– Akhilesh Tripathi
Lucknow: In the Milkipur assembly by-election held in Ayodhya district, Uttar Pradesh, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured victory. However, the Samajwadi Party (SP) has rejected this result, calling it a “false win” and asserting that the party’s victory in the Lok Sabha elections far outweighs BJP’s success in Milkipur.
BJP’s Chandrabhanu Paswan defeated SP’s Ajit Prasad by a margin of 61,710 votes. A total of 31 rounds of vote counting took place, with Chandrabhanu receiving 1,46,397 votes, while Ajit Prasad secured 84,687 votes. The election featured 10 candidates, with Congress supporting SP, while BSP chose not to participate. The by-election was necessitated by the election of sitting MLA Awadhesh Prasad as MP from Ayodhya.
SP has alleged that BJP employed every possible tactic to secure victory in Milkipur. It claims that after BJP’s humiliating defeat in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Ayodhya, it sought to create a narrative that local voters still supported them. To achieve this, BJP mobilised extensive resources, including deploying multiple ministers for campaigning.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath visited Milkipur thrice, urging voters to support BJP. SP alleges that these visits, along with the presence of BJP leaders, resulted in district administration and police bias in favour of BJP. SP claims that three police station heads harassed and detained SP workers during the election. Complaints were filed with the Election Commission, requesting their removal, but no action was taken.
On polling day, SP alleges that Ayodhya’s district administration and police actively facilitated BJP’s win. According to SP, SSP Rajkaran Nayyar intimidated voters by checking their ID cards at polling booths. Additionally, SDM Rajiv Ratan Singh was allegedly seen casting votes on a voting machine for approximately 20 minutes. Despite complaints from Ayodhya MP Awadhesh Prasad to election observers and the Chief Electoral Officer of UP, no action was taken.
A video surfaced during the election showing a person claiming to have cast six votes. This footage was submitted to the Election Commission, but no response was received. SP further alleged that the Election Commission acted as a “BJP agent.” Additionally, a police officer, Devendra Pandey, was accused of assaulting an SP worker and verbally abusing SP leaders. When SP chief Akhilesh Yadav was informed, he personally intervened, highlighting concerns over election fraud and booth capturing. However, the EC remained unresponsive. Following public outcry, SSP Nayyar placed Devendra Pandey on forced leave to mitigate controversy.
SP claims largescale booth capturing took place in Milkipur, with people being brought in from outside to cast votes fraudulently. MP Awadhesh Prasad accused the BJP of orchestrating this manipulation. Akhilesh Yadav named several officials whom he accused of working for BJP, including SSP Rajkaran Nayyar, SDM Rajiv Ratan Singh, CO Shreesh Tripathi, and multiple police station heads. Yadav submitted a complaint to the EC, but no action was taken.
Expressing his frustration, Yadav stated, “The Election Commission is dead; we will have to present it with a white shroud.”
In a statement posted on X, Yadav asserted: “The growing power of PDA (Pichhda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak) cannot be countered by BJP through votes alone. That is why BJP manipulates the electoral system. While such fraud may work in one assembly seat, it will not succeed across all 403 constituencies. Even BJP leaders understand this, which is why they delayed the Milkipur by-election.”
He added: “90% of the PDA community has seen this fraud first-hand. This is a false victory, and BJP leaders will never be able to celebrate it while looking themselves in the mirror. Their guilt and fear of future defeats will haunt them.”
Akhilesh Yadav warned that officials involved in election manipulation would eventually face consequences: “Those who committed electoral fraud will be held accountable – if not today, then tomorrow. Their truth will be exposed. Neither nature nor the law will spare them. The BJP will use them and discard them. When they lose their jobs and pensions, they will face disgrace in front of their families and society.”
He concluded by emphasising: “The true victory of PDA in the Ayodhya Lok Sabha elections is far greater than BJP’s false win in Milkipur – and it always will be.”
