Milkipur By-election Scheduled For February 5 | Full Schedule And Result Details

Milkipur Assembly bypoll: The Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the schedule for the upcoming Assembly bypoll in Uttar Pradesh's Milkipur constituency. Voting will take place on February 5, with the results set to be declared on February 8.

The Milkipur assembly seat fell vacant after SP Awadhesh Prasad was elected to Lok Sabha from Faizabad (Ayodhya) in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

BJP, SP gear up for Milkipur bypoll

The ruling BJP hopes to continue its winning streak while the opposition Samajwadi Party is seeking to retain its hold over the high-profile constituency.

The BJP is likely to rely on the Hindu unity pitch through slogans like ‘batenge toh katenge’ (divided we perish) while the SP is expected to bank on its ‘PDA’ plank.

PDA is a coinage that denotes the opposition party’s plan to connect with ‘pichda (OBCs), Dalits, and alpshanyak (minorities)’, the mainstays of the SP's impressive show in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in UP, when it won 37 Lok Sabha seats against the BJP's 33.

In the just concluded by-polls to nine seats, the BJP reclaimed its prestige, winning six seats, including the SP’s bastions like Kundarki in Moradabad, while its ally RLD won one, making it a hugely impressive 7-2 show.

The two seats that SP retained in the by-polls—the Karhal seat in Mainpuri and Sishamau seat in Kanpur—were won with markedly reduced win margins, which is why the Milkipur contest would be keenly watched.

The seat assumes importance as after victory in the Ayodhya parliamentary seat, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav aggressively attacked the BJP, questioning Hindutva politics of the saffron party, and reached Parliament with Faizabad MP Awadhesh Prasad, who had vacated the Milkipur seat on becoming MP.

Caste Equation

Going by the caste equations of Milkipur, Dalit votes hold the key here. Of the 3.5 lakh voters on the seat, 1.2 lakh are Dalits, around 55,000 are Yadavs (OBCs), and 30,000 are Muslims.

Political experts feel whoever secures the support of Dalits along with 60,000 Brahmins, 25,000 Kshatriyas, and OBCs would emerge a winner.

It is to be seen whether SP’s 'PDA' formula would work on this seat in the same way as it did in the 2022 UP polls or if the BJP manages to bridge the caste divide to its advantage.

In 2002, SP's Awadhesh Prasad won the seat, defeating BJP's Baba Gorakhnath. While Prasad had secured 49.99 per cent votes (1,03,905), Gorakhnath got 41.83 per cent (90,567) votes. While the SP has given a ticket to Awadhesh's son, Ajit Prasad, the BJP is yet to finalise its candidate. The BSP has already announced not to contest the by-polls, while Congress is likely to continue its support of INDI bloc partner SP.