New Delhi [India], February 8 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday lauded the Bharatiya Janata Party's victory in the Milkipur byelection in Ayodhya district of Uttar Pradesh and said every section has voted for the party in large numbers.
"'Aaj desh tushtikaran nahi BJP ki santushtikaran ki policy ko chun raha hai (the country is choosing santushtikaran over tushtikaran). Today, along with Delhi, the BJP has got victory in Ayodhya's Milkipur. Every section has voted for the BJP in large numbers," PM Modi said while addressing BJP workers at party headquarters after party's victory in Delhi polls.
BJP registered victory in what was seen as a battle of prestige in Milkipur Assembly bypoll as its candidate Chandrabhanu Paswan defeated Samajwadi Party's Ajit Prasad by a thumping margin of 61,710 votes.
The Milkipur bypoll was necessitated after local MLA Awadhesh Prasad vacated the seat following his win in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls from Faizabad, which also includes the Ayodhya assembly segment.
The BJP lost the Faizabad seat in Lok Sabha polls, months after "pran prathishtha" at Ram Temple in Ayodhya.
The Samajwadi Party had fielded Prasad's son in the bypoll, who got just 84,687 votes, over 60,000 less than Paswan's 1,46,397.
The election in Milkipur was deferred last year when other seats went for bypoll in Uttar Pradesh.
Following the result, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath targeted Samajwadi Party and said that the result will "put a full stop to the politics of 'pariwarwad' and lies."
"The results of Milkipur by-elections will put a full stop to the politics of 'pariwarwad' and lies...The people have made it clear that no matter how much propaganda is done by the Samajwadi Party, the public is going to punish them," CM Yogi said.
Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav accused the BJP of using electoral machinery.
"BJP cannot face the growing power of PDA on the basis of votes, that is why it tries to win by misusing the electoral machinery. The level of manipulation of officials required to carry out such electoral fraud may be possible in one assembly constituency, but this 'four hundred BC' will not work in 403 assemblies. BJP members also know this, which is why BJP members postponed the by-election of Milkipur. PDA means 90% of the people have seen this fraud with their own eyes," Yadav wrote on X.
"This is a false victory, which the BJP will never be able to celebrate by looking into their own eyes in the mirror. Their guilt and fear of future defeat will keep them awake," Yadav alleged.
BJP won 48 seats in Delhi assembly polls with AAP getting winning 22 seats. Several prominent leaders of AAP including former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia have lost polls.
PM Modi termed BJP's victory as "historic". "This is not an ordinary victory. The people of Delhi have driven out 'AAP-da'. Delhi has been freed from the 'AAP-da'. The mandate of Delhi is clear. Today, development, vision and trust have won in Delhi. Today, ostentation, anarchy, arrogance and the 'AAP-da' that had engulfed Delhi have been defeated. I congratulate every BJP worker and all of you for this victory," he said.