4:18 PM – Ved Prakash Gupta wins Ayodhya by defeating his nearest rival from SP, sitting MLA Tej Narayan Pandey, by 50,440 votes.
12:36 PM – BJP’s Ved Prakash Gupta now leading by over 30,000 votes in Ayodhya.
11:41 AM – BJP MP Subramanian Swamy says that he will move the Supreme Court on the Ram Mandir case on March 21.
On March 21st I will go before SC and ask for early day to day hearing of the Ram Mandir case. I expect now UP govt will not oppose me.
— Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) March 11, 2017
11:15 AM – As BJP gets all set to win Uttar Pradesh, BJP supporters call for construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya. Here’s a tweet from right-wing activist Rahul Easwar,
Hope to see a Ram Mandir in Ayodhya ; Dream of Crores of Hindus. & Let us also assist in building a Masjid ( Babri Demolition was a Mistake)
— Rahul Easwar (@RahulEaswar) March 11, 2017
9:44 AM- BJP’s Ved Prakash Gupta leading by over 2,000 votes over the SP candidate.
9:30 AM- Counting on in Ayodhya. The Bharatiya Janata Party is already predicted to make a comeback in UP. Narendra Modi’s party is leading in over 300 seats.
Ayodhya legislative assembly seat falls under the Faizabad Lok Sabha constituency in Uttar Pradesh. The age-old Ram Mandir, Babri Masjid dispute in Ayodhya is probably one of the longest running legal disputes in India. But this issue flares up when elections are around the corner by leaders who often use public emotions to play religion-based politics to divide Hindus and Muslims polarising them for votes.
Ayodhya which is known as the birthplace of Lord Rama is considered as a prestigious constituency for the BJP. Raking up the Ram Mandir issue yet again during the 2017 assembly elections, several leaders including BJP’s Vinay Katiyar, claimed that the development and employment generation in UP are worthless until Ram Mandir is constructed in Ayodhya.
Voting for the seat was held on 27 February. The key candidates for the seat are Mo. Bazmi Siddeke of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Ved Prakash Gupta of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Rashtriya Lok Dal’s (RLD) Dharmendra Kumar Upadhyay and Samajwadi Party’s Tej Narayan Pandey Alias Pawan Pandey.
However, in a huge blow to BSP, party candidate from Ayodhya Bazmi Siddiqui, was recently booked for allegedly raping a woman. The woman in her complaint has alleged that she was gang-raped by Siddiqui and 5 of his associates who barged into her house in Purani Sabzi Mandi locality of Faizabad city and took turns to rape her.
Samajwadi Party’s (SP) Tej Narayan Pandey had won this seat by a narrow margin of 5,405 votes in the 2012 Assembly elections. As per Election Commission of India, Ayodhya has 3,16,722 registered voters including 1,71,217 male and 1,45,496 female voters beside. Nine voters have also been registered in the Others category.
The major candidates in fray from Ayodhya are,
BSP – Mo. Bazmi Siddeke
BJP – Ved Prakash Gupta
SP+ Congress – Tej Narayan Pandey Alias Pawan Pandey
