The Uttar Pradesh government has sought legal opinion on parole granted to Mukhtar Ansari, the Quami Ekta Dal candidate from Ghosi in Uttar Pradesh, by a Delhi court. Mr. Ansari has been granted parole for ten days from May 1.
Ghosi, along with 17 other parliamentary constituencies in Purvanchal, goes to polls in the last phase of the Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh on May 12. Mr. Ansari is presently in Agra jail.
“The government is getting it legally examined as parole has been granted to Mr. Ansari by a special court in Delhi in a particular case [even though] a total of 12 cases are pending against him,” State Home Secretary, Kamal Saksena told journalists here on Friday, adding that the legal opinion was expected to be conveyed soon.
The alleged mafia don-turned-politician, an Independent MLA from Mau in Purvanchal (eastern Uttar Pradesh), had contested the 2009 Lok Sabha elections from Varanasi on a Bahujan Samaj Party ticket and lost to the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Murli Manohar Joshi by a relatively small margin of 17,211 votes. BSP president Mayawati subsequently expelled Mr. Ansari from the party. Before the 2012 Assembly polls, he formed the Quami Ekta Dal with his brother, Afzal Ansari, as its president.
In the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Mr. Ansari was expected to contest from both Varanasi and Ghosi before the QED decided to field him from Ghosi alone. Last week, QED chief Mr. Afzal Ansari announced in Varanasi that the “Quami Manch” (comprised of the QED and small parties like the Bharatiya Samaj Party) would support the Congress candidate from Varanasi (Ajay Rai). The decision surprised many keen watchers of the forthcoming electoral battle in Varanasi as it was largely speculated that the QED would, given its Muslim base, support the Aam Aadmi Party’s Arvind Kejriwal as against the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi.
Ajay Rai and Mukhtar Ansari are considered rivals in the badlands of Purvanchal. Informed sources in the Congress said the QED leadership was roped in to support Mr. Rai by two senior Congress leaders who had visited Varanasi last fortnight.
