LUCKNOW: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MP Afzal Ansari, who is also the elder brother of gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari, was disqualified from Lok Sabha on Monday following his conviction and four-year sentence in a kidnapping and murder case by a court in Uttar Pradesh.
A special court in Ghazipur last Saturday sentenced BSP parliamentarian Afzal, along with his younger brother, Mukhtar, to four and 10 years in prison respectively, in the case under the Uttar Pradesh Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act in a case lodged at Mohammadabad police station in the district in 2007.
Afzal, who was present in the court at the time of the pronouncement of the judgment, was immediately taken into custody.
“Consequent upon his conviction … Afzal Ansari, Member of Lok Sabha representing the Ghazipur Parliamentary Constituency of Uttar Pradesh, stands disqualified from the membership of Lok Sabha from the date of his conviction i.e. 29 April, 2023 in terms of the provisions of Article 102(1)(e) of the Constitution of India read with Section 8 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951,” according to a Lok Sabha secretariat notification.
The Ansari brothers were booked under the UP Gangsters Act in connection with the murder of the then MLA from Ghazipur, Krishnanad Rai, on November 29, 2005, along with the kidnapping and murder of Varanasi-based trader Nand Kishore Rungta in 1997.
As per a Supreme Court order of 2013, the membership of an MP/MLA is annulled if s/he is convicted and sentenced to two years or more. Afzal had won the 2019 Lok Sabha election from the Ghazipur constituency by defeating incumbent J&K lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha.
Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who was Wayanad MP, was disqualified from the Lok Sabha on March 24 after a Surat court sentenced him to two-year jail in a criminal defamation case. Besides Rahul, Samajwadi Party UP legislators Azam Khan (Rampur), his son Abdullah Azam (Suar) and BJP’s Vikram Saini (Khatauli-Muzaffarnagar) had recently lost their memberships on the same ground.
Many other lawmakers from the state have also lost their memberships before upon being convicted. In September 2013, Congress’ Rashid Masood had lost his Rajya Sabha seat after being convicted by the Supreme Court on charges of corruption and other offences.
He became the first MP to lose his seat after the SC struck down a provision in the electoral law – the Representation of the People Act of 1951 – that provided immunity to MPs and MLAs from immediate disqualification.
In December 2021, BJP MLA from Gosaiganj (Ayodhya) Indra Pratap Tewari aka Khabbu Tewari had lost his membership nearly one-and-a-half months after being convicted by an MP-MLA court in a 29-year-old fake marksheet case.
Tewari was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment in October 2021. It was alleged that Tewari, despite failing in BSc second year in 1990, had managed to get admission to BSc third year. In December 2019, ‘expelled’ BJP MLA from Bangarmau (Unnao) Kuldeep Senger was disqualified following his conviction in a rape case by a Delhi sessions court.
The Delhi court had pronounced its verdict of life imprisonment for Sengar, a four-term MLA. He was accused of rape of a girl in his village (Makhi) in 2017. The girl attempted self-immolation outside the CM’s residence in Lucknow in 2018 allegedly after the police did not take action on her complaint. The victim’s father, who was arrested by the police, died in police custody after he was allegedly beaten up in the lock-up allegedly by Sengar’s brother Atul Sengar.
Following public outrage, the CM had handed over the case to the CBI. Before this, in April 2019, BJP MLA from Hamirpur Ashok Singh Chandel had lost his assembly membership after he was convicted and awarded life term in a 1997 murder case by the Hamirpur district court and the verdict was upheld by the Allahabad high court. He is currently in jail.
(With inputs from PTI)
A special court in Ghazipur last Saturday sentenced BSP parliamentarian Afzal, along with his younger brother, Mukhtar, to four and 10 years in prison respectively, in the case under the Uttar Pradesh Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act in a case lodged at Mohammadabad police station in the district in 2007.
Afzal, who was present in the court at the time of the pronouncement of the judgment, was immediately taken into custody.
“Consequent upon his conviction … Afzal Ansari, Member of Lok Sabha representing the Ghazipur Parliamentary Constituency of Uttar Pradesh, stands disqualified from the membership of Lok Sabha from the date of his conviction i.e. 29 April, 2023 in terms of the provisions of Article 102(1)(e) of the Constitution of India read with Section 8 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951,” according to a Lok Sabha secretariat notification.
The Ansari brothers were booked under the UP Gangsters Act in connection with the murder of the then MLA from Ghazipur, Krishnanad Rai, on November 29, 2005, along with the kidnapping and murder of Varanasi-based trader Nand Kishore Rungta in 1997.
As per a Supreme Court order of 2013, the membership of an MP/MLA is annulled if s/he is convicted and sentenced to two years or more. Afzal had won the 2019 Lok Sabha election from the Ghazipur constituency by defeating incumbent J&K lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha.
Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who was Wayanad MP, was disqualified from the Lok Sabha on March 24 after a Surat court sentenced him to two-year jail in a criminal defamation case. Besides Rahul, Samajwadi Party UP legislators Azam Khan (Rampur), his son Abdullah Azam (Suar) and BJP’s Vikram Saini (Khatauli-Muzaffarnagar) had recently lost their memberships on the same ground.
Many other lawmakers from the state have also lost their memberships before upon being convicted. In September 2013, Congress’ Rashid Masood had lost his Rajya Sabha seat after being convicted by the Supreme Court on charges of corruption and other offences.
He became the first MP to lose his seat after the SC struck down a provision in the electoral law – the Representation of the People Act of 1951 – that provided immunity to MPs and MLAs from immediate disqualification.
In December 2021, BJP MLA from Gosaiganj (Ayodhya) Indra Pratap Tewari aka Khabbu Tewari had lost his membership nearly one-and-a-half months after being convicted by an MP-MLA court in a 29-year-old fake marksheet case.
Tewari was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment in October 2021. It was alleged that Tewari, despite failing in BSc second year in 1990, had managed to get admission to BSc third year. In December 2019, ‘expelled’ BJP MLA from Bangarmau (Unnao) Kuldeep Senger was disqualified following his conviction in a rape case by a Delhi sessions court.
The Delhi court had pronounced its verdict of life imprisonment for Sengar, a four-term MLA. He was accused of rape of a girl in his village (Makhi) in 2017. The girl attempted self-immolation outside the CM’s residence in Lucknow in 2018 allegedly after the police did not take action on her complaint. The victim’s father, who was arrested by the police, died in police custody after he was allegedly beaten up in the lock-up allegedly by Sengar’s brother Atul Sengar.
Following public outrage, the CM had handed over the case to the CBI. Before this, in April 2019, BJP MLA from Hamirpur Ashok Singh Chandel had lost his assembly membership after he was convicted and awarded life term in a 1997 murder case by the Hamirpur district court and the verdict was upheld by the Allahabad high court. He is currently in jail.
(With inputs from PTI)