Jailed mafia don and MLA Mukhtar Ansari  |  Photo Credit: IANS
Key Highlights
- Mukhtar Ansari’s son Abbas Ansari has filed his nomination papers from Mau Sadar
- Suheldev Bhartaiya Samaj Party has given poll ticket to Abbas Ansari
- Mukhtar Ansari is currently imprisoned in Banda jail
Lucknow: Jailed mafia don and MLA Mukhtar Ansari, who has successfully contested the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections since 1996 from the Mau Sadar Assembly constituency, is unlikely to contest the ongoing UP election 2022. Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), an ally of Akhilesh Yadav-headed Samajwadi Party (SP) has fielded Abbas Ansari, the son of Mukhtar, from the Mau Sadar seat.
The polling in the Mau Sadar Assembly constituency will take place in the seventh and last phase of the Uttar Pradesh election 2022.
Mukhtar Ansari is currently lodged in Banda jail.
Mukhtar Ansari’s son confirmed that his father will not contest the UP election. Abbas expressed confidence in winning the Mau Sadar Assembly seat and taking forward his father’s political legacy.
“My father is a five-time MLA from Mau Sadar. He will not contest the election this time. It is a son’s duty to carry forward the legacy of his father. Mau is my ‘karmabhoomi’ and I will carry forward my father’s political legacy. I will leave no stone unturned for it,” Abbas Ansari said after filing his nomination.
When asked to comment on his father’s decision to not contest the UP election 2022, Abbas said, “democracy is under threat today”.
The mafia don’s son claimed that his father a conspiracy was hatched against his father so that he cannot file his nomination in the ongoing Uttar Pradesh Assembly election 2022. “In such a situation, he has handed over his legacy to me,” he further said.
Abbas Ansari will be up against BJP leader Ashok Singh, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) state president Bhim Rajbhar and Congress candidate Madhavendra Bahadur Singh.
Mukhtar Ansari had first won from Mau Sadar in 1996 as a BSP candidate.
Mau Sadar is the bastion of Mukhtar Ansari. He won the Assembly seat as an Independent in 2002 and 2007. The jailed MLA successful contest the 2012 UP polls as a Quami Ekta Dal candidate. In 2017, the mafia don won the constituency seat on a BSP ticket.