Azam Khan's son Abdullah disqualified from UP Assembly, Suar seat declared vacant

Azam Khan's son Mohammad Abdullah Azam Khan was disqualified from the membership of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly and declared his Suar seat in Rampur district as vacant on Thursday. The development comes after the Allahabad High Court set aside the election of Abdullah Azam Khan, the Samajwadi Party (SP) leader, he has been disqualified as a member from that date -- December 16, 2019, a notification issued by the Vidhan Sabha Secretariat said.

The Suar assembly seat in Rampur has been declared as vacant from that date as well, the notification added. The Allahabad High Court had ruled that Abdullah Azam was not qualified to contest the election as he was below 25 years of age when he filed his nomination papers as the SP candidate from Suar constituency in 2017.

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The accused have been charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code for facilitating two fake birth certificates for Abdullah Khan. The case relates to two birth certificates of Abdullah Azam, who allegedly gave a wrong date of birth while filing his nomination papers for the UP assembly elections in 2017. Abdullah's election was set aside by the Allahabad High Court last December. On Tuesday, a Rampur court rejected the anticipatory bail plea of Khan, his wife, and son. Moreover, the court ordered the confiscation of their moveable and immovable properties. 

Case against Azam Khan's family

A Rampur BJP leader, Akash Saxena, had lodged an FIR at Ganj police station on January 3, 2019, alleging fraud related to Abdullah Azam's two birth certificates. In April, police filed the charge sheet in the court. It alleged that Azam Khan's son also had two passports and two PAN cards.

In one birth certificate, issued by the Rampur municipality, Abdullah Azam's birth date was mentioned as January 1, 1993. The other certificate said he was born in Lucknow on September 30, 1990, according to the charge against him. A case was also registered against Azam Khan and his wife as they had submitted an affidavit testifying to the authenticity of their son's second birth certificate.

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Azam Khan represents Rampur in the Lok Sabha and his wife is an MLA from the Rampur assembly seat. Their son Abdullah Azam had won from the Suar assembly segment in 2017 but was unseated by the high court for being underage as per one of the birth certificates on the date of filing nomination papers. On Thursday, Azam Khan, his wife and son were shifted to Sitapur jail.

Azam Khan, a former Cabinet minister during the Akhilesh Yadav-led regime in Uttar Pradesh, faces multiple cases. One of them pertains to a violation of the Model Code of Conduct in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. It was alleged that he along with Yadav held a roadshow on April 4 for more than the permitted time. Khan is also accused of grabbing the land of farmers in Rampur for building the Mohammad Ali Jauhar University which came into existence in 2006.

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(with PTI inputs)