The 61 seats that went to polls on Sunday mostly saw a direct flight between the BJP and Samajwadi Party alliance. On the stake is the reputation of BJP, to pull the miracles out of polling booths. There may be some miracles this time also, but the party is looking slightly faded in the region which it claims to be its strongest zone. In Ayodhya, the party witnessed a strong challenge after a dubious show in Mathura. It seems the party’s temple run in the holy towns isn’t going the way BJP may have perceived. Pawan Pandey of Samajwadi Party is looking confident and claiming his victory. If it happens, it will be one of the biggest upsets in the 2022 elections.Not only in Ayodhya, poll battle looks tough in Sirathu (Kaushambi) for Keshav Prasad Maurya also, who left the constituency early in the day to join the PM Modi rally in Varanasi. “We are winning” claimed Pallavi Patel, the leader of Apna Dal (K) and Maurya’s challenger, later in the evening. Indrajeet Saroj, Samajwadi Party leader contesting from Manjhanpur (Kaushambi) and Puja Pal, Samajwadi Party candidate from Chayal (Kaushambi) made similar claims.Other leaders of BJP who are stuck in a tough situation include Siddharth Nath Singh (Allahabad West) and Nand Gopal ‘Nandi’ (Allahabad South), the ministers in Yogi Adityanath government, Mayankeshwar Singh in Tiloi (Amethi), Ramapati Shastri in Mankapur (Gonda), and Rajendra Singh from Patti (Pratapgarh). Also, the poll battle isn’t easy for Raghuraj Pratap Singh, former minister and Jansatta Dal Loktantrik Party candidate in Kunda (Pratapgarh) and Sanjay Singh, BJP candidate in Amethi Sadar.
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