Azam Khan had filed the appeal in the Rampur district and sessions court a day ago
Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan's appeal against a conviction in a hate speech case, which led to his disqualification as an MLA, was rejected by a local court in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday.
Mr Khan had filed the appeal in the Rampur district and sessions court a day ago, after the Supreme Court directed the lower court to hear and rule on the appeal by Thursday, requesting his conviction to be put on hold.
The Rampur court had on October 27 sentenced Mr Khan to three years of imprisonment in the hate speech case of 2019.
Following his conviction, he was disqualified as a member of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly under provisions of the Representation of the People Act.
The Assembly secretariat had subsequently declared his Rampur Sadar seat vacant.
The Election Commission has already announced a by-election in the Rampur Sadar constituency along with some other assembly seats and the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat on December 5.
The Supreme Court during the day directed the Election Commission not to issue till November 10 the notification for the election to the Rampur Sadar seat.
The Supreme Court said the Election Commission can issue the notification for the poll on or after November 11 once the sessions court rules on Mr Khan's plea.
The Rampur district and sessions court, while admitting Mr Khan's appeal, had granted him interim bail in the case till November 16, the Samajwadi Party leader's lawyer Vinod Sharma said.