New Delhi: The Election Commission’s decision to defer bypolls in Ayodhya’s Milkipur assembly seat has triggered a political row with opposition parties in Uttar Pradesh insinuating that the deferment would work in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP).
The poll body Tuesday declared the bypoll dates for nine of 10 vacant assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh, leaving out the Milkipur seat. Chief Election Commission (CEC) Rajiv Kumar had earlier clarified the poll panel was not declaring elections in seats with a pending court petition, an argument that has been questioned by former CEC S.Y. Quraishi.
The decision to defer the bypolls in the high-stakes constituency of Milkipur has sparked a political war of words between the Opposition and ruling BJP which faces a critical test after its setback in the Lok Sabha polls.
The Samajwadi Party (SP) alleged the BJP was trying to stall the by-polls in the Milkipur seat as it was afraid of another defeat in Ayodhya. The ruling party lost to the SP in the Faizabad constituency, which includes Ayodhya, in the Lok Sabha polls despite campaigning heavily on the Ram temple issue. “Whoever has postponed the war, consider that he has lost the war,” former chief minister and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav posted on his X handle.
The Election Commission postponed the Milkipur bypoll after its former MLA, Baba Gorakhnath, filed a petition with the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court in 2022 challenging the election of Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Awadhesh Prasad.
The Print has learnt the petition said the notary who authenticated Prasad’s documents did not have a valid licence on the date of attestation. According to Supreme Court directives, a notary must hold a current licence on the day of document authentication, it stated.
Baba Gorakhnath’s lawyer Rudra Vikram Singh however, said the petition would be withdrawn soon because it was no longer relevant as Prasad gave up the seat and is now an MP. Baba Gorakhnath too said Wednesday he would withdraw his petition.
Former CEC Quraishi said several petitions are usually filed regarding polls but that can’t be the reason for deferring an election. “One cannot delay bypolls for more than six months. So, as per rules if any seat is vacant, then they will have to conduct bypolls within six months. It means they cannot do much in announcing the dates. I do not remember any such case of my tenure in the Election Commission,” he told ThePrint.
Delay may help BJP
Multiple BJP leaders in Uttar Pradesh ThePrint spoke to were happy about the EC’s decision as it would give them “one or two weeks more” to prepare for the Milkipur bypoll.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who has been personally overseeing preparations for the Milkipur seat, has not released any statement but his team is confident the BJP will do better in Ayodhya this time. “This time maharaj ji (Yogi) is himself observing the preparations. In the Lok Sabha, he had to campaign on all the seats and so wasn’t able to give that much attention to the Faizabad seat. Moreover, the candidate selection was done by the central leadership,” a functionary in the chief minister’s office told ThePrint.
“Now maharaj ji’s popularity and hard work will help the BJP win this seat. The party has also done some course correction there,” the functionary added.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, SP defeated the BJP in the Faizabad Lok Sabha seat of Ayodhya district. The BJP’s defeat came just four months after the consecration ceremony of the new idol of Ram Lalla in the grand temple in Ayodhya. The SP’s Awadhesh Prasad defeated the BJP’s Lallu Singh by over 54,000 votes. Awadesh was earlier an MLA from Milkipur, which fell vacant when he resigned after winning the Lok Sabha polls.
The loss in Ayodhya was a big setback for the BJP even though it formed a government at the Centre for a third straight time.
Now, these bypolls are considered a litmus test for the BJP before the 2027 assembly polls and Milkipur is one of the most crucial seats as it falls in Ayodhya.
Several opposition leaders from SP and Congress blamed the BJP for the deferment.
UP Congress spokesperson Anshu Awasthi said in a statement though the BJP believed in one nation, one election, it was scared of contesting the bye-elections together. “By not conducting elections in Milkipur, BJP has murdered democracy and insulted Ayodhya. Now the people of Milkipur will settle the score for this by giving the biggest defeat to the BJP.”
The assembly seats where bye-elections will be held on 13 November are Katehari, Karhal, Meerapur, Kundarki, Phulpur, Sisamau, Ghaziabad, Majhawan and Kahir. Of these, the NDA and INDIA bloc each held five seats.
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)
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