UP Elections 2017: BSP inducts Mukhtar Ansari, kin for Muslim votes

As part of a new focus on Muslim voters, particularly in the light of the alliance between the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party Chief Mayawati on Thursday inducted Mukhtar Ansari and some of his family members, into the party.

The move will take the BSP’s Muslim candidates to 100, up from 97, the most by any party. To facilitate the new entrants, Mayawati has even scrapped the tickets of candidates announced earlier.

Ansari, the sitting MLA from Mau, has been given the BSP ticket for the constituency. The party has also declared Ansari’s son, Abbas, and brother, Sibghatullah as its candidates from Ghosi and Mohammedabad seats, respectively.

Earlier, Mayawati had fielded  Manoj Rai from Mau, Viond Rai from Mohammedabad, and Wasim Iqbal from Ghosi. Mayawati met these candidates this week, and told them that their candidature was being withdrawn taking into consideration the present political equations.

Uttar Pradesh has about 20 per cent Muslim voters. At least 135 of the 403 Assembly constituencies have decisive Muslim votes. Most of these seats are in western and eastern parts of the state. In eastern UP, the percentage of Muslim voters is nearly 23 in Mau, 14 in Ghazipur, 28 in Azamgarh, and 16 in Varanasi.

As for Ansari’s induction, Mayawati said he was not a criminal. “His rivals conspired against him and fabricated cases against him to damage his career,”  the BSP chief said at a press conference on Thursday.

She said the BSP considers people like Raghuraj Pratap Singh aka Raja Bhaiya and Atiq Ahmad —the former was supported by the SP while the latter is a party member as criminals and that they would never be taken in the party.

Ansari, though, has gained notoriety and popularity as a mafia don-turned-politician in eastern UP. Facing various charges, including that of the murder of BJP leader Krishnanand Rai, he has been in jail since 2005. He won the 2007 election from inside the jail as an independent candidate. In 2012, he won a second time, while still in jail, as a candidate of his Qaumi Ekta Dal (QED), formed by Ansari brothers Mukhar, Sibghatullah and Afzal in 2010.

In June 2016, the then National President of SP, Mulayam Singh Yadav and the then state president Shivpal Singh Yadav, orchestrated the merger of QED with the SP, which was one of many triggers for the Akhilesh-Mulayam conflict in the SP.

Akhilesh had expressed his resentment and the party reversed the merger, although the merger was affected again a mere four months later in October despite Akhilesh’s protests.

Even after being ousted as National President of the SP, Mulayam had asked Sibghatullah Ansari, MLA from Mohammedabad seat in Ghazipur, to support Akhilesh. Interestingly, amidst the affidavits that were submitted at the Election Commission in support of Akhilesh, one was that of Sibghatullah.

Having displayed their loyalty to SP, the Ansari brothers were expecting to contest under the SP banner in the upcoming Assembly elections. However, sticking to his idea of keeping politicians with criminal backgrounds at bay, Akhilesh, the new national president of SP, denied ticket to the Ansaris.

SP has fielded Altaf Ansari from Mau and given up the Mohammedabad seat to Congress.