Weddings are usually a once-in-a-lifetime event but for Tej Narain Pandey, the newly-elected Samajwadi Party MLA, it will be an action replay of his wedding that took place in January this year.
Tej Narain Pandey was forced to turn his wedding into an extremely low-key affair in January because of the Election Commission’s model code of conduct. Since Mr Pandey was contesting the Ayodhya seat at the time of his marriage, he was warned by the EC that any celebration would be included in his election expenses.
Since the wedding could not be postponed, the young student leader-turned-politician opted for a small wedding ceremony attended by only a handful of guests from both sides. Immediately after the wedding ceremony, he and his wife Aditi plunged headlong into campaigning. The couple did not go for their honeymoon and neither did they party with family and friends.
“The election was my biggest priority at that time and my wife cooperated with me fully. Now that I have won the election, I feel I should host a function to celebrate my marriage and also my victory,” he says. On April 15, Tej Narain Pandey will be hosting a grand reception in Faizabad that will be attended by over 10,000 guests, including chief minister Akhilesh Yadav.
“Yes, we will make sure that the couple is again dressed up in their wedding finery and a small puja is also held before the reception. We will make them exchange garlands before the guests. We want to dissolve the three-month gap between the marriage and the reception,” said one of the MLA’s cousins.
Lavish preparations are being made for the VIP guests at the reception. To beat the sweltering heat, Swiss tents are being erected to provide air-conditioned comfort and privacy to the chief minister and the ministers.
The multi-cuisine dinner will have a wide variety for all and Mr Pandey has invited persons from his constituency as well. “This will also be my thanksgiving feats to my people in the constituency so naturally there will be thousands of people at the reception,” the MLA added. Mr Tej Narain Pandey is now a much sought after leader in the Samajwadi Party since he wrested the Ayodhya seat form the BJP after almost 22 years.