Ahead of the Lok Sabha election results, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday offered prayers at the Kedarnath temple nestled in Garhwal Himalayas of Uttarakhand.
Early in the day, PM Modi arrived at Dehradun’s Jolly Grant airport and took a chopper ride to Kedarnath.
Donning the traditional Himachali headgear known as the ‘pahari cap’ along with a grey suit with a saffron ‘gamchha’ around his waist, PM Modi visited the Kedarnath shrine and offered special prayers to Lord Shiva.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also reviewed the redevelopment projects in Kedarnath, which was extensively damaged in the June 2013 deluge. He held a meeting with the Chief Secretary of the state, Utpal Kumar over the projects.
PM Shri @narendramodi reviews redevelopment projects in Kedarnath. pic.twitter.com/3YNbaXRlnM
— BJP (@BJP4India) May 18, 2019
The Prime Minister will also visit the Badrinath temple on Sunday before returning to Delhi later in the afternoon.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission is learnt to have given its nod to PM Modi’s visit to Kedarnath and Badrinath shrines while “reminding” the prime minister’s office that the model code of conduct is still in force.
As it is an official visit, the Commission has only “reminded” the PMO that the model code of conduct which came into force on March 10 with the declaration of Lok Sabha polls, is still in force, sources aware of the development told PTI.
This is PM Modi’s fourth visit to Kedarnath in the past two years.
In 2017, he visited it once in May after its gates were opened following a six-month winter break and again in October, before the temple again closed for the winters. He had offered prayers at the temple on Diwali in November last year.
The last and seventh phase of Lok Sabha polls is on May 19. Counting of votes will take place on May 23 and the results will be out on the same day.