BJP Wins High-Stakes Milkipur Fight, Wrests Seat From Rival SP

BJP candidate Chandrabhanu Paswan won the Milkipur bypolls by a margin of 61,710 votes, according to the Election Commission of India.

- Press Trust of India

AYODHYA:

While Paswan polled over 146,000 votes, his nearest rival Samajwadi Party's Ajit Prasad garnered 84,687 votes, it said.

Earlier, Paswan, 38, took a decisive lead over SP's Prasad, 42, by over 61,000 votes after the 29th round of counting for the Milkipur assembly bypoll on Saturday, officials said.

They said after 29 rounds, BJP's Paswan had got 1,45,685 votes, while Prasad had polled 84,266 votes, a lead of 61,319 votes.

According to the official website of the Election Commission, after 28 rounds of counting, Paswan (with 1,39,507 votes) was leading Prasad (79,210 votes) by a margin of 60,297 votes.

Santosh Kumar of the Azad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) has got 5,158 votes.

The Milkipur bypoll was necessitated after local MLA Awadhesh Prasad vacated the seat following his Faizabad win in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

The SP fielded his son Ajit Prasad in the bypoll even as BJP opted for a party cadre Paswan, both from the Pasi community.

While the SP was anxious to retain the seat it won in 2022 UP polls, the BJP was anxious to avenge its Faizabad loss that had happened within five months of the high-profile consecration of Ram temple at Ayodhya.