Abdullah Azam Loses UP Legislative Assembly Membership After Moradabad Court Convicts Him In a 15-Year-Old Case

Abdullah, who represented the Suar Assembly constituency, is the son of the veteran leader of the Samajwadi Party, Azam Khan.

The case against Abdullah and his was registered in the year 2008 for staging a dharna (protest) on the state highway after their cavalcade was stopped by police for checking in the wake of an attack on a CRPF camp in Rampur.

They both were booked under Sections 341 (wrongful restraint) and 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) of the Indian Penal Code.

It may be noted that this is the second time that he has been disqualified from the UP Legislative Assembly membership.

Earlier, his election from the Suar Constituency (in 2017 state assembly elections) was invalidated by the Allahabad HC on the ground that he was below 25 years of age at the time of filing the nomination, on the date of scrutiny of the nomination paper, and on the date of declaration of results.

The appeal against this very order of the Allahabad High Court was dismissed by the Supreme Court in November last year.

Last week, a division bench of the Supreme Court of India dismissed a petition by Abdullah seeking a review of its November 7 decision to uphold the disqualification of the former legislator for not having attained the minimum qualifying age on the date of the election.