Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal will be in the temple town for the counting of votes for Lok Sabha polls and will arrive here from Delhi on a flight in the morning on Friday.
An AAP source said here on the eve of counting of votes that, "He (Kejriwal) should reach Varanasi by 10.30am."
Counting is to commence at 8am when the postal ballots are first tallied.
According to Election Commission guidelines, half-an-hour after the postal ballots are counted, the process of counting the votes from the EVMs will begin.
Nearly 8,000 candidates, including top guns Narendra Modi, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Kejriwal have contested in the largest-ever electoral exercise held in Indian history.
Anti-corruption crusader Kejriwal was pitted against Modi, BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate in Varanasi and would be seeking to replicate here his electoral triumph in last year's Delhi Assembly polls.
However, exit polls have projected that BJP will emerge as the single-largest party.
EC said that counting at 989 centres across the country is likely to be completed by 5pm and trends would be available by 11am. A final picture could emerge by noon as to who would be the major players in the 16th Lok Sabha.
AAP district convener Devkant Verma claimed that the party was quite hopeful that Kejriwal would win from Varanasi as he got huge support from the people in Varanasi.
If Modi loses this Lok Sabha elections from here he would never turn back to the city, but Kejriwal will remain here and will often visit the temple town whether he wins or loses, Devkant said.
Prasad said Kejriwal had chosen to stay away from the election buzz for a couple of days in order to carry out his meditation practice of 'vipassana'.
BJP Varanasi Lok Sabha media in-charge, Navratan Rathi said that Modi is likely to visit on May 17 but his Lok Sabha election in-charge Ashok Dhawan will be present at the counting centre on Friday.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}