Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], June 8 (ANI): Days after the Samajwadi Party outperformed the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh, the party's veteran MLA and winning candidate from the parliamentary seat, Awadhesh Prasad said that the victory of the party reflects the victory of all the voters, through the blessings of Lord Ram.
"This victory is of all the voters and our leader Akhilesh Yadav. I will consider it my win when I will fulfill the promises made to the public. This victory has been possible due to the blessings of Lord Ram, Lord Hanuman, and all other gods and goddesses," Prasad told ANI.
Awadhesh Prasad, one of the SP's founder members, defeated two-time MP Lallu Singh. Prasad was the only Dalit candidate to win from a non-reserved constituency in UP.
Prasad's win is being viewed as an ideological victory of the SP and the INDIA bloc since Ayodhya, where the Ram Temple is located, was a prestige battle for the BJP.
In Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party under Akhilesh Yadav threw up a big surprise as it won 37 seats, becoming a single party in the state that sends the highest number of MPs to the Lok Sabha.
The construction of the Ram Temple was one of the key planks of the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) campaign across the country.
Ironically, the poll pitch didn't work in Ayodhya itself. The Faizabad Lok Sabha constituency, in which the temple city falls, rejected its two-time MP Lallu Singh in the Lok Sabha polls.
BJP candidate Lallu Singh lost to Samajwadi Party's Awadesh Prasad in Uttar Pradesh's Faizabad constituency. Prasad polled 54,567 more votes than the BJP candidate.
SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav, in a press conference on Thursday, expressed his gratitude towards the public of Ayodhya for making them victorious in the seat and expressed his views on the formation of the BJP-led NDA government in the Centre.
The counting of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections was held on Tuesday. According to the Election Commission of India, the Samajwadi Party (SP) won 37 seats, the BJP won 33, Congress won 6, Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) won 2, and Aazad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) and Apna Dal (Soneylal) won 1 seat each in the Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh. (ANI)
