UP panchayat poll: BJP gives ticket to Unnao rape convict Kuldeep Sengar’s wife
Sangeeta, who has been given a ticket from Fatehpur Chaurasi Tritaya seat for the Zila Panchayat member, has been the Zila Panchayat chairperson of Unnao from 2016.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) declared its list of panchayat poll candidates for five districts of Uttar Pradesh on Thursday which included Sangeeta Sengar, wife of former party MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar. Kuldip Sengar’s party membership was cancelled after he was convicted in a rape case of a minor in December 2019.
Sangeeta, who has been given a ticket from Fatehpur Chaurasi Tritaya seat for the Zila Panchayat member, has been the Zila Panchayat chairperson of Unnao from 2016. When Sangeeta had become the chairman, the panchayat elections were not contested on party lines. Although, this has changed this time as all political parties have decided to declare its candidates for the seats.
Kuldeep Sengar had won the assembly polls from Bangarmau seat of Unnao in 2017. In December 2019, Sengar was convicted and jailed for life in a rape case of a minor in Unnao. Sengar’s brothers and others were also chargesheeted by the CBI for conspiring to implicate the victim’s father in a false case. The victim’s father later died in the jail following assault injuries. In March 2020, Sengar along with all others who were accused were sentenced to ten years in jail and fined ₹10 lakh in connection with the custodial death of the Unnao rape victim's father.
The Uttar Pradesh panchayat elections, which are being seen as crucial test for the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government in the state, will take place in 58,189 village panchayats and will be conducted in four phases beginning from April 15 and concluding on April 29 with counting of votes scheduled for May 2.
In the first phase which will take place on April 15, voting will take place in 18 districts of the state. In the second phase which is scheduled for April 19, polls will be conducted in the 20 districts. In the third phase, voting will take place in 20 districts on April 26 and in the final phase which will be conducted on April 29; voters will exercise their franchise in 17 districts.