The Samajwadi Party MLA from Rampur, Mohammad Azam Khan, who was sentenced to three years in prison along with a fine of `25,000 in a 2019 hate speech case by Rampur district court on Thursday, has been disqualified from the membership of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly.
The UP Assembly secretariat on Friday issued the notification disqualifying Khan from the membership of the House and declaring the Rampur Assembly seat represented by him as vacant.
The UP Assembly secretariat has issued the notification disqualifying Khan as MLA and declaring the Rampur Assembly seat, represented by Khan, as vacant, following the receipt of certified copy of the judgment delivered by the Rampur district court on Thursday.
The secretariat has sent the notification to the Election Commission of India for further action to be taken by the poll panel, said an official of the UP Assembly secretariat. The disqualification of the elected members of the legislature is done under Article 102 and Article 191 of the Constitution for MPs and MLAs, respectively.
Sources said even if the conviction order of Rampur district court was stayed by the Allahabad High Court, it would bring no relief to Khan as there was no escape from disqualification after conviction. The only relief possible for Khan is that he can contest the by-election from Rampur Assembly constituency if the conviction order is stayed by the Allahabad High Court.
The Rampur district court has given seven days’ time to Khan to file an appeal in the Allahabad High Court. Citing the Supreme Court judgement of 2013 in Lily Thomas vs. Union of India case (along with Lok Prahari vs. Union of India), sources said, “The Supreme Court of India, in its judgment dated July 10, 2013, while disposing of the Lily Thomas vs. Union of India case, ruled that any member of Parliament, member of Legislative Assembly or member of legislative council who is convicted of a crime and given a minimum of two years’ imprisonment, loses membership of the House with immediate effect.”
This is in contrast to the earlier position, wherein convicted members held on to their seats until they exhausted all judicial remedies in lower, higher courts and the Supreme Court of India.
Further, Section 8 (4) of the Representation of the People Act, which allowed elected representatives three months to appeal against their conviction, was declared unconstitutional by a Supreme Court bench of Justices AK Patnaik and SJ Mukhopadhaya.
Earlier, in the last three years, three BJP MLAs were disqualified from the membership of the UP Assembly following their conviction by the district courts. BJP MLA Ashok Singh Chandel was convicted and awarded life term in a murder case in June 1991 by the Hamirpur district court and the verdict was upheld by the Allahabad High Court. He was disqualified from the membership of UP Assembly and is presently in jail. Later Kuldeep Singh Senger was convicted in a rape case in December 2019 and he was also disqualified and is presently in jail.
Indra Pratap Tewari alias Khabbu Tewari, MLA from Gosainganj in Ayodhya district, was convicted in a fake marksheet case in October 2021. He was also disqualified from the membership of the UP Assembly. During the 2019 Lok Sabha election campaign, Khan had used provocative remarks against the then Rampur District Magistrate Aunjaneya Kumar Singh, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress candidate Sanjay Kapoor. A case was registered against Khan in Rampur in April 2019
Earlier this year, Khan was released from Sitapur district jail after over two years after the Supreme Court granted him interim bail in an alleged case of cheating. The Samajwadi Party leader was also granted bail in a cheating case lodged at the police station in Rampur. Khan was lodged in Sitapur jail in February 2020 as many cases were registered against him.