Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday claimed that like the previous byelections, the BJP is planning to create disturbances in the Milkipur bypolls by misusing the administrative machinery. In the byelections held in nine assembly seats in UP in November last year, the BJPled National Democratic Alliance candidates won seven seats, while the SP had managed to win only two seats. Yadav was addressing a meeting of workers at the Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Auditorium at Samajwadi Party’s state headquarters in Lucknow on Saturday. Accusing the ruling BJP, he said, “Like the previous byeelections, the BJP is planning to create disturbances in the Milkipur election by misusing the administrative machinery.” In a statement issued by the SP, Yadav said, “From now on, threats are being given to village heads. Opposition workers are being intimidated.
False cases are being filed against SP workers, so that they cannot campaign in favor of SP, but not even a single ploy of BJP will succeed.”
“However, in the February 5 Milkipur bypolls, the public has decided to trust the SP. Winning this byelection is also necessary for democracy. The results of the Milkipur byeelection will have an impact on the next assembly elections,” the SP chief said. He added that the public has understood why the BJP never speaks the truth. Lies and loot are its only mission and it has no vision for development. The former UP chief minister also said, “By misusing power, the BJP gives false assurances and makes new excuses to defame the opposition. Now, the public has decided to give it a crushing defeat in the 2027 elections as well as in the Milkipur bye. “Just as the BJP came to power in the state in 2017, it will be out of power in 2027.”
He said that despite the BJP’s many conspiracies, the supreme power of the people cannot be denied. The SP is engaged in connecting everyone with the resolution of PDA (Backward, Dalit, Minority). Under this, everyone will have a stake in the success of social justice. The Samajwadi Party is committed to democracy, socialism and the Constitution.
Ten candidates are in the fray in the February 5 bypoll for the Milkipur assembly seat in Uttar Pradesh’s Ayodhya district.
The main contest in the bypoll is expected to be between SP’s Ajit Prasad and the BJP’s Chandrabhanu Paswan.
The SP would like to retain the seat, especially after delivering a blow to the BJP in the Faizabad parliamentary seat that houses Ayodhya, the home of the newly consecrated Ram temple.
The BJP, meanwhile, would like to wrest power in the seat to reverse the import of the Samajwadi Party’s win in Faizabad.
The Milkipur seat fell vacant after Awadhesh Prasad, who was elected on an SP ticket in 2022, resigned after being elected an MP from Faizabad in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
In the 2022 assembly elections in Milkipur, BJP candidate Gorakhnath lost to Prasad. The BJP has won all the other assembly seats within the Faizabad Lok Sabha constituency.