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2w ago

UP MLA Abbas Ansari Disqualified Following Two-Year Jail Term for Hate Speech

His conviction under multiple IPC sections triggered the Mau Sadar seat to be declared vacant under election law, prompting his party to file an appeal in the high court

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Abbas Ansari is the son of gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari. (HT file)
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Overview

  • A special MP/MLA court in Mau found Abbas Ansari guilty on May 31 of hate speech and criminal intimidation during the March 2022 Assembly campaign, convicting him under IPC sections 189, 153A, 171F, 506 and 120B and sentencing him to two years in prison plus fines.
  • Under the Representation of People Act, his two-year sentence automatically disqualified him as an MLA on June 1 and led the Assembly Secretariat to declare the Mau Sadar seat vacant.
  • Mansoor Ansari, Abbas’s election agent, received a six-month jail term in the same case while his brother Umar Ansari was acquitted; both have obtained temporary bail pending appeal.
  • Assembly Speaker Satish Mahana has sent a proposal to the Election Commission of India to schedule a by-poll for the vacated Mau Sadar constituency.
  • The Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party, now allied with the BJP-led Uttar Pradesh government, has announced plans to challenge Abbas Ansari’s conviction in the Allahabad High Court in an effort to restore his legislative membership.