Newly-built Lucknow's Ekana cricket stadium renamed after Atal Bihari Vajpayee

Continuing with its name changing exercise, the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government today renamed the newly-constructed Ekana International Stadium in Lucknow after former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The stadium will now be known as 'Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee International Cricket Stadium', a government release said.


The stadium, with a seating capacity of around 50,000, will host its first international match at the stadium on Tuesday when India play West Indies in the second T20 International match.


The stadium was named after Vajpayee, as the former prime minister was a Member of Parliament from Lucknow for five consecutive times between 1991 and 2009.

The construction of the stadium was started during the previous tenure of the Samajwadi Party government under the previous Akhilesh Yadav government.

The Yogi Adityanath government also renamed Allahabad as Prayagraj and Mughalsarai as Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya
nagar earlier this year.

(Inputs from PTI, ANI)