![]Samajwadi Party Member of Parliament Afzal Ansari. File.](https://th-i.thgim.com/public/incoming/beblhg/article68460132.ece/alternates/FREE_1200/10_RVM_0153.jpg "]Samajwadi Party Member of Parliament Afzal Ansari. File.")
The Allahabad High Court on Monday allowed the appeal of Samajwadi Party member of Parliament from Ghazipur (Uttar Pradesh) Afzal Ansari, who challenged his conviction in the Gangster Act case in which a local court has awarded him four years of imprisonment.
The matter pertains to the murder and abduction of BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai in 2005 in which Ansari, who was then a Bahujan Samaj Party MP, is an accused.
Justice Sanjay Kumar Singh allowed Ansari’s plea challenging the conviction by an MP MLA court in Ghazipur in 2023. The lower court has sentenced Ansari to four years’ imprisonment along with a fine of ₹1 lakh.
Ansari was then disqualified as an MP because as per the rules, an MP/MLA who has been convicted of an offence in which his/her sentence is not less than two years shall be disqualified from the date of the conviction. The disqualification continues till six years after his release.
He then moved the Supreme Court which in December last year suspended his conviction, leading to the restoration of his Lok Sabha membership.
The court’s decision came as respite for Ansari who would have been disqualified as an MP if the High Court would have upheld his conviction.
