Sweet revenge for BJP in Ayodhya: Chandrabhanu Paswan beats SP’s Ajit Prasad by 61k votes in Milkipur

In Ayodhya, the land of the Ram temple, BJP's defeat in Faizabad Lok Sabha constituency was seen as a major embarrassment for the party.

Samajwadi Party's Ajit Prasad (L) & Bharatiya Janata Party's Chandrabhanu Paswan (R) | X

New Delhi: After last year’s defeat in Faizabad, the BJP has redeemed itself in Ayodhya with its candidate Chandrabhanu Paswan defeating Samajwadi Party candidate Ajit Prasad in the Milkipur bypoll by over 61,000 votes. 

The bypoll for the Milkipur assembly constituency of Ayodhya district in Uttar Pradesh was necessitated by the seat falling vacant after sitting SP MLA Awadhesh Prasad—Ajit Prasad’s father—won the Faizabad Lok Sabha seat in last year’s general elections.

Ayodhya’s Ram temple is located in the Faizabad constituency and BJP’s defeat here was seen as a major embarrassment for the party. 

The Milkipur bypoll, therefore, was being viewed as an opportunity for the BJP to redeem its position in the region. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath directly monitored the party’s campaign for the seat.

There are about 3.7 lakh voters in this seat, with Dalits and Brahmins constituting a significant share. More than 65 percent of the total voters exercised their franchise in the bypoll, surpassing the turnout of 60.2 percent recorded in the 2022 assembly polls. While there are 10 candidates in the fray, SP’s Prasad and BJP’s Paswan are being viewed as the top contenders.

While the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is not contesting the bypoll, the Congress is backing its INDIA bloc partner SP. Chandrashekhar Azad’s Azad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) has also fielded Santosh Kumar Chaudhary, a Dalit candidate.

In the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, Milkipur was the only seat that the BJP had lost in Ayodhya district.

Earlier in the week, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav had accused the ruling BJP of rigging the bypoll. 

In a press statement, the former UP chief minister has urged the Election Commission to take strict action against the “corrupt practices” in Milkipur, emphasising that the byelection had been tainted by “systematic voter suppression and fraudulent activity”.

He claimed that the BJP government, in collusion with local authorities, engaged in “widespread electoral malpractice, including fake voting and intimidation of voters and election agents”.

(Edited by Mannat Chugh)