Milkipur bypoll: Give copy of application to withdraw plea, says HC to ex-BJP MLA

The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court on Thursday directed former BJP legislator Baba Gorakhnath to serve a copy of his application, withdrawing his petition that challenged the election of Samajwadi Party leader Awadhesh Prasad from Milkipur assembly constituency in Uttar Pradesh in 2022, to all respondents in the case and take steps to get it published in the official gazette within a week.

“The petitioner is directed to serve a copy of this application to all parties to the petition and to take steps for publication in the official gazette within one week,” justice Pankaj Bhatia said.

“List this application on the 15th day of the said publication,” it added.

The court’s directive came after Prasad’s counsel Devendra Upadhyay urged that all respondents in the case must be informed about the withdrawal applications. Besides Prasad, five independent candidates in the 2022 assembly bypoll were parties in the case.

Gorakhnath was elected as the MLA from Milkipur (reserved) seat of Ayodhya district in the 2017 assembly polls but lost to Prasad in 2022.

In his court petition, which was withdrawn on Wednesday, Gorakhnath alleged that Prasad had taken an erroneous oath during the submission of his nomination papers. The writ alleged that the notary who authenticated Prasad’s documents did not possess a valid licence on the date of attestation. According to Supreme Court directives, it is imperative for the notary’s advocate to hold a current licence on the day of document authentication.

The Milkipur seat fell vacant in June following Prasad’s election to the Lok Sabha. The Election Commission on Tuesday announced bypolls to nine assembly seats in the northern statet but left out Milkipur due to proceedings in the matter before the court.

Talking to PTI, Prasad, who was elected to Faizabad Lok Sabha in the recent general elections, said: “I vacated the Milkipur seat almost four months ago. It was Gorakhnath’s moral duty to withdraw the litigation and he should have withdrawn his litigation soon after my resignation.”