BJP's Chandrabhanu Paswan leads by 44,460 votes in UP's Milkipur bye-election

Ayodhya (Uttar Pradesh) [India], February 8 : BJP candidate Chandrabhanu Paswan is poised to register a big win in the bye-election in Uttar Pradesh's Milkipur Assembly constituency. With only 11 rounds of vote counting remaining, he is leading by 44,460 votes over his nearest rival Ajit Prasad of Samajwadi Party, according to the Election Commission.
Paswan expressed gratitude towards the people for reposing faith in him.
"Due to the people-friendly policies of Yogi Adityanath government in the state and Narendra Modi government at the Centre, voters in Milkipur reposed faith in me and my party. I am very greatful to that," he told ANI.
BJP MP Dinesh Sharma said that the results symbolise a "breakdown of Samajwadi Party's arrogance."
"The positive result in Milkipur symbolises a breakdown of Samajwadi Party's arrogance over the Lok Sabha elections. Samajwadi Party should democratically accept the defeat with love," Sharma told ANI.
The bye-election in the constituency was necessitated after Samajwadi Party MP Awadhesh Prasad vacated the seat after winning the Lok Sabha election from Faizabad (in Ayodhya district) held last year.
The constituency recorded a voter turnout of 57.13 per cent in the election held on February 5. Tight security has been put in place in the constituency on the counting day.
"The security is complete and the paramilitary forces were deployed 24/7," Ayodhya DM Chandra Vijay Singh told ANI.
The bye-election in the Scheduled Castes (SC)-reserved constituency holds importance for both parties. In the 2022 Assembly elections, SP's Awadhesh Prasad defeated BJP's incumbent MLA, Gorakhnath, in Milkipur.
Awadhesh Prasad had defeated BJP's sitting MP Lallu Singh by securing a victory margin of 54,567 votes. It was a major setback for BJP as it happened just months after the consecration of the Ram temple in Ayodhya.
On Thursday, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav alleged that BJP called their party workers from all adjacent districts for fake voting in the Milkipur bye-elections.
"About the Milkipur bye-election, I invited all to see how democracy is going in a BJP-ruled state. BJP has called their party workers from all the adjacent districts like Ambedkar Nagar, Sultanpur and Amethi for fake voting. It's in public domain how presiding officers were receiving inputs about their targets. It was a well-planned election," he said.
"This is the manner in which BJP contests elections. The Election Commission is dead. We will have to gift them white cloth!" he added.
On Wednesday, Yadav claimed that the police were checking the ID cards of the voters. In a post on X, Yadav demanded action from the Election Commission to remove people involved in this.
However, Ayodhya Police responded to Samajwadi Party Chief's allegation and said that the ID cards of booth agents were being checked, not of voters. It also asked the former CM to "not make false statements."