Ayodhya and Faizabad: BJP bastion since 1991

Bengaluru, Dec 6: Ayodhya, the political laboratory of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is one of the assembly constituencies and part of Faizabad Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh.

Notably, the Faizabad Lok Sabha and assembly seats won by BJP for the first time in 1991 riding on the wave of Rama Janma Bhoomi issue. In 1991 Lallu Singh of BJP defeated Jai Shankar Pandey of Janta Party in Ayodhya Assembly and Vinaya Katiyar defeated CPI's Mitrasen Yadav to win Faizabad Lok Sabha seat.

Since 1991, the BJP has lost only once in Ayodhya Assembly in 2012 assembly elections. Tej Narayan Pandey of Samajwadi Party (SP) defeated BJP's Lallu Singh by a margin of 6000 votes. Surprisingly, the Indian National Congress (INC) did not end up in second place since 1991 in Ayodhya assembly. It's been between Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).

In parliamentary elections, BJP has won four times Congress, SP and BSP have won only once since 1991. Also, apart from 2009, the Congress has not been runner-up in all the parliamentary elections. Notably, BJP did win Faizabad during UPA I and UPA II tenure. Mayawati's BSP won in 2004 and Congress in 2009 for the first time since 1991.

Along with the issue, BJP has the advantage of the community votes in Faizabad district. As per Faizabad Religion-wise Data 2011, the Hindu population is 2,094,271 and Muslims population is 365,806.

Faizabad Lok Sabha:

Ayodhya Assembly: