Narendra Modi salutes supporters from inside a petal covered car as he drives through the streets of Varanasi on his way to the city's BJP party headquarters on May 8, 2014.

With voting in Varanasi now just three days away, the city remains the sharp focus of India's political viewfinder. The Election Commission, caught in a muscular stand-off with the BJP, ceded today that it took too long to decide on permissions for a series of events that were planned in Varanasi yesterday for Narendra Modi , the party's prime ministerial candidate.Mr Modi was not allowed to hold a rally in the heart of the city, from where is running for parliament for the first time. The BJP has said that amounts to banning a candidate from campaigning in his constituency. The party has charged that clearances for two other programmes for Mr Modi came through at 2 am, forcing it to cancel the events.Election Commissioner HS Brahma ceded today that the delays were problematic, stating that a decision "either way" should have been taken and conveyed faster.In retaliation for his rally being disallowed, Mr Modi drove last evening from the city's famous Benares Hindu University to the party headquarters, where he met with BJP workers. The four km journey took three hours, with Mr Modi's convoy forced to a slow crawl by the huge crowds that had gathered en route. ( Modi in Varanasi: 4 kilometres, 3 hours and a show of strength Election Commissioner Brahma today reiterated that the rally for Mr Modi could not be sanctioned because officials and police had raised security concerns which it could not ignore. But the BJP has denounced that theory, questioning the commission's neutrality.Mr Modi is running from Varanasi against Ajay Rai of the Congress and Arvind Kejriwal of the Aam Aadmi Party, who held his own road-show in the city today.Mr Brahma said that a Gujarat police official, who he did not want to be named, did say (as per the file), that the rally would be unsafe. However, he added that if the rally timings were during the day, the permission may have been considered.

Varanasi and 17 other constituencies in Uttar Pradesh vote on Monday, along with some parts of West Bengal and Bihar, on the final day of a mammoth election that has stretches across six weeks.