Milkipur bypoll: Yogi-led battery of ministers ramping up campaign
BJP’s seriousness could be gauged from the fact that chief minister Yogi Adityanath has taken the onus on himself to win the seat for the BJP
After the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s shock defeat from the Faizabad Lok Sabha seat in the 2024 general election, the Milkipur assembly bypoll in Ayodhya has become the battle of prestige for the ruling party.
The party is going all out to wrest this reserved seat from the Samajwadi Party where bypoll will be held on February 5. BJP’s seriousness could be gauged from the fact that chief minister Yogi Adityanath, who is party’s in charge of Milkipur, has taken the onus on himself to win the seat for the BJP.
To accomplish the goal, the BJP has deployed a battery of ministers there. After the CM, cabinet minister Surya Pratap Shahi is leading the BJP’s team in Milkipur. Also, ministers Swatantra Dev Singh, JPS Rathore, Dayashankar Singh, Mayankeshwar Sharan Singh and Satish Sharma have been assigned the task to wrest Milkipur from the SP.
Additionally, both deputy CMs Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak are also campaigning there. Former BJP MP from Faizabad Lallu Singh and party’s MLAs from assembly segments of Ayodhya are also mobilising support in Milkipur.
As per state BJP leadership, after announcement of poll, party’s MPs and MLAs from adjoining districts will be assigned poll duty in Milkipur. “For the Milkipur bypoll, party MLAs and MPs from adjoining regions of Ayodhya like Basti, Gonda, Ambedkar Nagar, Gorakhpur and other areas will be assigned duty,” said state BJP spokesperson Hero Vajpayee.
Milkipur is among the few in the state that has seen dominance of the Communist Party of India (CPI) whose candidate Mitrasen Yadav won the seat four times- 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 has registered victory three times in Milkipur-1996, 2002 and 2012. 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- Mitrasen Yadav and his son Anand Sen. Mitrasen has won the seat five times.
Anand Sen won the seat twice in a row in 2002 as Samajwadi Party candidate and in 2007 on the BSP ticket.
SP candidate Awadhesh Prasad defeated two-time sitting BJP MP Lallu Singh by a margin of 54,567 votes in Faizabad Lok Sabha seat in the last general election.
Dalit–26% ( Rawat, Chamar, Kori), Muslims–14%, Kurmi–12%, Yadav–12%, Brahmin–12% , Rajput–6%, Vaish–4%, Kewat/Mallah/Nishad– 5%, Other OBCs–12%.
