Now home to six governors, Purvanchal continues to hold sway in BJP

Purvanchal continues to play a key role in the ruling BJP's scheme of things as the region is now home to six governors, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and is also represented by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Lok Sabha.

The Centre recently appointed former Union minister and Gorakhpur Cantonment ex-MLA Shiv Pratap Shukla and Laxman Acharya, a member of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council, as governors of Himachal Pradesh and Sikkim, respectively. Acharya hails from Varanasi, the Prime Minister's Lok Sabha constituency.

Among the other governors from this Bhojpuri-speaking region in eastern Uttar Pradesh are Jammu and Kashmir Lt Governor Manoj Sinha, a former Union minister who represented Ghazipur as an MP. Former Union minister Kalraj Mishra, who represented the Deoria Lok Sabha seat in Parliament, is now the governor of Rajasthan.

Meghalaya Governor Phagu Chauhan also hails from the region. Chauhan has represented the Ghosi seat six times in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly. He hails from the economically backward (EBC) Nonia caste.

Ladakh Lt Governor Brigadier (Retd) BD Mishra is a native of Purvanchal's Bhadohi.

Besides the six governors, the Prime Minister and the state's chief minister, several ministers in the Centre and the Uttar Pradesh government also represent this region.

Union ministers Mahendra Nath Pandey, Pankaj Choudhary and Apna Dal (S) Anupriya Patel are natives of Purvanchal.

Seen as a swing region, Purvanchal has always been of deep interest to political observers. It voted for the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party in 2007 and Akhilesh Yadav and the Samajwadi Party in 2012. It has by and large been with the BJP since the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.