UTTAR PRADESH: In the Milkipur by-election in Uttar Pradesh, BJP candidate Chandrabhanu Paswan is in the lead by 14,339 votes after the fifth round of counting. His closest competitor, Ajit Prasad from the Samajwadi Party, is trailing behind. There are 25 more rounds of counting left.

This by-election was needed after Samajwadi Party MP Awadhesh Prasad gave up the seat, following his win in last year's Lok Sabha election from Faizabad (Ayodhya).

Voter turnout for the February 5 election was 57.13%. Strong security measures were put in place for the counting day, with paramilitary forces working around the clock. Ayodhya District Magistrate, Chandra Vijay Singh, confirmed this.

The by-election is important for both parties. In 2022, Awadhesh Prasad from Samajwadi Party defeated BJP’s Gorakhnath, who was the sitting MLA in Milkipur.

Prasad had won by a large margin of 54,567 votes. This was a big loss for the BJP, especially after the consecration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya.

On Thursday, Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav accused the BJP of bringing in party workers from nearby areas like Ambedkar Nagar, Sultanpur, and Amethi to vote illegally. He called it a planned attempt to sway the election results.

Yadav also claimed that the police were checking voter IDs. However, Ayodhya Police clarified that they were only checking the IDs of booth agents, not voters, and urged Yadav to stop making false claims.