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Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan’s MLA son Abdullah Azam Khan disqualified from Uttar Pradesh assembly for second time
The disqualification comes after a court sentenced Abdullah Azam Khan to two-year imprisonment in a 15-year-old case
Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA Abdullah Azam Khan was on Wednesday disqualified from the Uttar Pradesh assembly for the second time, days after a court sentenced him to two-year imprisonment in a 15-year-old case for blocking a road in the Chhajlet area of Moradabad district.
Abdullah Azam Khan, the son of senior Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan who was also convicted in the case on February 13, represented the Suar assembly constituency in Rampur district.
The Suar assembly seat will be considered vacated from February 13, 2023, according to a notification issued by special secretary, U.P. legislative assembly, Mohammad Mujahid.
The additional chief judicial magistrate, Moradabad, awarded a two-year prison term and slapped a fine of ₹3,000 in the case, he said.
The Representation of the People Act lists offences which can lead to disqualification of legislators and states that anyone sentenced to imprisonment of two years or more shall be disqualified “from the date of such conviction” and remain disqualified for another six years after serving time in jail.
This is the second time Abdullah Azam Khan has been disqualified from the Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly.
Earlier, he was disqualified on February 27, 2020 after a Rampur court sent him to jail in a case related to alleged forgery in age-proof documents. The Allahabad high court on December 16, 2019 had set aside Abdullah’s election from Suar while hearing the petition Nawab Kazim Ali Khan versus Mohammad Abdullah Azam.
The Allahabad high court had ruled that he was not qualified to contest the election as he was below 25 years of age when he filed his nomination papers as the SP candidate from Suar in 2017.
In March 2022, Abdullah Azam was again elected from Suar on the Samajwadi Party ticket.
On February 13, Abdullah Azam Khan, along with his father, was sentenced under section 353 (criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and other provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) over a dharna (sit-in) on a state highway on January 29, 2008 as their convoy was stopped by police for checking in the wake of an attack on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) camp in Rampur on December 31, 2007.
The court, however, granted bail to both of them.
It is the third disqualification of an MLA of the 18th Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly. Earlier, Abdullah Azam’s father Azam Khan was disqualified on October 28 after his conviction in a 2019 hate speech case on October 27. Azam Khan was the Rampur Sadar MLA. BJP MLA from Khatauli assembly seat Vikram Saini was disqualified on November 7 after being convicted by a court in a 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots case in 2022.
Bharatiya Janata Party MLA from Rampur Sadar Akash Saxena had sent a letter to the principal secretary, U.P. legislative assembly on February 14, demanding disqualification of Abdullah from the state assembly under the Representation of People Act after his conviction by the court.
“The BJP will win the Suar assembly seat in the bypoll,” Saxena predicted.
In the by-poll held on the Rampur Sadar seat in December last year, BJP’s Akash Saxena had defeated Khan’s protege Asim Raza.
Azam Khan had won the Rampur Sadar seat nine times since 1980.
