Supreme Court Upholds Azam Khan's Son's Disqualification As MLA

The Supreme Court on Monday said that there was no manifest error by the Allahabad High Court which annulled the election of Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan's son Abdullah Azam Khan as Uttar Pradesh legislator and did not require any interference.

A bench of justices Ajay Rastogi and BV Nagarathna rejected the appeal filed by Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan's son Abdullah Azam Khan challenging the Allahabad High Court order which annulled his election as Uttar Pradesh legislator on grounds that he was underage and not qualified to contest the poll in 2017.

The Allahabad High Court had declared the election of Abdullah Khan from the Suar Assembly segment from Rampur district null and void as he was less than 25 years of age. Abdullah Khan was elected as MLA on a Samajwadi Party ticket on March 11, 2017.

"In the instant case, the date of birth of the appellant throughout in his records is 1st January, 1993 and only in the year 2015 when the appellant became keen to enter into active politics, the mother of the appellant submitted an application for the first time on January 17, 2015, claiming that the appellant was born on 30th September 1990, and birth certificate may be immediately issued to her and within three days, birth certificate was issued by the Nagar Nigam, Lucknow on 21st January, 2015," the court noted.

"In support thereof, the documentary evidence which the appellant has placed on record obtained from the Queen Mary's Hospital, Lucknow, as a foundation on which the birth certificate has been issued as alleged from the Nagar Nigam, Lucknow, in our considered view, no probative value could have been attached to it," the court noted.

"The High Court, in our considered view, has examined the documentary and the oral evidence available on record in extenso, we find that no manifest error was committed by the High Court in passing the impugned judgment, which may call for our interference," the court said.

"Consequently, the appeal fails and is accordingly dismissed," the court said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)