PRAYAGRAJ: The UP assembly election cavalcade will enter the fifth phase on Sunday, taking the battle of the ballot from the banks of the river Saryu in Ayodhya to the confluence of the Ganga, Yamuna and Sarswati in Prayagraj, covering the fertile Gangetic plains of northern India.
Ayodhya will witness the first election after the decades-old Ram Janmabhoomi -Babri Masjid dispute was settled by Supreme Court in 2019. Ayodhya has seen many firsts in the last five years under Yogi Adityanath. Besides its geographical expansion, name of the district was changed to Ayodhya from Faizabad.
This will test the political laboratories of contemporary politics woven around Hindutva by the saffron brigade. It will decide the fate of a number of bigwigs, including six ministers: Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya, civil aviation minister Nand Gopal Gupta Nandi, MSME minister Sidhharth Nath Singh, social welfare minister Rampati Shastri, rural development minister Rajendra Pratap Singh and minister of state Chandrika Prasad Upadhyay.
The fate of Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiyya in his bastion Kunda and Congress candidate Aradhna Mishra in Rampur Khas, the traditional pocket borough of grand old party, will also be decided.