Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Nov 17: Azam Khan, the leader of the Samajwadi Party, or a member of his family is not running for the Rampur assembly seat for the first time since 1977.
The seat will be up for election in a byelection on December 5 after Azam Khan’s disqualification due to his conviction in a hate speech case caused it to become vacant.
The Samajwadi Party chose Asim Raza, a supporter of Azam Khan, over his wife Tanzeen Fatima and his daughter-in-law. Since 1977, Azam Khan or a member of his family has consistently battled from the seat.
From 1977 to 2022, Khan ran in 12 elections for the assembly, winning ten of them and losing two.
After Azam Khan was elected to the House of Representatives in 2019, his wife Tazeen Fatma ran in and won the subsequent by-election. In the upcoming by-election, Asim Raja will now try his luck.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Congress exerted considerable influence in the region. Khan won five consecutive assembly elections between 1980 and 1993, but he was defeated by Congressman Afroz Ali Khan in 1996. Rajya Sabha received Azam Khan’s dispatch. Between 2002 until 2022, he won five elections in a row.
Legal issues have been raised for Azam Khan and his family. When Azam Khan served as a minister in the Akhilesh Yadav administration, a First Information Report was filed against his wife and son in connection with an alleged plot of land-grab conspiracy.
After receiving a three-year prison sentence in a case involving hate speech from a local court, Khan has been removed from his assembly seat.
The incumbent candidate from the seat, Akash Saxena, has once more been named by the BJP as its nominee for the Rampur byelection. Saxena was defeated by Khan for the Rampur Sadar seat earlier this year. On December 8, the votes will be counted.
