After being found guilty in a criminal case, BSP MP Afzal Ansari, the brother of gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari, loses his seat in the Lok Sabha.
Afzal Ansari, a member of parliament representing Ghazipur and brother of gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari, was disqualified from Lok Sabha Monday as a result of being convicted and sentenced in a case of kidnapping and murder.
Afzal was given a four-year prison term and a Rs. 1 lakh fine by the Ghazipur MP-MLA court last week. In the 2007 Gangster Act, the court also found Mukhtar Ansari guilty and sentenced him to 10 years in prison as well as a fine of 5 lakh.
Who is Afzal Ansari?
Afzal Ansari, a member of the Bahujan Samaj Party and a former Member of Parliament (MP) for the Uttar Pradesh district of Ghazipur, was born on August 14, 1953. On the Samajwadi Party's ballot, he prevailed in the 2004 general Lok Sabha election. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Manoj Sinha of the BJP, who is presently the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir and was formerly considered a potential candidate for Chief Minister, was beaten by Afzal.
Ansari has won five Assembly and two parliamentary elections in his roughly four-decade political career, but he has only attracted attention when the government, police, or media have brought up the Mukhtar Ansari issue. Political insiders claim that Afzal used to be Mukhtar's shadow, taking care of his legal matters and political campaigns.
Afzal was defeated by Krishnanand Rai of the BJP in the 2002 Assembly elections; three years later, Krishnanand Rai and six of his companions were killed in Ghazipur.
Afzal and Mukhtar Ansari were the prime accused in BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai's death case. Afzal was the SP MP for Ghazipur when the murder of Krishnanand Rai was reported, and the case was filed against him.
Afzal lost the next two Lok Sabha elections after Rai was killed. He ran as a BSP candidate in 2009, but Radhey Mohan Singh of the SP defeated him.
What are the cases against Afzal Ansari?
According to the records of the UP Police, Afzal is the subject of seven criminal cases. His first allegation of violating the Model Code of Conduct was brought against him in 1996; surprisingly, the identical complaint was brought against him for the last time in 2014 in the Chandauli district.
Afzal was charged with three murders, including that of Krishnanand Rai, and one UP Gangsters' Act case between 2005 and 2007. He had been incorrectly identified when the authorities investigated the first murder case reported to Mohammadabad police station in Ghazipur in 2005, and they cleared him.
An appeal against Krishnanand Rai's conviction is still pending in the case. The third murder case was dropped since it was determined that Afzal wasn't the victim of the claimed crime. On Saturday, the court condemned Afzal in the Gangster Act case.
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 "Afzal Ansari (File Photo)")
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