Keen contest on cards in Ayodhya

Faizabad (UP), Dec 30: The Ayodhya Assembly constituency, a saffron citadel for two decades, is poised to witness a keen contest among BJP, arch rival SP and Congress in the upcoming elections.

The BJP has once again fielded Lallu Singh, who has got himself elected from the seat continuously since 1991, against SP which has remained its arch rival over the years.

The SP has kept changing its nominee for the seat during every election and this year it has fielded young student leader Tej Narayan Pandey aka Pawan Pandey.

Pandey is former president of Lucknow University Student's Union and nephew of Mulayam Yadav loyalist Jai Shankar Pandey, who served as MLA for two terms from Ayodhya.

The Congress has nominated an old worker, Rajendra Pratap Singh, who is considered to be very close to local Congress MP Nirmal Khatri.

Though SP is banking on Muslim voters, it might not get their full backing as they might also support the Congress and the Peace Party, analysts said.

The Congress is also banking on Rajput votes, though the BJP expects to dent the vote bank by fielding a Thakur candidate. The BJP also expects support from Baniya community, the party's traditional vote bank.

Since the constituency has a sizable chunk of Baniya voters, the ruling BSP has fielded a leader from that community, Ved Gupta, who is considered to be very popular among them as also other sections.

Interestingly, Ayodhya Assembly constituency has got almost equal number of Brahmin, Yadav and Muslim voters and the outcome of the polls would depend heavily on how they behave.

PTI