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In ‘karyakarta’ push, BJP fields local leader to take on SP’s aura in Milkipur

By, Lucknow
Jan 14, 2025 10:05 PM IST

BJP fields Chandrabhan Paswan to wrest Ayodhya district’s Milkipur assembly seat, which has a sizable presence of Pasi voters, against the SP’s Ajeet Prasad, son of influential veteran leader and Faizabad MP Awadhesh Prasad

Keeping the caste equations in mind and looking to galvanise the party cadre, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday declared Chandrabhan Paswan, who is not a big name but an “aam karyakarta” (ordinary party worker), as its candidate for the Milkipur assembly bypoll in Ayodhya district to challenge the dominance of the Samajwadi Party in the seat and neutralise the Pasi factor.

Among more than six probables for the ticket, the party zeroed in on Chandrabhan Paswan due to several factors, caste being the main reason. (For representation only)
Among more than six probables for the ticket, the party zeroed in on Chandrabhan Paswan due to several factors, caste being the main reason. (For representation only)

The Samajwadi Party has won the Milkipur assembly seat six times, including twice in by-elections, and its candidate Ajeet Prasad belongs to the Pasi caste while his father Awadhesh Prasad, a veteran SP leader with considerable political aura in the constituency, is the sitting Faizabad MP and former MLA from Milkpur. Ajeet Prasad will file his nomination on Wednesday.

For the BJP, wresting the Milkipur reserved assembly seat from the Samajwadi Party has become a matter of prestige after losing the Faizabad Lok Sabha seat to Awadesh Prasad in the 2024 parliamentary elections.

Several local leaders of the BJP were in contention for the party ticket from Milkipur. Initially, former MLA Baba Gorakhnath, who won the Milkipur seat for the BJP in 2017, was the front-runner.

A survey conducted by the BJP found that around 34% of the people preferred Chandrabhan Paswan while only 14% opted for Baba Gorakhnath, who had won the Milkipur seat in 2017 assembly polls but lost to Awadhesh Prasad in 2022, according to party insiders.

Among more than six probables for the ticket, the party zeroed in on Chandrabhan Paswan due to several factors, caste being the main reason.

The Milkipur reserved constituency has a sizable presence of the Pasi caste and a majority of them have been voting for the Samajwadi Party in the past several elections.

The Pasis have been rallying behind the Samajwadi Party due to Awadesh Prasad, the SP MP from Faizabad lok sabha seat.

Chandrabhan Paswan, a local BJP leader, had also been a Zila Panchayat member from Rudauli and is considered close to former BJP MP from Faizabad Lallu Singh, who was defeated by Awadhesh Prasad in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Chandrabhan’s wife is a Zila Panchayat member for two consecutive terms from Rudauli, a tehsil in Ayodhya district. Active in local politics for the past several years, Chandrabhan Paswan was also a contender for the party ticket in the 2022 assembly polls.

His family is engaged in the saree trade in Gujarat’s Surat district and in Rudauli.

The Samajwadi Party won the Milkipur seat in the 1996, 2002, 2012 and 2022 state assembly polls, besides the 1998 and 2004 by-elections.

The BJP has won the seat only twice in 1991 and 2017. Mathura Prasad Tewari won the Milkipur seat for the BJP in 1991 and Baba Gorakhnath bagged it in 2017. Gorakhnath lost to Awadhesh Prasad in 2022.

The Milkipur seat fell vacant after Awadesh Prasad defeated two-time BJP MP from Faizabad Lallu Singh in 2024 Lok Sabha poll by 54,567 votes in the 2024 election. Prasad bagged 554,289 votes and Singh 499,722 votes.

The BJP’s seriousness about wresting Milkipur could be gauged from the fact that chief minister Yogi Adityanath, who is party leader in charge of Milkipur, has taken the onus on himself to win the seat for the party.

To accomplish the goal, the BJP has deployed a battery of ministers there. After the chief minister, cabinet minister Surya Pratap Shahi is leading the BJP team in Milkipur.

Other ministers Swatantra Dev Singh, JPS Rathore, Dayashankar Singh, Mayankeshwar Sharan Singh and Satish Sharma have also been assigned the task to wrest Milkipur from the SP.

With the Congress and the BSP not in the fray, the Dalit voters will have to choose between the BJP and Samajwadi Party.

The last date of the filing of the nomination is January 17 and the scrutiny of the nomination papers will be done on January 18. January 20 is the last date for the withdrawal of nominations. Polling is scheduled for February 5 and the votes will be counted on February 8.

On October 15, 2024, the Election Commission of India announced bypolls to nine assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh, but left out Milkipur due to court proceedings related to the seat. The BJP had won six seats and its ally RLD one out of nine in the November by-elections.

In November, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court allowed to withdraw the election petition, clearing the path for the bypoll in Milkipur assembly constituency of Ayodhya. After his defeat in the 2022 assembly polls, former BJP MLA Baba Gorakhnath had filed the election petition on April 22, 2022, alleging that Awadhesh Prasad had taken an erroneous oath during the submission of his nomination papers.

ONCE DOMINATED BY CPI

Milkipur is among the few seats in the state that have seen the dominance of the Communist Party of India (CPI) whose candidate Mitrasen Yadav won the seat four times in 1977, 1980, 1985 and 1993. He won the seat for the fifth time in 1996 as the Samajwadi Party candidate. After the CPI, it is the Samajwadi Party which won the Milkipur seat in the 1996, 2002, 2012 and 2022 assembly polls, besides the 1998 and 2004 bypolls. The Congress won the seat twice in 1974 and 1989 and the BSP once in 2007.

The Milkipur assembly has also been the dominance of the father -son duo of Mitrasen Yadav and Anand Sen. Mitrasen has won the seat five times, including three times in a row in 1977, 1980 and 1985, besides 1993 and 1996. Anand Sen won the seat twice in a row in 2002 as Samajwadi Party candidate and in 2007 on the BSP ticket.

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