Ayodhya: The high-stakes battle between the Samajwadi Party and the BJP reached its final stage in the Milkipur assembly seat in Uttar Pradesh, as voters queued outside polling stations from 7 am on Wednesday to cast their ballots.
With 3,70,829 voters in the Scheduled Castes (SC)-reserved constituency set to decide the fate of 10 candidates, the contest is expected to be primarily between Samajwadi Party’s Ajit Prasad and BJP’s Chandrabhanu Paswan.
Milkipur bypoll after Awadhesh Prasad’s Faizabad Lok Sabha seat win
The stakes in the Milkipur bypoll, located in Ayodhya district, have been heightened by SP’s Awadhesh Prasad’s unexpected victory in Faizabad during last year’s Lok Sabha elections, which came just months after the inauguration of the Ram temple in Ayodhya.
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According to officials, voting began at 7 am and will continue until 5 pm. Polling teams have been dispatched from Government Inter College to booths in Milkipur, where strict security measures are in place. The election is being conducted across 255 polling centres and 414 polling stations.
Polling arrangements in Milkipur bypoll
Webcasting will take place at 210 polling stations, while videography will be conducted at 25. A total of 71 polling centres have micro-observers deployed, supported by nine flying squads, nine static surveillance teams, six video surveillance teams, two super zonal magistrates, four zonal magistrates, and 41 sector magistrates.
Voting is being carried out with the assistance of civil police, PAC, and paramilitary forces, According to officials quoted by PTI.
The bypoll has 1,92,984 registered male voters, 1,77,838 female voters, and seven third-gender voters. Additionally, 4,811 first-time voters are participating in the election.
Key candidates
While the BSP is not contesting the bypoll, the Congress is supporting its alliance partner, the SP, in the race. The Aazad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) has also fielded a candidate for the seat.
The bypoll was necessitated after SP leader Awadhesh Prasad vacated the Milkipur seat following his victory in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from Faizabad.
As the SP aims to retain its stronghold, the BJP views the election as an opportunity to avenge its Faizabad defeat. In the 2022 UP Assembly polls, Milkipur was the only seat in the Ayodhya district that the BJP failed to win.
On Monday, before the campaigning ended, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav alleged that the BJP deliberately delayed the Milkipur bypoll, fearing a loss, saying the constituency has always supported his party.
Speaking at a rally in support of party candidate Ajit Prasad, Yadav described the election as a direct contest between “janta and shashan” (the people and the administration).
The alleged murder of a Dalit woman in Ayodhya has become a key issue for the SP in its attack on the ruling party. SP MP Awadhesh Prasad has publicly broken down over the incident multiple times, while Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath dismissed his reaction as “nautanki” (drama).
Addressing a rally in Milkipur on Sunday, Adityanath suggested that a “criminal from the Samajwadi Party” could be involved in the crime. On Monday, Ayodhya Police arrested three individuals in connection with the 22-year-old woman’s murder.
Both parties deployed their top leaders to campaign for the bypoll. Alongside the chief minister, UP’s two deputy CMs, Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak, campaigned for the BJP candidate. Meanwhile, the SP sent its MP from Mainpuri, Dimple Yadav—Akhilesh Yadav’s wife—for a roadshow in Milkipur.
