LUCKNOW: Around 18 days after the suspension of his conviction by the Allahabad High Court in a 2022 hate speech case, Mau Sadar MLA, Abbas Ansari’s membership was restored in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly on Monday.
Abbas had contested the 2022 Assembly polls from the Mau Sadar seat on the symbol of OP Rajbhar-led Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), which was then in alliance with the Samajwadi Party.
A senior official confirmed the restoration of Abbas Ansari’s membership in the state Assembly.
He is the son of late gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari, who died while undergoing treatment at Ranu Durgawati Medical College in Tindwara during his incarceration in Banda jail in 2024.
Principal secretary, Vidhan Sabha, Pradeep Dubey, in an order issued on Monday evening, said Abbas' membership was deemed restored as the High Court had suspended his conviction.
The order said the cancellation of his membership stood “ineffective” under Article 191 of the Constitution, read with Section 8 of the Representation of the People's act, 1951.
Abbas was sentenced to two years of rigorous imprisonment in May this year, in a three-year-old hate speech case, leading to his disqualification from the membership of the House.
A special Mau court had held Abbas Ansari, 33, guilty under Section 153-A (promoting enmity between groups), Section 189 (threat to public servant), Section 506 (criminal intimidation) and 171F (undue influence during elections) of the Indian Penal Code. He was also fined Rs 2,000.
His election agent, Mansopor Ansari, who was also present on the stage during the speech, was also sentenced to six months' jail.
Abbas then moved the appellate court, which dismissed his challenge on July 5. He subsequently approached the Allahabad high court, which quashed the conviction.
The controversy arose after Abbas delivered a speech during the 2022 assembly election campaign, allegedly warning the government officials of the consequences if the Samajwadi Party came to office.
“I have told SP chief Akhilesh Yadav that after the SP government formation, no transfer or posting of bureaucrats will be done for six months. First, there will be a `hisab-kitab’ (scores will be settled), only then will transfer orders be released,” he had said, and the video of his speech had gone viral on social media.
Following the restoration of Ansari’s membership, the strength of SBSP will increase to six again.
Abbas is again the lone Muslim MLA in the BJP-led NDA camp in UP.
SBSP chief OP Rajbhar is a minister in the Yogi cabinet. On August 20, the High Court suspended the conviction of Ansari, saying “refusal to stay his conviction amounts to injustice not only to him but also to the electorate which elected him”.