttar Pradesh, will see the country's most high-profile electoral contest between BJP's Narendra Modi, AAP's Arvind Kejriwal and Congress's Ajai Rai, when it goes to polls on 12 May, the last day of the 10-phase Lok Sabha elections. Pictures of the contestants for the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat 1/7Varanasi also known as Benares is believed to be the holiest of the seven sacred cities in Hinduism. The electoral contest for the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat has acquired great significance since Narendra Modi decided to contest from there. Reuters 2/7Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi is contesting the Lok Sabha elections from Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. Varanasi is home to 1.6 million voters. Mint 3/7Leader of Aam Admi Party (AAP) Arvind Kejriwal is taking on Narendra Modi in Varanasi. He arrived in the city for his “Mission Lok Sabha” on Tuesday morning with his parents in tow. AFP 4/7Mukhtar Ansari of Quami Ekta Dal has opted out of the Varanasi poll. However, having a strong following among 300,000 Muslim voters in Varanasi, his role in the polls is still crucial. PTI 5/7Modi has replaced the sitting Varanasi MP Murli Manohar Joshi, who will contest from Kanpur instead. The seat was won in 2009 by Joshi, defeating Ansari. HT 6/7Congress picked a five-time MLA Ajai Rai for the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat. Rai kicked off his campaign on Wednesday with the ‘local versus outsider’ slogan to counter his rivals. PTI 7/7Priyanka Gandhi is reported to have been keen to be the Congress candidate in the holy city, and stand against Modi in the electoral battle, but the party decided to field Rai. AFP