THE LAST FRONTIER

PURVANCHAL HOSTS THE BIGGEST STAR CANDIDATE IN INDIA: NARENDRA MODI IN VARANASI. THAT MAY BE A NO-CONTEST, BUT CRAFTY CASTE PLAY BY THE SP-CONGRESS POSES A CHALLENGE IN THE OTHER DOZEN SEATS

- PRASHANT SRIVASTAVA

AN EPIC IN SEVEN CHAPTERS COMES to a close on June 1, proceeding left to right on the map-like words on a page. The ink will reveal itself a mere three days later, but it is Purvanchal's privilege to get in the last word there. The 13 Lok Sabha seats of the far eastern belt of Uttar Pradesh are voting at the fag-end of a long-drawn electoral process that began setting its patterns right from the first phase on April 19. By and large, modest turnouts were seen across the first six phases when compared to 2019. Whether that trend continues may carry no material relevance to eventual outcomes in a star constituency like Varanasi, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking a third term. But elsewhere, including in the Gorakhpur region, home turf of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, it will surely be part of the overall story, and perhaps one of its constitutive elements.