UP Bypolls: Why Election Commission Did Not Announce Poll Date For Ayodhya's Milkipur Seat?

UP Bypolls: The Election Commission of India announced the bye-election dates for nine assembly constituencies of Uttar Pradesh but left the fate of the Milkipur seat in Ayodhya hanging. Since the BJP lost the Faizabad (Ayodhya) Lok Sabha seat in the general elections held earlier this year, all eyes were on the election for the Milkipur seat, vacated by Awadhesh Prasad, who got elected to the Lok Sabha from the Faizabad seat. This gave Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav another opportunity to slam the BJP dispensation. Taking to X, Yadav said, "Whoever has postponed the war, consider that he has lost the war."

Why No Poll Date For Milkipur Seat?

However, people were eager to know that why the Election Commission did not include the Milkipur assembly seat in the poll schedule. Let us tell you that when Awadhesh Prasad won the seat in 2022, the losing candidate Baba Gorakhnath had challenged the result saying that Prasad did not submit valid documents to the Election Commission. Responding to the question of the Milkipur election date, Chief Election Commissioner Rajeev Kumar said that the date for the said seat was not announced as it was under the Election Petition. 

Road Clear For Polls

However, since Prasad is no longer an MLA from the seat, Baba Gorakhnath's advocate has released a statement saying that he will withdraw their election petition in the next two to three days. Once the petition is withdrawn, it will pave the path for the Milkipur bypolls.

As per the ECI, voting for the nine assembly seats will take place on November 13, with the counting of votes scheduled for November 23. The seats are Katehari (Ambedkar Nagar), Karhal (Mainpuri), Meerapur (Muzaffarnagar), Ghaziabad, Majhawan (Mirzapur), Sisamau (Kanpur city), Khair (Aligarh), Phulpur (Prayagraj), and Kundarki (Moradabad).