Newsmaker | Afzal Ansari: The ‘brains’ of the family, guilty by association due to brother Mukhtar, say supporters

In his around four-decade political career, Ansari has won five Assembly and two parliamentary elections, but has grabbed limelight only when the issue of Mukhtar Ansari has been raised by the government, police or the media. Afzal would often be the face giving explanation on behalf of his family and Mukhtar.

“We have never seen Afzal Ansari involved in criminal activities and harassing people. In a few criminal cases, he has been made co-accused with Mukhtar. Because of his knowledge of law and politics, Afzal is the ‘brains’ in the family, planning all its moves, be it regarding poll campaigns, or fighting legal battles,” a local resident of Ghazipur says.

He also adds that Afzal is good at connecting with people, and that this is why his winning margin has been rising every election.

Political workers say Afzal used to work like Mukhtar’s shadow, looking after his cases in court and election campaigns. Five-time MLA Mukhtar has been lodged in jail since 2005, and has won three Assembly elections from inside there. “Initially, Afzal may have benefited from Mukhtar’s terror, but now he has good influence on his voters.

He too could easily win Assembly elections from Mohammadabad from inside the jail,” another local resident says.

A resident of Ghazipur district, Afzal started his political career with the 1985 Assembly elections, when he contested from his hometown Mohammadabad on a CPI ticket. He defeated Congress candidate Abhai Narain Rai by around 3,064 votes. He went on to win the Assembly seat thrice in a row on a CPI ticket. In the 1989, 1991 and 1993 Assembly elections, Afzal defeated the BJP’s Vijay Shanker Rai by 8,575, 9,263 and 13,572 votes, respectively.

Afzal contested his fifth Assembly election – in 1996 — on a Samajwadi Party ticket and defeated the BSP’s Virendra by a margin of 19,602 votes. Afzal got 63,468 votes.

In the 2002 Assembly elections, though, Afzal lost to the BJP’s Krishnanand Rai by 7,772 votes. He was again an SP candidate, and secured 53,277 votes.

Three years later, on November 29, 2005, Krishnanand Rai was murdered in Ghazipur along with six associates. Afzal and Mukhtar were prime accused in the case, and its trial was transferred to Delhi by the Supreme Court. In 2019, a special CBI court in Delhi acquitted Afzal, Mukhtar and five others in the case, and an appeal is still pending in the Delhi High Court.

When the Krishnanand Rai murder case was lodged against Afzal, he was the SP MP from Ghazipur. After Rai’s murder, Afzal lost two consecutive Lok Sabha polls. In 2009, he contested on a BSP ticket and lost to the SP’s Radhey Mohan Singh. In 2010, while with the BSP, Afzal floated his own political outfit, Quami Ekta Dal (QED), and became its president. He contested the 2014 Lok Sabha from Ballia on a QED ticket, and lost to the BJP’s Bharat Singh. Finally, he won as an MP on the BSP ticket from Ghazipur.

As per UP Police’s record, there are seven criminal cases lodged against Afzal. The first case against him, of violation of Model Code of Conduct, was lodged in 1996; interestingly, the last case lodged against him, in 2014 at Chandauli district, is also the same charge.

In between 2005 and 2007, Afzal was booked in three murder cases, including Krishnanand Rai’s, and one case of UP Gangsters’ Act. In the first murder case lodged at Mohammadabad police station in Ghazipur in 2005, the police found he had been wrongly named and gave him a clean chit. In the Krishnanand Rai case, an appeal against his acquittal is pending. The third murder case was expunged as it was found that the allegation against Afzal was false.

It was in the Gangster Act case that a court sentenced Afzal on Saturday.