Afzal Ansari Disqualified As Lok Sabha MP After Conviction In Gangsters Act Case
Afzal Ansari, brother of gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari, has been convicted and sentenced to four years in jail in a 2007 Gangsters Act case.
BSP MP Afzal Ansari, elder brother of gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari, was disqualified as member of Lok Sabha on Monday after he was convicted and sentenced to four-year jail in a criminal case.
This is the first case in which Afzal has been convicted. As per UP Police's record, there are seven criminal cases lodged against Afzal.
"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.
Last week, a court in Uttar Pradesh's Ghazipur sentenced Afzal and his brother Mukhtar Ansari to imprisonment for four years and 10 years respectively in a 2007 Gangsters Act case.
According to the Representation of the People Act, a Parliament member will be disqualified if convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for two years or more.
Last month, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi lost his Lok Sabha membership under the provisions of the same Act after being convicted by a Surat court in a criminal defamation case over his "Modi surname" remark.
A case was filed under the Gangsters Act against the Ansari brothers at the Muhammadabad Kotwali police station on November 22, 2007.
Mukhtar Ansari is presently lodged in Banda jail. He had been an MLA for five consecutive terms from Mau Sadar Assembly seat in Uttar Pradesh.
Who Is Afzal Ansari?
In his four-decade political career, Ansari has won five Assembly and two parliamentary elections.
Afzal, a resident of Ghazipur district, made his electoral debut in the 1985 Uttar Pradesh Assembly election, when he successfully contested from his hometown Mohammadabad on a CPI ticket. He defeated Congress candidate Abhai Narain Rai in the election.
He went on to win the Assembly seat thrice consecutively on a CPI ticket, defeating BJP’s Vijay Shanker Rai in the 1989, 1991 and 1993 elections.
Afzal contested his fifth Assembly election, in 1996, on a Samajwadi Party ticket and defeated the BSP's Virendra by 19,602 votes, The Indian Express reported. However, in the 2002 Assembly election, Afzal lost to BJP's Krishnanand Rai.
Three years later, Krishnanand Rai was murdered in Ghazipur along with six associates. Afzal and Mukhtar were named as prime accused in the case.
In 2019, a special CBI court acquitted Afzal, his brother Mukhtar and five others in the case. An appeal against his acquittal is presently pending in the Delhi High Court.
Afzal was the SP MP from Ghazipur when he was named in the Krishnanand Rai murder case. After this, he faced two Lok Sabha electoral loses in a row.
In 2009, Afzal contested on a BSP ticket and lost to the SP's Radhey Mohan Singh. In 2010, Afzal floated his own political outfit -- Quami Ekta Dal (QED). He contested the 2014 Lok Sabha election from Ballia on a QED ticket but lost to the BJP's Bharat Singh.
He again contested on a BSP ticket in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and won from Ghazipur.
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