BSP won’t field 'bahubali', mafia candidates in upcoming UP Assembly elections: Mayawati, drops Mukhtar Ansari from Mau seat

Denying party ticket to jailed gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari from UP's Mau, Mayawati announced BSP state president Bhim Rajbhar will contest from the seat next year.

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New Delhi: Ahead of the high-profile Uttar Pradesh elections next year, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati on Friday (September 10) said that her party will not field 'bahubali' (strongmen) or mafia candidates in the upcoming polls. 

Denying party ticket to jailed gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari from Mau, Mayawati announced BSP state president Bhim Rajbhar will contest from the seat next year. Ansari, who represents Mau, is currently lodged in a jail in Banda, facing 52 cases in Uttar Pradesh and elsewhere, while 15 cases are in the trial stage, ANI reported. 

Taking to Twitter, the former UP CM wrote in Hindi, "In upcoming assembly polls, the BSP's effort will be to not field 'bahubali' and mafia elements. So, the name of Bhim Rajbhar, the BSP UP president, has been finalised from the Mau assembly seat in place of Mukhtar Ansari.”

1. बीएसपी का अगामी यूपी विधानसभा आमचुनाव में प्रयास होगा कि किसी भी बाहुबली व माफिया आदि को पार्टी से चुनाव न लड़ाया जाए। इसके मद्देनजर ही आजमगढ़ मण्डल की मऊ विधानसभा सीट से अब मुख्तार अंसारी का नहीं बल्कि यूपी के बीएसपी स्टेट अध्यक्ष श्री भीम राजभर के नाम को फाइनल किया गया है। — Mayawati (@Mayawati) September 10, 2021

The decision comes after Mukhtar Ansari's brother Sigbatullah Ansari joined the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party. The BSP had given a ticket to Mukhtar Ansari and his son Abbas Ansari, who could not win the election, in 2017 UP Assembly polls. 

Meanwhile, in a fresh tweet, Mayawati directed the party-in-charge to take special care while selecting the candidates "so that there is no problem in taking strict action against such elements once the government is formed."

3. बीएसपी का संकल्प ’कानून द्वारा कानून का राज’ के साथ ही यूपी की तस्वीर को भी अब बदल देने का है ताकि प्रदेश व देश ही नहीं बल्कि बच्चा-बच्चा कहे कि सरकार हो तो बहनजी की ’सर्वजन हिताय व सर्वजन सुखाय’ जैसी तथा बीएसपी जो कहती है वह करके भी दिखाती है यही पार्टी की सही पहचान भी है। — Mayawati (@Mayawati) September 10, 2021

"BSP's resolve is to change UP's image by rule of law so that not only the state and the country, but every child says that the government should be like Behan ji`s `Sarvajan Hitay and Sarvajan Sukhay` and the BSP does what it says and it is also the true identity of the party," the BSP chief added. 

(With agency inputs)