Abbas Ansari's UP Assembly membership restored after Allahabad HC stays conviction

Lucknow, Sep 8 (PTI) The membership of Abbas Ansari, the SBSP MLA from Mau Sadar constituency in Uttar Pradesh, has been restored after the Allahabad High Court stayed a two-year sentence in a 2022 hate speech case, the assembly secretariat said on Monday.

Assembly Chief Secretary Pradeep Kumar Dubey issued the notification, stating that the previous order terminating Ansari's membership would now be considered null and void following the high court's decision that came last month.

Ansari's reinstatement has also brought an end to political uncertainty over the Mau Assembly bypoll.

Earlier, his membership had been revoked and the Mau Sadar seat declared vacant when Ansari, a son of the late strongman, Mukhtar Ansari, was convicted by an MP MLA court after finding him guilty of delivering a hate speech during a public meeting in Paharpur on March 3, 2022.

The Allahabad High Court on August 20 quashed the conviction of the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) MLA. Justice Sameer Jain set aside the special MP-MLA court's May 31 order that sentenced him to two years' rigorous imprisonment. PTI AR KIS SKY SKY