Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) accepted defeat on Tuesday in a constituency where the
unveiling of a significant Hindu temple a few months earlier by Prime Minister
Narendra Modi was expected to solidify his legacy and secure the party's
electoral success.
The
BJP appears poised for substantial setbacks in the significant northern state
of Uttar Pradesh, with the opposition Samajwadi Party and Congress leading in
over half of its 80 seats, notably in Ayodhya city within the Faizabad
constituency where Modi inaugurated the temple in January.
The
inauguration of the temple, dedicated to a Hindu deity on a site historically
disputed by India's minority Muslims, marked the fulfilment of a three-decade-old
BJP pledge, prominently featured in nearly every campaign rally during the
extensive two-month voting process in the nation.
The
most recent data from the Election Commission indicates a reduction in the
BJP's seat count to 33 in the state. This development has redirected the
attention of analysts towards the prevailing issues of unemployment and soaring
inflation.
"I
could not protect your and Ayodhya's dignity, there must have been some
shortcoming in me," Lallu Singh, the BJP's candidate from Faizabad said,
as per Indian Express daily shared footage.
Lallu
Singh won twice in Faizabad to parliament in 2014 and 2019 when BJP won 71 and
62 seats in Uttar Pradesh.