Stakes high in Milkipur by-election following SP’s Faizabad victory

Lucknow: Following a stunning victory by the Samajwadi Party (SP) in the Faizabad Lok Sabha seat, the political climate is heating up for the upcoming by-election in Milkipur. Awadhesh Prasad, the newly elected SP Member of Parliament from Faizabad, previously held the Milkipur Assembly seat.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), having lost the Faizabad constituency which includes Ayodhya, is now under pressure to regain ground by winning Milkipur.

In the neighboring Ambedkar Nagar district, the stakes are also high for the Katheri Assembly seat. Lalji Verma, the sitting SP MLA from Katheri, has been elected to the Lok Sabha, necessitating another by-election. The Opposition alliance, INDIA, faces the challenge of maintaining the momentum generated by their Lok Sabha victory. The upcoming by-elections for 10 Uttar Pradesh Assembly seats will test their ability to sustain this success. The SP and Congress, key constituents of the INDIA bloc, have announced their alliance not only for the by-elections but also for the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. These by-elections will indicate whether the decline in the BJP’s Lok Sabha seats will impact their performance in the Assembly elections.

The EC has yet to announce the schedule for the by-elections, but political parties in Uttar Pradesh are already preparing. The 10 Assembly seats became vacant after their MLAs won seats in the LS elections. “Our preparations are on. Talks over seat-sharing are in progress,” said SP spokesman Rajendra Chowdhary.