Campaigning For Milkipur Bypoll Ends, SP Fights To Retain Seat As BJP Aims To Avenge Faizabad Loss
The Milkipur bypoll campaigning concluded with BJP and Samajwadi Party's top leaders addressing rallies. Ajit Prasad (SP) and Chandrabhanu Paswan (BJP) are the main contenders in the byelection.
Lucknow, Feb 3 (PTI) Campaigning for the bypoll in the Milkipur assembly constituency of Ayodhya district concluded at 5 pm on Monday, with top leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Samajwadi Party making last-ditch efforts to win voters' support.
Ten candidates are in the fray for the February 5 bypoll, though in the absence of BSP and the Congress, the main contest is between Samajwadi Party's Ajit Prasad and the BJP's Chandrabhanu Paswan.
While BSP isn't contesting the bypoll, the Congress is backing its alliance partner SP on the seat. Aazad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) has also fielded a candidate from the seat.
The bypoll was caused as SP's lawmaker Awadhesh Prasad vacated the Milkipur seat after winning the Faizabad Lok Sabha seat in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Now, even as the SP is desperate to retain the seat, the BJP is looking at the seat as an opportunity to avenge its surprise loss of the Faizabad seat.
On Monday, before the campaigning ended, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav alleged that the BJP deliberately postponed the Milkipur bypoll, fearing a loss, as the constituency has always supported the SP.
Addressing a rally here in support of party candidate Ajit Prasad, Yadav termed the election a direct contest between "janta and shashan" (the people and the administration).
"This is not just an election; it is a challenge. The BJP knew that the Milkipur electorate would never abandon the Samajwadi Party, so they ensured the poll did not take place earlier. But those who run from elections will have to face the people's verdict," Yadav said.
Before that, local MP Awadhesh Prasad again publicly broke down while referring to the alleged murder of a 22-year-old Dalit woman whose body was found in a canal in Ayodhya on Saturday.
On Sunday, too, Prasad broke down publicly while referring to the Dalit woman even as Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath dismissed the gesture as 'nautanki (drama).' Addressing a rally in Milkipur on Sunday, Adityanath even said that some "criminal from Samajwadi Party" could be behind the crime against the Dalit woman and hit out at SP, describing the party as "anti-Sanatan".
Ayodhya Police on Monday arrested three people over their alleged involvement in the Dalit woman's murder.
UP's deputy CMs Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak have also campaigned for the party candidate. SP MP from Mainpuri Dimple Yadav held a roadshow in Milkipur on Thursday.
However, on Friday, police said that a case has been registered against her and unidentified party workers for alleged violation of government orders, including the use of more vehicles than permitted.
On Sunday, SP chief and Dimple's husband Akhilesh Yadav alleged that the BJP was harassing SP leaders and workers "by filing false and fake cases against them".
In the 2022 UP Assembly polls, Milkipur was the only assembly seat BJP lost in Ayodhya district. For both the BJP and SP, the main challenge will be to get their supporters to come out and cast their votes in large numbers.
"I have not made up my mind on who to vote for, but the bypoll in Milkipur is set for an interesting and keen contest, especially between the BJP and SP. The outcome will have a meaning and message for all the parties," Mitthu Lal, a voter in Milkipur said.
(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)
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