In Final Assault On Azam Khan's Rampur Fortress, BJP Ally Apna Dal Defeats SP In Suar

The ruling BJP-led coalition on Saturday ended Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan's over four-decade dominance in Rampur with its ally Apna Dal (Sonelal) winning the Suar assembly by-election by a margin of 8,724 votes.

Shafeek Ahmed Ansari of the Anupriya Patel-headed Apna Dal (Sonelal) secured a little over 50 per cent of the total votes polled in the bypoll, according to the Election Commission website.

Mr Ansari polled 68,630 votes and his nearest rival and Samajwadi Party nominee Anuradha Chauhan bagged 59,906 votes. More than 1.35 lakh votes were polled in the by-election held on May 10.

The Bahujan Samaj Party and the Congress did not field candidates for the seat.

Mr Ansari said his win is a result of the collective effort and hard work of BJP and Apna Dal (Sonelal) workers.

With this victory, the ruling coalition ended Azam Khan's over four-decade hold in the Muslim-dominated Rampur district. Azam Khan and his family watched the poll outcome on TV at their Jail Road residence.

Of the five assembly constituencies under the Rampur Lok Sabha seat, Bilaspur, Rampur and Milak-SC are held by the BJP. Chamrau is held by SP and Suar has been clinched by BJP's ally Apna Dal (Sonelal).

The Rampur parliamentary constituency, also a stronghold of Azam Khan, was won by the BJP.

SP's Muslim face from the days of Mulayam Singh Yadav, Azam Khan remained undefeated in Rampur Sadar assembly seat since 1980 irrespective of the party in power.

In November 2022, Azam Khan's name was removed from the electoral roll in Rampur after he was convicted in a 2019 hate speech case. As a result, he could not cast his vote in the by-election in Suar.

In February 2023, Abdullah Azam Khan's name was struck off the electoral roll after his disqualification from the legislative assembly. A Moradabad court had sentenced him to two years in jail in a 15-year-old case.

Campaigning for SP candidate Chauhan, Azam Khan had asserted she will win the election. "If there is any injustice (in terms of poll results), it will be a deceit," he had said.

He also took potshots at Apna Dal (Sonelal), saying, "The candidate who has come with a plate (referring to the party's cup-plate symbol), he is with those who want to give a knife to your (next) generation." Referring to his son's conviction by a court and subsequent disqualification as MLA from Suar, which necessitated the by-poll, Azam Khan had claimed that there was "no one who can defeat him." Reacting to Azam Khan's claims after the poll results, BJP MLA from Rampur Akash Saxena said, "Azam Khan has lost his mental balance, hence he is speaking like this." Saxena asserted Azam Khan was "getting the punishment for his deeds".

"The person who has no right to cast his vote, that person after seeing the mandate of the people, should leave the country, and should not stay here. The politics of hatred will not work here. Azam Khan had always worked to create a rift between Hindus and Muslims," Saxena told PTI.

In the assembly election last year, Abdullah Khan defeated Apna Dal (Sonelal)'s Haidar Ali Khan in Suar.