Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Afzal Ansari was disqualified as a member of Lok Sabha on Monday after being convicted in a kidnapping as well as murder case and sentenced to four years imprisonment by an Uttar Pradesh court, reported PTI.
Ansari, the Lok Sabha member from Ghazipur, was sentenced by an MP/MLA court on Saturday. His brother, criminal-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari, was also convicted in the same case and sent to 10 years imprisonment.
The brothers were booked under the UP Gangsters Act in connection with the murder of the then BJP MLA from Ghazipur, Krishnanad Rai, on November 29, 2005 and the kidnapping-murder of Varanasi-based trader Nand Kishore Rungta in 1997.
“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.
Ansari can now get his disqualification revoked only if a superior court stays his conviction and sentencing. The Election Commission of India can now hold a bypoll to the Ghazipur parliamentary seat as there is over one year left for the dissolution of the 17th Lok Sabha. Its term ends on June 16, 2024.
Earlier, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who was convicted in a criminal defamation case, by a Surat court had lost his Lok Sabha membership. He was an MP from the Wayanad seat in Kerala. Along with him, NCP Lok Sabha member from Lakshadweep Mohammed Faizal, convicted in an attempt to murder case, was also disqualified. However, he moved the Kerala High Court which stayed his conviction and sentencing.
The Lok Sabha Secretariat revoked his disqualification on March 29, when his petition in this regard was to be heard by the Supreme Court.