Samajwadi Party demolishes BJP's Ayodhya fort

Ayodhya, Mar 6: BJP has lost the temple town of Ayodhya, considered to be its bastion since 1991, from where it spearheaded the Ram temple movement which catapulted the party at the Centre.

BJP's Lallu Singh, who was winning the seat since 1991 state elections, lost to a young student leader Tej Narain Pandey of Samajwadi Party with a margin of about 5,700 votes. Singh had won in 2007 with a margin of about 6,500.

When the counting started, Lallu took a lead in urban and posh areas of Faizabad and Ayodhya, but his lead decreased continuously as the counting went through Muslim dominated areas and villages.

After declaring Pandey as a candidate from Ayodhya seat, SP state president Akhilesh Yadav visited the area sevaral times and established a direct contact with the voters. Reacting over his victory, Pandey said, "Now a common man does not believe in false politics of temple, everybody wants development and a good governance."

PTI