E-Paper
EXPERIENCE VS YOUTH: All set for face-off between old rivals in Ayodhya again
BJP’s Ved Prakash Gupta and SP’s Tej Narain Pandey file nomination for the prestigious Ayodhya Sadar seat.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA from Ayodhya Sadar assembly constituency Ved Prakash Gupta and his opponent from Samajwadi Party (SP) Tej Narain Pandey alias ‘Pawan Pandey’ filed their nomination papers on Thursday for the polling in the temple town that will be held in the sixth phase.
Gupta, 74, is being challenged by 41-year old Pandey in this VIP constituency where polling will take place on March 3 for the penultimate phase of voting.
The contest on this seat will be observed keenly because it is considered to be a VIP seat as Ram Janmabhoomi is part of this assembly segment.
In 2017 assembly polls, Gupta had defeated Pandey by a margin of 50,440 votes. Gupta bagged 1,07,014 votes while Pandey got 56,574 votes.
Pandey had, won the Ayodhya seat for the first time for Samajwadi Party in 2012 assembly polls.
Pandey had then defeated BJP’s Lallu Singh by a margin of 5,405 votes when he got 55,262 votes against Singh’s 49,857 votes. This victory had landed Pandey a minister’s berth in SP government in 2012.
Anti-incumbency votes and opposition by locals to the road widening project in Ayodhya has made it tough for the BJP to retain this seat this time around. This time it will not be a cakewalk for Gupta like it was in 2017.
The BJP’s dominance on Ayodhya assembly seat has been since 1991. It had won this seat six times, barring 2012, when SP won it for the first time.
Lallu Singh, who is BJP MP from Ayodhya, had won this seat five times in a row from 1991 to 2007.
