Sensing loss, SP trying to delay Milkipur assembly bypoll: UP BJP chief

Uttar Pradesh BJP president Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary on Friday accused the Samajwadi Party (SP) of making all efforts to delay bypoll to Ayodhya’s Milkipur assembly seat by opposing former BJP MLA Baba Gorakhnath’s application to withdraw his election petition in the high court.
An election petition pending in the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court challenging the affidavit of former Samajwadi Party MLA from Milkipur Awadhesh Prasad filed during filing of nomination papers in 2022 assembly poll has prevented the Election Commission of India (ECI) from announcing date for Milkipur assembly bypoll.
Attacking SP chief Akhilesh Yadav on the issue, the state BJP chief said: “There is a lot of difference between what Akhilesh Yadav says and what he practises.”
“On social media, the former CM is accusing the BJP of delaying the Milkipur bypoll. But the fact is that in the high court, the Samajwadi Party has opposed the former BJP MLA’s application to withdraw election petition,” Chaudhary added.
“As the Samajwadi Party is losing the Milkipur election, it is trying to delay bypoll there,” he said. On BJP’s poll preparedness for the bypoll, the state BJP chief said the party had carried out a membership campaign across the state with special focus on the assembly seats where bypoll will take place.
Former BJP MLA Baba Gorakhnath also accused the SP of trying to delay the Milkipur bypoll. “When my application to withdraw election petition came up for hearing in the high court, a team of lawyers engaged by Faizabad MP Awadhesh Prasad and the Samajwadi Party opposed my application,” he said.
“This proves who wants to delay the Milkipur bypoll,” the former BJP MLA added. The ECI has announced a schedule for bypoll to nine out of 10 assembly seats in the state leaving Milkipur due to the pending election petition of former BJP MLA from Milkipur Baba Gorakhnath.