Sixty-one constituencies spread over 12 districts of Awadh and Purvanchal will vote for the crucial fifth phase of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections on Sunday. With 692 candidates in fray, the phase will test the temperature of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Hindutva wave as its three laboratories — Ayodhya, Prayagraj, and Chitrakoot — will vote in this phase.
Simultaneously, the phase will decide the impact of the alliances that the Samajwadi Party (SP) stitched up ahead of the elections by bringing together a string of local satraps who are said to command influence in pockets across the region.
The round will also see the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic’s management as Baharaich, Barabanki and Gonda are some of the districts that saw migrants return during the first and second waves.
