The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is heading for victory in the battle of prestige over the Samajwadi Party in Milkipur by-election. After nine rounds of counting, BJP's Chandrabhan Paswan secured 47,176 votes while Samajwadi Party's Ajit Prasad is trailing behind by more than 25,000 votes.
The Milkipur seat — part of the politically significant Ayodhya district — has turned into a prestige battle between the Samajwadi Party and the BJP.
As the BJP is set to wrest Milkipur from Samajwadi Party, BJP candidate from Milkipur Chandra Bhanu Paswan on Saturday thanked PM Modi, UP CM Yogi Adityanath and said, “I thank Modi ji and Yogi ji. I thank the voters for their support. I have received huge respect and support."
Union Minister OP Rajbhar said that the people of Ayodhya and Milkipur have chosen development and Yogi Aditynath once again.
“I had already said earlier that the NDA candidate will win with a majority. The public wants development and they are happy with the work by Yogi ji,” Rajbhar told news agency PTI after BJP's Chandrabhan Paswan was leading by more than 25,000 votes after Round 9 of counting.
Amid the counting for by-polls, Samajwadi Party MP Awadhesh Prasad accused the BJP of being a "dishonest" party. "BJP has registered its name in the Guinness Book of Records in dishonesty...BJP will lose this election and SP candidate Ajit Prasad will win and create history," said Awadhesh.
Months after the BJP's defeat to the Samajwadi Party in Faizabad Lok Sabha seat, where Ayodhya's Ram Temple was inaugurated, the saffron party has turned the Milkipur bypoll, an assembly segment of the constituency, into a high-stakes prestige battle.
The bypolls in the Scheduled Castes-reserved seat were necessitated after SP's Awadhesh Prasad was elected to the Faizabad (Ayodhya) parliamentary seat after defeating BJP in 2024. This time around, SP fielded Awadhesh's son Ajit Prasad against BJP's Chandrabhanu Paswan. Both belong to the dominant Pasi community.
The announcement of the bye-election was delayed after BJP’s Baba Gorakhnath, who contested the 2022 election from the seat, filed a writ petition. He challenged Prasad’s victory, questioning the authenticity of his nomination documents. After Gorakhnath withdrew his petition, the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the bypoll date as February 5.
Source: India Today