LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party candidate Awadhesh Prasad, a nine-time MLA, is leading over BJP sitting MP Lallu Singh in the Faizabad Lok Sabha seat by over 9000 votes, as per the Election Commission.
The temple town of Ayodhya, the seat of the Ram temple, falls under Faizabad seat.
Ayodhya, considered to be the nerve centre of BJP’s Hindutva politics, had favoured the BJP in the last two Lok Sabha polls. This time, the SP following its PDA plank, fielded a Dalit Awadhesh Prasad in the general seat.
In January, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had led the consecration ceremony of Lord Ram in his final abode in Ayodhya – an event which was seen as fetching electoral gains to the BJP not only in Ayodhya but across the country.
The BJP’s campaign in UP focused on the Ram temple narrative. However, the poll trends suggest that the temple issue hardly had any traction on the ground in UP.