Samajwadi Party MLA Abdullah Azam Khan was disqualified from the Uttar Pradesh Assembly on Wednesday, reported ANI. This comes two days after a special MP/MLA court sentenced him to two-year imprisonment in connection with a 15-year-old case.
Khan, son of senior SP leader Azam Khan, represented the Suar in Rampur district in the Assembly. Following his disqualification, the Legislative Assembly Secretariat declared the seat of Abdullah Azam vacant.
“Abdullah Azam Khan has been disqualified following the Moradabad court order sentencing him to two years (in jail) in a 15-year-old case. His seat has been declared vacant from February 13,” a senior official of the Assembly said.
Abdullah Azam and his father were sentenced to two years imprisonment on Monday by Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Smita Goswami after they appeared before the special MP/MLA court in Moradabad.
They were booked 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 on a state highway on January 29, 2008 as their cavalcade was stopped by police for checking in the wake of an attack on a CRPF camp in Rampur on January 1, 2008, reported The Indian Express.
The terror attack had claimed the lives of seven soldiers and a civilian.
This is Abdullah Khan’s second disqualification from the Assembly. He was earlier disqualified in 2020 after the Allahabad High Court set aside his election to the Assembly.
The two Samajwadi Party leaders have had several cases against them – 83 against Azam Khan and 41 against Abdullah Azam – since the BJP has come to power in 2014, according to records by the Uttar Pradesh police. The cases include land-grabbing, cheating, and others.