BJP wins bypoll after Ayodhya jolt

Defeats SP Faizabad Lok Sabha MP Awadhesh Prasad’s son by more than 61K votes in battle

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THE BJP delivered a rude shock to its main rival, the Samajwadi Party (SP), in the Milkipur bypoll by clinching a resounding victory with a margin of over 61,000 votes.

With this win, the BJP reinforced the message that it still stands firm in the Ayodhya belt, the nerve centre of its characteristic politics.

BJP candidate Chandrabhanu Paswan defeated SP's Ajit Prasad, son of Faizabad MP Awadhesh Prasad, by an emphatic margin of 61,710 votes in a high-stakes electoral clash dubbed as a battle of prestige for both the ruling party and the main opposition.

The bypoll in the reserved assembly seat was necessitated after SP MLA Awadhesh Prasad vacated it following his election to Lok Sabha from Faizabad in 2024.

The Milkipur contest boiled down to a direct contest between the BJP and the SP. This is the third time ever that the BJP romped home in Milkipur, with a sizable population of Dalits, Yadavs and Muslims.

The BJP emerged victorious from the seat in 2017 and 1991.