Despite BJP’s Ram Temple pitch, voter turnout falls 4% in Ayodhya

Animesh Singh

New Delhi, May 23

Despite the BJP pitching construction of Ram temple as one of its major highlights of Lok Sabha poll campaign, Ayodhya witnessed a 4 per cent fall in voter turnout on May 20, which stood at 56.51 per cent, down from 60.27 per cent in 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Ayodhya is one of the five Assembly segments under Faizabad Lok Sabha seats, which had seen voting on May 20 during the fifth phase of polling.

Overall the voter turnout in Faizabad Parliamentary constituency remained more or less static at 59.14 per cent compared to 59.59 per cent recorded in 2019 General Election. There was a miniscule fall of 0.4 per cent in voter turnout from 2019.

Going by the fall in turnout figures in Ayodhya Assembly segment of the Faizabad Lok Sabha seat, it clearly shows that Ram temple construction and its subsequent consecration ceremony, which had been turned into a national event by the Narendra Modi-led government, has not resonated much with the voters, just four months down the line.

However, the larger picture shows that the construction of the temple in the region and heavy attendance of pilgrims after an international airport also came up in Ayodhya to facilitate movement of people from across the country and abroad, has not reflected in voter turnout figures.

Rather Ayodhya itself, as an assembly segment under the Faizabad seat, has seen a fall in turnout. Both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah have been aggressively underlining the Ram temple’s construction and the subsequent consecration ceremony as one of BJP-led NDA government’’s significant achievements in the second term. Modi and Shah especially pull up the Congress-led INDIA alliance leaders for not attending the consecration ceremony.

However, the temple pitch has failed to reflect in any increase in voter numbers, and indicates that issues related to development, employment, inflation and economy are getting more traction among people in Uttar Pradesh, as is visible in other states.