BJP concedes defeat in Ayodhya

NEW DELHI: India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party conceded defeat on Tuesday in a constituency where the inauguration of a grand Hindu temple just months ago by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was seen as an event that would cement his legacy and the party’s poll victory. The BJP looks set for heavy losses in the bellwether northern state of Uttar Pradesh, as the opposition Samajwadi Party and Congress race ahead in more than half of its 80 seats, including in Ayodhya city in the Faizabad constituency where Modi inaugurated the temple in January. The opening of the temple dedicated to god-king Lord Ram, on a site previously contested by India’s minority Muslims, fulfilled a three-decades old BJP promise which it mentioned in almost every campaign rally during the massive two-months long vote in the Hindu-majority country.