Akhilesh urges EC to ensure strict monitoring of Milkipur bypoll

Lucknow: Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Friday requested the Election Commission to take note of official appointments in Ayodhya's Milkipur Assembly constituency.

He also urged the commission to conduct the bypoll under strict monitoring.

"The Election Commission should take cognizance of the appointment of pro-BJP government officials in Milkipur and ensure the healthy tradition of its impartial functioning by conducting the election under strict monitoring," the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister said in a post on X.

Yadav also shared a sketch detailing the deployment of police officers in Ayodhya, claiming that out of 19 such officers, only three belonged to PDA (Backward, Dalit, and Minority) communities — just 3 per cent of the total.

The Milkipur Assembly seat fell vacant after SP's Awadhesh Prasad was elected as a Member of Parliament from Faizabad (Ayodhya). Prasad had previously won the Milkipur seat in the 2022 Assembly elections.

The bypoll is scheduled for February 5, with vote counting to be held on February 8.

The BJP has fielded Chandrabhan Paswan as its candidate, while the Samajwadi Party has nominated Ajit Prasad, son of Awadhesh Prasad.

The Congress, a part of the INDIA bloc, has decided not to contest the election and has extended its support to the SP candidate.