I am learning ASP.NET Core MVC framework (.NET 8) by building a sample project: Following are the code files-

1. In the Program.cs file I have the following services registered:

builder.Services.AddDbContext<ApplicationDbContext>(options=>
    options.UseSqlServer(builder.Configuration.GetConnectionString("DefaultConnection")));

//registering the Authetication Services with COOKIE Autheticaition scheme
builder.Services.AddAuthentication(CookieAuthenticationDefaults.AuthenticationScheme)
    .AddCookie(option =>
    {
        option.LoginPath = "/UserAccess/Login";
        option.ExpireTimeSpan = TimeSpan.FromMinutes(20);

    });

//some line of code then..

app.UseAuthentication();

app.UseAuthorization();

app.MapControllerRoute(
    name: "default",
    pattern: "{controller=Home}/{action=Index}/{id?}");

2. Model: UserLogin.cs

namespace LandPurchase.Models
{
    public class UserLogin
    {
        public string? Username { get; set; }        
        public string? Password { get; set; }
        public bool KeepLoggedIn { get; set; } = false;      
    }
}

3. Controller : UserAccessController.cs I have the below IActionResult methods one for GET and one for POST:

public class UserAccessController : Controller
{

public IActionResult Login()
{    
    return View();
}

[HttpPost]
public async Task<IActionResult> Login(UserLogin usrLogin)
{  
   //will perform password verification and generate Httpcontext
      return View();
}

4. View: Login.cshtml

@model UserLogin

<h1>User Entry according to Role</h1>

<form method="post" asp-controller="UserAccess" asp-action="Login">
    <div class="mt-2 mb-3">
        <input asp-for="Username" type="text" class="form-control" placeholder="Username">
    </div>
    <div>
        <input asp-for="Password" type="password" class="form-control" placeholder="Password">
    </div>
    <div class="row mt-3">
        <a class="col-3 ms-3 btn btn-outline-primary" role="button" >Log In</a>
        <a href="#" class="col-6 ms-2 text-decoration-none text-success">Forgot password?</a>
    </div>
</form>

In the Home view I have the following button, when clicked goes to the UserAccessController and display the view Login.cshtml.

<a class="btn btn-outline-primary" role="button" asp-controller="UserAccess" asp-action="Login">Click to Login</a>

My problem is when I click the Log In button from the Login.cshtml view the IActionResult of the [Httppost] does not get hit and the control does not go there. Only the method for GET gets hit when I initially load the form. Thus I am not able to perform the Login functionality. Thank you in Advance.

Tried changing the UserLogin-ViewModel to UserLogin-Model. Since I thought that it has something to do with Model Validation.