Ayodhya Assembly Seat: BJP's Winning Margin Shrinks As SP Gains Ground Ahead Of 2027 UP Polls

Lucknow: The electoral challenge between Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav over contesting from Ayodhya has brought the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly election into focus. While Yogi has accepted Akhilesh’s challenge and invited the SP chief to contest against him, the results of the last three Assembly elections show a changing contest in the temple town, with the BJP retaining the seat but the SP improving its vote share in 2022.

The BJP won the Ayodhya Assembly seat in both 2017 and 2022, securing around 49 per cent of the votes on each occasion. However, its victory margin fell sharply, from 50,440 votes in 2017 to 19,990 votes in 2022. The SP, which won the seat in 2012 before losing it in 2017, increased its vote share to 40.40 per cent in the 2022 election, a rise of 14.39 percentage points over the previous election, according to the figures provided.

The narrowing margin has added significance to the latest political exchange, although past results alone cannot determine the outcome of the 2027 contest.

In 2012, the SP won the Ayodhya seat. The BJP subsequently made significant gains in 2017, increasing its vote share by 23.27 percentage points compared with 2012 and winning by 50,440 votes.

The party retained the constituency in 2022 with around 49 per cent of the votes. The SP, meanwhile, expanded its support base, taking its vote share to 40.40 per cent. The BJP’s winning margin consequently fell by more than 30,000 votes between the two elections.

The figures point to a closer contest in 2022, even as the BJP maintained its hold on the seat amid the political prominence of the Ram temple and development projects in Ayodhya.

Candidate choice and local issues to shape 2027 contest

The electoral arithmetic will be closely watched following the exchange between Yogi and Akhilesh. The SP has already declared former MLA Tej Narain Pandey, popularly known as Pawan Pandey, its candidate from Ayodhya.

Whether Akhilesh contests from the constituency himself remains an open question. Yogi, who currently represents Gorakhpur Urban, has invited the SP chief to file his nomination from Ayodhya and promised to do the same.

The 2027 contest will depend on candidate selection, local concerns, caste and community equations, voter turnout and the performance of the parties’ campaigns. The BJP is expected to highlight the Ram temple and Ayodhya’s infrastructure development, while the SP will seek to build on its improved vote share and mobilise its PDA coalition.

The previous election results provide a measure of the changing electoral equation in Ayodhya, but whether the BJP can restore its 2017 victory margin or the SP can convert its gains into a win will become clearer only as the next election approaches.