The Election Commission of India has announced the bypoll schedule for two assembly constituencies in Uttar Pradesh. The seats are Suar in Rampur and Chhanbey in Sonbhadra district.

The poll notification will be issued on April 13. The last date for filing the nomination papers is April 20 and April 24 is the date for the withdrawal of the nomination papers. The polling will be held on May 10 and counting of votes will be taken up on May 13.

The by-election to the Chhanbey assembly seat has been caused by the death of Apna Dal (Sonelal) MLA Rahul Prakash Kol last month after prolonged illness.

The Suar assembly seat in Rampur district goes to poll due to the disqualification of Samajwadi Party MLA Abdullah Azam Khan, following his conviction in a criminal case in February this year.

Abdullah Azam Khan, the son of veteran SP leader Mohammad Azam Khan, had to face disqualification following conviction in a 15-year-old case. This marks the second disqualification for Abdullah Azam. In February, a court in Moradabad had sentenced Abdullah Azam Khan and his father Mohammad Azam Khan to two years in jail in a 2008 case. They were found guilty of stopping a public servant from discharging official duty and other charges after staging a protest on a state highway on January 29, 2008.

Under the law, a lawmaker sentenced to imprisonment for two years or more can be disqualified from the date of such conviction" and remain disqualified for another six years after serving time in jail.

Abdullah Azam Khan was disqualified in 2020 as the Allahabad High Court had set aside his election and he was disqualified from the assembly effective December 16, 2019. The court ruled that he was not qualified to contest the election as he was below 25 years of age when he filed his nomination papers as the Samajwadi Party candidate from Suar in 2017. Despite this, he won the Suar seat again in the 2022 assembly election.