The big fight for milkipur: After LS poll high, SP sets sight on retaining prestigious seat
The SP won 37 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh in June last year but its performance dipped when it could bag only two of the nine assembly seats in the November bypolls.
The main Opposition Samajwadi Party is primed for the big fight to retain the Milkipur assembly seat and the date for the bypoll is expected to be announced.
The SP is up against a resurgent BJP, which shed the disappointment of the Lok Sabha election results and scored a big win in the bypolls for nine assembly seats in November. The Samajwadi Party has also started a door-to-door campaign as it wants to retain this seat at any cost.
The SP won 37 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh in June last year but its performance dipped when it could bag only two of the nine assembly seats in the November bypolls.
The Milkipur assembly seat fell vacant when sitting SP MLA Awadhesh Prasad won the Faizabad Lok Sabha seat in June.
“The people of Milkipur have always supported me and have propelled me to win multiple times from this assembly seat. This time in Lok Sabha (2024) elections, I won from Faizabad parliamentary constituency. We are always ready for elections. I am always available among my people. I listen to their woes and solve their issues,” Prasad said.
“The BJP is scared that is why they postponed the by-elections. Now, the elections will be held and definitely the BJP will lose badly. Our honourable CM has already visited Milkipur six-seven times and he is again coming on January 8. All this will not help the BJP, as the people of Milkipur have full faith in me. I have got a polytechnic made here. Government girls’ inter colleges were opened. ITI was opened in every block. A 50-bed hospital was made during my membership of the UP assembly. People of Milkipur have full faith in Samajwadi Party and our leader Akhilesh Yadav,” Prasad added.
The Milkipur bypoll in Ayodhya district was to be held earlier along with by-elections for nine other assembly seats in November 2024. But due to a pending court case, the Election Commission deferred the Milkipur bypoll. The SP had already named Awdhesh Prasad’s son Ajeet Prasad as its official candidate from Milkipur.
The SP MP from Faizabad further said, “It is going to be history how badly BJP will lose these bypolls. My son Ajeet Prasad will contest from here and all the people who worship Lord Ram are going to bless him with their votes. The win in Milkipur will clear the way for 2027 UP assembly elections under the leadership of SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav. We are fully prepared and have full confidence in our voters.”
ELECTORAL HISTORY
Milkipur is one of the most talked about assembly seats which Samajwadi Party candidate Awadhesh Prasad had won with 47.99% votes in 2022, followed by BJP’s Baba Gorakhnath with 41.83% votes. Congress candidate Brijesh Kumar had got 1.46% votes. Awadhesh Prasad had also won the seat in 2012.
EXPERTSPEAK
“This is one election where BJP might not be feeling as confident as it used to be for other elections. After tasting defeat in Faizabad parliamentary seat, the Milkipur constituency also did not vote favourably for the BJP and the equations may not have been changed there in the last six months,” senior journalist Ratan Mani Lal said.
“Despite the excitement and rush for the Ram temple in the New Year, the mood of the people in Ayodhya remains unchanged as far as their political inclination is concerned. Some of the ground reports suggest that people are still a little unhappy about how the political scenario emerged during the Lok Sabha elections. The BJP has a lot of work to do it seems,” he added.
“Whereas, the Samajwadi Party rides on the excitement of the success it got in Lok Sabha elections. Also, it rides on the caste combination in Ayodhya despite the glory of the Ram Temple. The SP could be having an edge, but for the BJP it remains a prestigious fight and it will put everything it has in this contest. Also, CM Yogi will have to give a lot of personal effort for Milkipur,” he said.