Milkipur Bypoll On February 5: Ayodhya Seat To See Fierce Adityanath Vs Akhilesh Battle – News18
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UP bypoll on February 5: The SP has introduced Awadhesh Prasad’s son Ajit as its candidate for Milkipur. The BJP hasn’t introduced a candidate but
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath and Samajwadi Get together (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav (proper). (File pictures)
Even earlier than the Election Fee (EC) on Tuesday introduced February 5 because the date for bypoll in Ayodhya’s Milkipur, political events started pulling out all stops to sway the citizens.
The Bharatiya Janata Get together (BJP) has set its sights on ‘Mission Milkipur’ in Uttar Pradesh. Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath not too long ago mentioned: “If Kundarki may very well be received, then why not Milkipur?” The assertion prompted a stir in UP’s political circles, considerably elevating the stakes for the upcoming bypoll.
The BJP has deployed six ministers to maintain a vigilant eye on Milkipur, with CM Adityanath overseeing electoral preparations. Alternatively, the Samajwadi Get together (SP) is banking on its trusted Picchda Dalit Alpsankhyak (PDA) components to consolidate its vote base, setting the stage for an intense political battle.
The bypoll is necessitated as Awadhesh Prasad, the MLA of Milkipur, which falls in Ayodhya on the border of Amethi and Sultanpur, obtained elected as an MP from Faizabad (Ayodhya).
UP CM’S STATEMENT
“The BJP received Kundarki in Moradabad final yr with report votes, regardless of 65% Muslim inhabitants within the constituency. It obtained votes within the identify of improvement. It was as a result of get together staff that we succeeded in successful seven of the 9 seats within the UP bypolls,” mentioned Adityanath. The UP CM was addressing get together staff at Acharya Narendra Dev Agricultural College in Ayodhya.
He additionally informed staff to get most votes at their respective cubicles. “Contact and communication is the easiest way to win. Get together staff ought to compete amongst themselves to win their sales space, gram sabha and mandal with most votes,” the CM mentioned.
WHY KUNDARKI IS A BENCHMARK
The UP CM’s assertion created a flutter in political circles.
“The Milkipur bypoll is at least a battle of status for the BJP, particularly after it misplaced the Ayodhya Lok Sabha seat to the SP within the April-June basic elections in 2024. Of the opposite 9 seats for which bypolls had been held, the Kundarki seat was important, particularly as a result of its complicated caste equations. Nevertheless, the BJP managed a decisive victory within the Muslim-dominated Kundarki seat in Moradabad, historically an SP stronghold. This additionally units the benchmark and therefore the get together is in plans to use the identical technique in Milkipur,” mentioned Shashikant Pandey, head division of political science Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar College, Lucknow.
SPLIT IN MUSLIM VOTES A KEY FACTOR IN KUNDARKI SUCCESS
BJP’s Ramveer Thakur received Kundarki after an extended wait of 31 years, with a margin of over 1.4 lakh. His closest rival and three-time MLA, SP’s Haji Rizwan, misplaced his bail quantity, securing a mere 25,580 votes. Thakur created historical past by being the one Hindu candidate from the Muslim-dominated seat.
“A cut up in Muslim votes was the primary purpose behind the BJP’s win. Barring the BJP, all events, together with the SP, fielded Muslim candidates,” mentioned Pandey.
Adityanath additionally urged six ministers and get together functionaries to accentuate ballot preparations and citizens mobilisation in Ayodhya’s Milkipur. Whereas the BJP plans to push for Hindu unity with slogans comparable to ‘Batenge toh katenge’ (If we’re divided, we’ll be slaughtered), the SP goals to retain its stronghold with its PDA technique.
MILKIPUR LIKELY TO SEE ‘PASI VS PASI’
There are rumours that the BJP might area former Milkipur MLA Baba Gorakhnath, a Pasi, who narrowly misplaced to SP’s Awadhesh Prasad in 2022 by 13,000 votes. Notably, in 2017, Gorakhnath, then 32, defeated the 72-year-old Prasad by greater than 26,000 votes, a victory that coincided with the BJP’s landslide win in Uttar Pradesh and Adityanath’s rise to the chief minister’s workplace.
The SP, too, is gearing up for the ballot battle and is ready to financial institution on its trusted PDA components. The SP has fielded Awadhesh Prasad’s son, Ajit, a Pasi, turning the competition right into a ‘Pasi vs Pasi’ battle in Milkipur, which has a big Dalit and OBC inhabitants.
MILKIPUR BYPOLL ON FEBRUARY 5
Whereas saying final month’s bypolls for 10 vacant meeting seats of UP, the Election Fee of India (ECI) had skipped Milkipur following a writ petition filed by BJP candidate Baba Gorakhnath, who contested the 2022 meeting elections from the seat.
Gorakhnath had challenged the victory of SP’s Prasad, elevating issues over the authenticity of the paperwork submitted throughout his nomination. The withdrawal of his petition paved the way in which for the February 5 bypolls in Milkipur.
The BJP is but to announce a candidate from Milkipur. The seat has round 3.5 lakh voters, of which over one lakh are Dalits, whereas greater than 80,000 are Yadavs and Muslims. Brahmins and Thakurs account for round 1 lakh voters within the constituency.
