The Milkipur assembly by-election in Ayodhya has drawn nationwide attention with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav locking horns as the polling for the the prestigious seat scheduled to be held on February 5 draws closer.
Currenly the Milkipur seat held by the SP fell vacated after its sitting MLA Awadhesh Prasad elected to the Lok Sabha. However, this time around, the Hindutva of the BJP with is trying its luck against the PDA (Pichara,Dalit, Alpansakayak) formula of the SP in a direct contest.
While the SP is trying its best to retain the seat as it will set the tone for the 2027 UP assembly polls, the BJP is is leaving no stone unturned to win it to send out a message that the SC voters are back in its fold and the SP’s PDA strategy has failed.
Yogi Adityanath, who is leading the campaign for the BJP reached out to the voters several time before the announcement of the bypolls and twice after the announcement. He is campaigning in Milkipur once again today. Besides, his several ministerial colleagues and BJP leaders, along with NDA partners, are camping in the segment.
On the other hand, Akhilesh Yadav is slated to arrive here tomorrow, the last day of campaigning, while other SP leaders, including Mainpuri MP Dimple Yadav are struggling hard to seek support for the party candidate.
Both the SP and the BJP have fielded candidates from the Pasi community, which is dominant here. The majority of voters of the seat hail from a combination of Dalit, Yadav, Brahmin, and Muslim communities.
The SP has fielded Ajeet Prasad, son of SP MP Awadhesh Prasad, while the BJP has given a ticket to a local BJP worker, Chandrabhan Paswan. The SP leadership is already levelling charges against the ruling BJP of misusing official machinery in the bypolls and have even petitioned the ECI for webcasting in all polling booths during the polling and removing certain BLO’s and presiding officers working for the BJP candidate.
However, denying the charges, the BJP claimed that the SP has already conceded its defeat.
Voters in rural areas, who generally keep mum on their preferences, become vocal about their support to the candidate from their caste when probed incusitively.
A total of 10 candidates are in the fray for this bypolls where 1.40 lakh of the 3.58 lakh voters are Dalits. About 50,000 of the Dalit voters belong to the Pasi community while others are from the Kori and Jatav communities. There are about 50,000 OBCs, 60,000 Brahmins, 50,000 Yadavs, 30,000 Muslims and 25,000 Rajput voters in the constituency.
As the Dalit votes will be decisive, both the BJP and the SP are vying each other to win the community’s support in the absence of the BSP.