As mafia-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari seeks to retain the Maunath Bhanjan (Mau)-Sadar seat lodged in the Agra jail, his kin including his brothers campaign for him for the February 11 assembly elections.
Contesting from his Quami Ekta Party, Ansari is taking no chances this time as he is contesting from the neighbouring Ghosi seat as well.
Ansari decided to contest from Mau Sadar and Ghosi after several Muslim-dominated areas of Mau Sadar were merged with the Ghosi assembly constituency after the latest delimitation exercise.
Ansari has declared 15 cases against him, including nine serious offences under the IPC.
Ansari is an accused in the 2005 murder of BJP MLA Krishnanad Rai and his 11-day parole was cancelled after the district administration expressed inability to provide him with adequate security during his campaigning ahead of elections.
He is facing trial in the Rai murder case along with alleged gangster Munna Bajrangi and his associates Miraz Ahmed and Iftikar Ahmad in a case under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act.
Mukhtar Ansari has won as an independent from Mau seat on three occasions.
In 2009, he contested the Lok Sabha elections from Varanasi on a BSP ticket against BJP veteran Murli Manohar Joshi, but lost.He was later expelled from the BSP.
Later, with brothers Afzal and Sigbatullah, he floated Quami Ekta Dal.
His elder brother Afzal, a former Samajwadi Party MP, is now heading his campaign team.The Ansaris have a considerable clout in the district and adjoining areas.
In the Ghosi seat, Ansari is pitted against sitting BSP MLA Phagu Chauhan.
In his absence, Quami Ekta Party’s campaign vehicles display his photograph with his trademark handle bar moustache.
