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-decade-old BJP promise which it mentioned in almost every campaign rally during the massive two-month-long vote in the Hindu-majority country.

“I could not protect your and Ayodhya’s dignity, there must have been some shortcoming in me,” Lallu Singh, the BJP’s incumbent lawmaker from Faizabad, told party workers, according to footage shared by the Indian Express daily.

“There must have been some reason that we couldn’t win in the Ayodhya parliamentary region,” he added.