Afzal Ansari, elder brother of deceased don turned politician Mukhtar Ansari, and his daughter Nusrat Ansari filed their nomination papers as Samajwadi Party candidates from the Ghazipur Lok Sabha seat on Monday, which many believe is an arrangement worked out in case the MP is convicted in an old case.

Afzal, the incumbent BSP MP from Ghazipur, planned this apparently because Allahabad High Court didn’t decide on his conviction on Monday morning. Someone awarded two or more years of imprisonment is disqualified from contesting
an election.

The court posted the case for May 20 but the last date for filing the nomination papers is May 14. Ghazipur is among the 13 constituencies of Uttar Pradesh where polling is slated for the seventh and last phase on June 1. The last date for withdrawing the nomination is May 17.

Afzal was handed four years in jail by the MP-MLA court of Ghazipur in a gangster case on April 29, 2023. The Supreme Court had granted him bail but asked him to approach the high court against the conviction and observed that the case should be disposed of by June 30, 2024.

Mukhtar died of heart attack in Banda jail last month. Afzal alleged that his brother was “slow-poisoned” by the state authorities.

Nusrat had started campaigning for her father last month. She was not only doing door-to-door campaigning but was also seen offering prayers at a Shiva temple and attending religious events organised by Hindus. She had also formed a local team of women to woo voters.

Though Afzal said he would reveal his strategy at the right time, one of his aides said: “His daughter will contest in case Afzal is not acquitted.”

Ghazipur votes on June 1