SBSP will contest by-election from Mau seat after Abbas Ansari's disqualification: Rajbhar

Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party ( SBSP) on Monday said it will contest the by-election from Mau after Abbas Ansari was disqualified from the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly following his conviction in a hate speech case.

Ansari, the son of gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari, became MLA for the first time in 2022 by winning the election from the Mau Sadar assembly seat on an SBSP ticket under the Samajwadi Party-led alliance.

The SBSP MLA was sentenced to two years imprisonment by a special MP-MLA court on Saturday. The seat has now been declared vacant.

The SBSP has since switched sides and is now an ally of the ruling BJP government and the party president is a cabinet minister in the UP.

"This was our seat. It was fought (in 2022 assembly polls) on our symbol. It was contested on our symbol. It is only fair that our party contests from the seat," SBSP chief Om Prakash Rajbhar said while talking to reporters.

Under the Representation of the People Act, membership of the legislative house is terminated if a court sentences an MLA to two years imprisonment or more.

Asked if the SBSP would make a move for its disqualified MLA, Rajbhar said, "If he moves the court, the party is with him. Currently, the high court has vacations and it will be closed for a month."

Following the disqualification of Ansari, the SBSP will have five MLAs in the 403-member UP Legislative Assembly.

Rajbhar said that he has met Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Union Home Minister Amit Shah to have direct polls to elect the district panchayat chairman and head of blocks.

"A proposal is being prepared to hold these elections directly from people's vote to avoid the use of money and muscle power," he said.

Currently, district panchayat chairmen are elected by members of the district panchayat and block members elect the head of heads.