THE BJP’s big loss in Uttar Pradesh included setbacks in the regions of Ayodhya and Varanasi, both crucial to the party’s Hindutva project, which its governments in the state and Centre have both showered special attention on since coming to power.
While Ayodhya saw the consecration of the Ram Temple, long promised by the BJP, Varanasi is now not only Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency for the third time in running, but also the site of his government’s ambitious Kashi Vishwanath Temple corridor project.
Of the nine Lok Sabha constituencies falling in the Ayodhya region, the BJP lost from five. In 2019, it had won seven of these seats. The constituencies from which the party lost included Faizabad, under which the Ram Temple falls, which was won by the Samajwadi Party’s Awadhesh Prasad Singh, a Dalit fielded from a general category seat. The BJP had won the constituency in both 2014 and 2019.
In Sultanpur, BJP candidate Maneka Gandhi was served her first-ever electoral defeat by the Samajwadi Party’s Ram Bhual Nishad, who is originally from Gorakhpur. Basti Lok Sabha seat was also won by the SP, with the BJP’s two-time sitting MP from here, Harish Dwivedi, losing.
Near Rampath in Ayodhya on Wednesday, a day after the Lok Sabha election results were announced. (PTI)
The BJP further lost Ambedkar Nagar and Shrawasti, which it had not won in 2019 either. However, the party was hoping to reverse its fate given that the consecration of the Ram Temple happened just four months ago. In fact, Ram Temple construction committee chairman and former PM Modi aide Nripendra Misra’s son Saket Mishra was the BJP candidate from Shrawasti.
The constituencies in the Ayodhya region from where the BJP won were Kaiserganj (from where the son of BJP leader Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who is facing sexual harassment allegations, was fielded), Gonda, Domariyaganj and Bahraich.
The Varanasi region has 12 Lok Sabha seats – Varanasi, Jaunpur, Machhlishahr, Bhadohi, Chandauli, Mirzapur, Robertsganj, Ghazipur, Ghosi, Azamgarh, Lalganj and Ballia. In 2019, the party with ally Apna Dal-Soneylal had won seven of these, losing Jaunpur, Ghazipur, Ghosi, Lalganj and Azamgarh. It had won Azamgarh in a bypoll later, after SP chief Akhilesh Yadav vacated the seat to contest Assembly elections.
This time, the BJP won only three (including one won by Apna Dal-Soneylal), losing Jaunpur, Machhlishahr, Chandauli, Robertsganj, Ghazipur, Ghosi, Lalganj, Azamgarh and Ballia.
Among those defeated was Union minister Mahendra Nath Pandey, the two-time sitting BJP MP from Chandauli, who lost to the SP’s Bijendra Singh. Robertsganj and Ballia seats had also been won by the BJP both in 2014 and 2019. This time the seats were won by the SP’s Chhotelal and Sanatan Pandey, respectively.
The big win for the BJP here was Varanasi, from where PM Modi won, though with a much-reduced majority of 1.5 lakh votes, against 4.79 lakh votes in 2019.
Mirzapur was won for the third time consecutively by Union minister Anupriya Patel, the leader of the Apna Dal (Soneylal). She struggled in the initial rounds, trailing behind SP candidate Ramesh Chand Bind, but picked up later and finally won by 37,810 votes. This was Anupriya’s third consecutive victory.
In Bhadohi, the BJP’s Vinod Kumar Bind defeated the Trinamool Congress’s Lalitesh Pati Tripathi by 44,072 votes. Tripathi, the grandson of former Congress CM Kamlapati Tripathi, joined the TMC in 2021. The SP had left Bhadohi for the TMC as part of their INDIA arrangement.
Asked about the party’s losses in Varanasi and Ayodhya, a senior BJP leader said they would soon hold a meeting to review the reasons. “Losing Faizabad seat is a big setback,” he added.
Another stronghold of the BJP in UP, Gorakhpur, though, had better news for the party. The long-time fiefdom of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath covers eight Lok Sabha seats, including Gorakhpur, Sant Kabir Nagar, Balrampur, Bansgaon, Maharajganj, Deoria, Salempur and Kushinagar. The BJP retained seven of them, losing only Sant Kabir Nagar.
Lakshmikant alias Pappu Nishad won the Sant Kabir Nagar seat defeating BJP sitting MP Praveen Nishad by 92,170 votes. Praveen is the son of BJP ally and NISHAD Party president Sanjay Nishad.
Under the 10 years of the Modi government and seven years of Adityanath as CM, Ayodhya has seen the Ram Temple come up, besides an international airport, renovation of the railway station, widening of roads and beautification of the area, with Adityanath reviewing the works himself. Ironically, these changes on the ground may have been the main reason for the BJP’s defeat, as locals felt themselves pushed to the margins.
Demolished buildings along the Rampath street of Ayodhya, Wednesday, June 5, 2024. BJP lost the Faizabad Lok Sabha constituency where Ayodhya Ram temple is situated. (PTI Photo) 
Near Rampath in Ayodhya on Wednesday, a day after the Lok Sabha election results were announced. (PTI)
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