UP: Decks cleared for bypoll to Ayodhya's Milkipur assembly seat

Lucknow: The Allahabad High Court on Monday allowed the withdrawal of two petitions challenging the election of Samajwadi Party leader Awadhesh Prasad from Milkipur constituency in 2022 assembly polls, paving the way for holding bypoll to the seat in Ayodhya district.

The Milkipur assembly seat fell vacant after Prasad was elected to Lok Sabha from Faizabad (Ayodhya) in the 2024 parliamentary elections.

The case was being heard in the Lucknow bench of the high court.

Former MLA and BJP leader Gorakhnath and another petitioner had sought permission from the court to withdraw their petitions, which the court granted and dismissed both the petitions.

The order was passed by a single bench of Justice Pankaj Bhatia while hearing two separate petitions filed by Gorakhnath and Shiv Murti.

In the previous hearing, when the application for withdrawal of the petition was presented before the court, the counsel for the respondent raised an objection and argued that the said petition has been filed without following the prescribed procedure. It was argued that a copy of the application for withdrawal has not been made available to all the respondents nor has it been published in the official gazette as per the rules.

The court, finding this argument correct, had ordered the counsel for the petitioner to make a copy of the petition for withdrawal available to all the respondents and take necessary steps for the publication of the notice.

In the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, BJP candidate Gorakhnath lost the election from Milkipur to Prasad. Later, Gorakhnath had challenged the Prasad's election, alleging discrepancies in the affidavit filed by Prasad during the nomination for the assembly polls.

Barring Milkipur, the bypolls to nine assembly seats in the state were held on November 20. The ruling BJP and its ally RLD secured seven of the nine seats and the SP grabbed the other two.