Stakes high, turnout soars to 65.35% in Milkipur bypoll

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP) are locked in a high-stakes contest in the constituency.

HT Correspondent

People wait to cast their votes during the Milkipur Assembly by-election on Wednesday (PTI)

A robust 65.35% voter turnout was recorded in the prestigious Milikipur assembly bypoll on Wednesday, almost 5% more than the 60.44% polling recorded in the same constituency in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly election.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP) are locked in a high-stakes contest in the constituency.

After the high turnout, both the BJP and SP leaders claimed victory of their respective candidates – Chandrabhan Paswan (BJP) and Ajeet Prasad (SP), the son of SP’s Faizabad MP Awadhesh Prasad.

A total of 10 candidates are in the fray. Votes will be counted on February 8.

Milkipur is an assembly segment of the Faizabad Lok Sabha seat that the BJP lost to the SP in the 2024 parliamentary polls. The SP had won the Milkipur assembly seat in 2022 but the seat fell vacant after sitting MLA Awadhesh Prasad was elected to the Lok Sabha from Faizabad.

The BJP claimed voters came out in large numbers on Wednesday to vote for its candidate and give a befitting reply to the SP. The SP said the anti- incumbency factor was at play against the BJP government.

Voters began queuing at polling booths since early morning and 13.34% votes were polled by 9am, the figure rising to 29.86% by 11am and 44.59% by 1pm amid favourable weather conditions. By 3pm, the turnout was 57.13%.

Both BJP and SP workers pulled out all the stops to mobilize their voters and visited villages in the constituency.

The SP and BJP leaders traded allegations and counter-allegations as voting progressed.

Samajwadi Party MP from Faizabad Awadhesh Prasad alleged that the SP supporters were not permitted to vote.

He claimed the district administration and police personnel threatened the voters when they went to the polling booths. However, SSP Ayodhya Raj Kiran Nayyar refuted the allegation that police personnel were checking the ID of the voters at the polling booths.

There was a heated argument between SP candidate Ajeet Prasad and BJP leader Santosh Singh near a polling booth.

Dismissing the SP allegations, BJP state president Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary said, “When the SP is losing, its leaders make allegations against Constitutional bodies, the Election Commission and the administration. If the BJP government has been misusing the administrative machinery, then why the results of the Lok Sabha election were not favourable?” he said.

“It’s the mindset of the SP leaders, when they face defeat, their leaders blame electronic voting machines (EVM). Whereas the BJP is of the view that in a democracy, the decision of the people is final and everyone should accept it. The BJP will accept the people’s verdict in the by poll and start work for the next election,” Chaudhary said.

Uttar Pradesh chief electoral officer (CEO) Navdeep Rinwa said, “Polling was peaceful and fair. Adequate paramilitary forces were deployed in the constituency to conduct the elections peacefully. The ECI set up 414 polling booths for voters across the constituency.”

Live webcasting at 210 polling stations was conducted, which was supervised by the district election officer, chief electoral officer and election commission of India. Arrangements were also made for videography at 25 polling booths, he said.