Overview

• Abbas Ansari, son of gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari, lost his assembly membership under a two-year jail term clause after being convicted for hate speech on May 31
• Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav charged the Yogi Adityanath government with deliberately targeting Ansari and suggested caste played a role in the decision
• Yadav pointed to the unusual step of opening the Secretariat on a Sunday to issue the disqualification notification as evidence of government urgency
• The Mau Sadar constituency is now vacant and will be contested in a by-election following the SBSP’s switch to the BJP-led NDA
• He warned that the SP will contest upcoming panchayat and 2027 assembly elections vigilantly, pledging measures like a caste census under its administration