Today, Uttar Pradesh will conclude voting for its next government by selecting the final 40 of its 403 legislators. Star status is reserved for the ancient city of Varanasi because it is Prime Minister Narendra Modi's parliamentary constituency. But about 130 kilometres away, the election will be truly historic for 11 villages - this is the last time they will vote because a new and huge dam is to be completed by June next year, and the 4,000 families that live here will have to move out of their homes in the Sonbhadra district, which sends five representatives to the legislature. The dam on the River Kanhar has been 40 years and Rs 2,500 crores in the making. It is meant to irrigate 27,000 hectares of land in 200 villages in this part of Uttar Pradesh and across the border in Jharkhand, providing much-needed water to an area vulnerable to drought.
