Congress SP creating hurdles in holding of bypoll to Milkipur assembly seat BJP UP chief

Lucknow, Oct 18 (PTI) Uttar Pradesh BJP chief Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary on Friday accused the Congress and the Samajwadi Party (SP) of creating hurdles in the holding of bypoll to the Milkipur assembly constituency.
     "The Congress and the Samajwadi Party are feeling disappointed and that is why they are making efforts to ensure that the byelection to the Milkipur assembly constituency are not held. The Congress and the SP are making direct and indirect efforts in this regard.
     "They (SP and Congress) are assuming that their defeat is imminent and that is why they are creating hurdles, so that the byelection are not held," Chaudhary told PTI in Lucknow on Friday.
     He said if this is not the case, the SP should ask the Election Commission to conduct the assembly byelection on the Milkipur seat and should make efforts for the election process to move ahead.
     The state BJP chief also claimed that both these parties do not want development of UP or Ayodhya.
     Chaudhary's remarks come a day after the Allahabad High Court asked former BJP MLA Baba Gorakhnath to serve a copy of his application, which seeks the withdrawal of a petition against an SP leader's election, to all parties and take steps for its publication in the gazette within a week.
     In his petition, Gorakhnath has alleged that SP leader Awadhesh Prasad's oath was incorrect while filing nomination in the 2022 Milkipur assembly polls. The SP leader won the elections that year and was elected to the Lok Sabha earlier this year, necessitating byelection in Milkipur.
     Justice Pankaj Bhatia directed that the petition be listed on the 15th day of the said publication, petitioner's lawyer Sandeep Yadav told PTI.
     In its order, the Lucknow bench of the high court said, "An application has been filed seeking withdrawal of election petition filed by the petitioner (Baba Gorakhnath) in view of the provisions contained under section 109 and 110 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 read with the Chapter XV Rule 10 of the Allahabad High Court rules, 1952."
     The Election Commission on Tuesday announced bypolls to nine assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh but left out Milkipur due to proceedings in the matter before the Lucknow bench of the court.
     On Wednesday, Gorakhnath moved the Allahabad High Court to withdraw his petition challenging the election of Prasad from the Milkipur assembly constituency in the 2022 election.
     Gorakhnath had said he was withdrawing the plea "to pave the way for the byelection to the Milkipur assembly constituency, which had been impeded by the ongoing litigation".
     The plea had alleged that Prasad had taken an erroneous oath during the submission of his nomination papers.
     The writ alleged that the notary which authenticated Prasad's documents did not possess a valid licence on the date of attestation. According to Supreme Court directives, it is imperative for the notary's advocate to hold a current licence on the day of document authentication.
     Talking to PTI earlier, Prasad, who was elected to Faizabad Lok Sabha in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, had said, "I vacated the Milkipur seat almost four months ago. It was Gorakhnath's moral duty to withdraw the litigation and he should have withdrawn his litigation soon after my resignation."
     SP has named Ajit Parad, the son of Prasad, as its candidate for the Milkipur assembly seat.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)