UP Elections: Ayodhya remains saffron

The BJP seems set to retain the Ayodhya seat a record fifth time. BJP candidate Lallu Singh is leading, dispelling speculation that his poor record on the development front could cost him his seat. (Read updated version of this copy here).There was much speculation about the Samajwadi Party having a good chance of wresting the Ayodhya seat from the BJP, given the waning interest in the Babri-Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi issue.The SP candidate Pawan Pandey, a student leader, behind whom the Muslim and Yadav community were said to be united doesn't seem to have managed to break the saffron hold on Ayodhya.Ayodhya is one of the five assembly constituencies in Faizabad.[caption id="attachment_235557" align="alignleft" width="380" caption="The BJP seems set to retain the Ayodhya seat a record fifth time. Reuters"][/caption]The BSP candidate was no light-weight either. Ved Prakash Gupta — a traders’ leader who belongs to the influential Baniya community was expected make a dent in the BJP’s traditional vote base.But neither the SP nor the BSP have been able to win Ayodhya, which has tremendous symbolic value for the BJP.In 2007, the BJP had cornered 37 percent of the vote in Ayodhya, followed by SP (33 percent of the vote) and BSP, coming a distant third (18 percent of the vote).