LUCKNOW: The Rampur Sessions Court, on Tuesday, brought about a big relief to senior Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan, by granting him bail in the 2019 hate speech case in which was convicted and sentenced to a three-year jail term by the local MP/MLA court on October 26.
Azam’s conviction in the case under Sections 153 A, 505A, and 125 of IPC, had led to his disqualification from the UP State Assembly resulting in the by-poll to Rampur (Sadar) Assembly seat which he has represented in the UP Assembly for nine times.
Azam Khan, who has been out on interim bail granted to him by the Supreme Court in the case, had challenged his conviction and sentence in the sessions court of Rampur. The Supreme Court had granted him interim bail till November 16 and it was later extended till November 22.
After his disqualification, the Rampur Sadar Assembly seat was declared vacant and bypoll on it will take place on December 5.
Earlier on November 18, his name was deleted from the voter list in Rampur after a complaint filed by BJP by-poll candidate Akash Saxena. The decision was taken by Rampur Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) after the BJP filed an appeal to have Azam Khan's name removed from the electoral roll, invoking provisions of the Representation of the People Acts (RPA) of 1950 and 1951.
Khan, after an incarceration of 27 months in Sitapur jail, was released in May after the Supreme Court granted him interim bail in an alleged cheating case. The SP leader is facing 89 criminal cases, including corruption, intimidation, land grabbing and theft.
Loyalists leave Azam, join saffron bandwagon
However, while going through the roughest patch in his political and personal life, Azam Khan is facing the exodus of his loyalists from the party in Rampur ahead of bypoll.
The first shock he received last week was when his close aide and media in-charge Fasahat Ali Khan Shanu left SP to join the saffron brigade. Shanu had once written a letter in his blood to the President of India mentioning how injustice was being meted out to the SP leader who had been fabricated in a series of cases.
Shanu had also raised a banner of revolt against SP chief Akhilesh Yadav after the UP Assembly elections in 2022 accusing him of not doing much to help Azam Khan who was one of the founding members of the Samajwadi Party.
Shanu has been followed by Azam’s two more loyalists – Moin Pathan and Asim Aijaz. Both Pathan and Aijaz left SP on Monday night and went on to announce their support for BJP’s by-poll candidate Akash Saxena.