BJP's Chandrabhanu Paswan ahead in UP's Milkipur bypoll
Ayodhya (PTI): BJP candidate Chandrabhanu Paswan extended his lead over Samajwadi Party's (SP) Ajit Prasad to 31,093 votes after the 11th round of counting for the Milkipur assembly bypoll on Saturday, according to the Election Commission website.
While Paswan polled 58,327, Ajit Prasad, the son of SP's Faizabad MP Awadesh Prasad, got 27,234 votes.
Santosh Kumar of the Aazad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) was a distant third with 1,864 votes.
The Milkipur bypoll was necessitated after Awadhesh Prasad vacated the seat following his election to the Lok Sabha last year.
While the SP is looking to retain the seat, the BJP sees the election as an opportunity to avenge its loss in Faizabad in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
In the 2022 Uttar Pradesh polls, Milkipur was the only seat the BJP lost in Ayodhya district.
While the BSP is not contesting the bypoll, the Congress is backing its alliance partner SP.
Earlier in the day, Paswan offered prayers at a temple.
Speaking to PTI Videos, the BJP candidate thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. He also expressed his gratitude to voters for supporting him.
"We took the welfare programmes and schemes run by the BJP government to the people of Milkipur and they extended support to us," Paswan said.
If elected, "we will not leave any stone unturned for the development of Milkipur", he said.
However, Awadhesh Prasad remained confident about his son's victory.
Election officials worked under pressure from the state government but despite all this, the SP candidate will win, he claimed.
"The BJP has been involved in large-scale irregularities. The Election Commission and observers were informed about them in writing but no action was taken," he said.
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Sujit Nair raises concerns over speculation of DMK-AIADMK understanding to block TVK
Chennai: Journalist and political commentator Sujit Nair has expressed concern over speculation that the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam could explore a post-poll understanding to prevent Vijay-led Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam from forming the government in Tamil Nadu.
In a social media post, Sujit Nair said the election verdict in Tamil Nadu reflected a clear public demand for political change and argued that the mandate should be respected irrespective of political preferences.
Referring to reports and political discussions surrounding a possible understanding between the DMK and AIADMK, he said he hoped such developments remained only speculative conversations and did not turn into reality.
Nair stated that if such an alliance were to take shape, it would raise serious questions about ideological politics in the country. He said TVK had emerged through a democratic electoral process and that the legitimacy to govern in a parliamentary democracy comes from the people’s verdict.
According to him, attempts to prevent an electoral winner from forming the government through unexpected political arrangements may be constitutionally valid, but many people could view them as politically opportunistic.
He further said that such a move could particularly affect the political image of the DMK, which has historically projected itself around ideology, social justice and opposition politics. Nair said that in ideological terms, the DMK appeared closer to TVK than to the AIADMK, and joining hands with its long-time political rival only to remain in power could weaken its broader political narrative.
He added that the same questions would apply to the AIADMK as well, as the party had spent decades positioning itself against the DMK and such an arrangement could create discomfort among its cadre and supporters.
Drawing a comparison with Maharashtra politics in 2019, Nair said he had expressed similar views when the Shiv Sena formed an alliance with the Indian National Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party after the Assembly elections.
He said post-poll alliances between long-standing political rivals often create a public perception that ideology and electoral mandates become secondary when political power equations come into play.
Nair also said such developments increase public cynicism towards politics and reinforce the belief among voters that ideology is often sidelined after elections.
He maintained that the Tamil Nadu verdict was emphatic and said respecting both the spirit and substance of the mandate was important for the credibility of democratic politics.
