Lok Sabha elections 2024: Ram Mandir appeal fades, BJP loses in Ayodhya

Lok Sabha elections results latest: In January, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Ram Mandir in the temple city of Ayodhya, which falls within the Faizabad Lok Sabha constituency

Lok Sabha elections: The Faizabad Lok Sabha constituency, which is the centre of the temple politics of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, has given its mandate to the Samajwadi Party in the Lok Sabha elections result, the Election Commission's website showed on Tuesday.

The Samajwadi Party candidate Awadesh Prasad has defeated his BJP rival Lallu Singh by a margin of 54,567 votes.

In January, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Ram Mandir in the temple city of Ayodhya district, within which the Faizabad Lok Sabha constituency falls.

Awadesh had been leading on the seat since the early morning trends, the data showed.

The BJP was aiming for a hat trick from this key UP seat. The Modi government has been strongly emphasising on promoting Hindu cultural heritage, which was also a central aspect of their 2024 Lok Sabha election campaign, resonating strongly with supporters of Hindu nationalism.

In terms of overall trends, the Election Commission's website showed that the SP is leading at 36 seats in UP, emerging as the largest winner in the state, where it faced a humuliating defeated in 2019 with having won just five seats.

Party heavyweights Akhilesh Yadav regained SP's lost turf in Kannauj constituency while his wife Dimple Yadav won the Mainpuri seat.

The BJP won 33 seats and the Congress won six constituencies. Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi won the Raebareli constituency by the largest margin the state (390,030).

Modi has secured his win from the Varanasi constituency with his lowest margin of 152,513 votes since 2014.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, the BJP won 62 seats and its ally Apna Dal(S) two. 

The BJP has contested 75 out of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state this time. Alliance partners Apna Dal (Sonelal) contested from the Mirzapur and Robertsganj (SC) seats, the SBSP from Ghosi, and the RLD from Bijnor and Baghpat.