UP elections: As jailed Azam Khan files nomination, criminal records of SP neta accessed

Amid uproar, Samajwi Party candidate Azam Khan filed his nomination for Rampur Sar seat from inside Sitapur jail on Wednesday. Returning Officer from Rampur visited jail to get his nomination papers after an order was issued by ditional Chief Judicial Magistrate Rampur Court. constituency from which Khan is contesting will go to polls in second phase on February 14 of seven-phased Uttar Presh elections. 

Criminal antecedents of Azam Khan 

Meanwhile, Republic Media Network has accessed criminal antecedents of Azam Khan, who is lodged in Sitapur jail since Feb 2020. re are as many as 77 criminal cases filed against Samajwi Party's Rampur candidate, most of which pertain to Indian Penal Code sections 153 (A) (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion), 159 (Word, gesture or act intended to insult modesty of a woman), 509 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 448 (house tress pass), 500 (defamation). 

Also, Azam Khan has been booked for electoral malpractices as well. In several cases, he has been under Section 171 G (False statement in connection with an election)

'BJP has filed cases'

Facing heat for giving party tickets to Azam Khan and ors with criminal backgrounds,  SP chief Akhilesh Yav on Wednesday defended party's decision by saying that most of  cases against its candidates h been filed by BJP government.

In a bid to turntables at BJP, Yav said that saffron party's 'Captain' CM Yogi ityanath and 'vice captains' Keshav Pras Maurya and Dinesh Sharma along with 82 of 195 candidates named for  Uttar Presh assembly h a 'criminal background'. 

Taking to microblogging site Twitter, SP chief Akhilesh Yav also attacked Central government of BJP by raking up Lakhimpur incident. "And in Delhi team, in ir honour…BJP should declare 'Lakhimpur' as capital inste of Lucknow!" he wrote in Hindi. 

Elections in UP will be conducted in 7 phases. While first phase of Election will be held on February 10, voting for second, third, fourth, and fifth phases will take place on February 14, 20, 23, and 27, respectively. sixth phase will see voting on March 3 while voting for seventh phase will be held on March 7. counting of votes for all phases will take place on March 10.