Afzal Ansari Leads In Ghazipur Constituency

In the Ghazipur constituency, Afzal Ansari of the Samajwadi Party (SP) is leading with a winning margin of 124861 votes and secured a total of 539912, where as the runner up Pars Nath Rai of the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) has a total of 415051 votes.

Afzal Ansari is the sitting MP of the Ghazipur Lok Sabha from Bahujan Samaj Party. He participated in the 2004 Lok Sabha general election as a candidate from the Samajwadi Party. He emerged victorious by defeating Manoj Sinha of the Bharatiya Janata Party with a significant margin of 226,777 votes.

Later, in 2009 general election, Ansari contested from Ghazipur on the Samajwadi Party ticket but faced defeat at the hands of Radhe Mohan Singh from the Bhartiya Janta Party.

Following certain political disagreements, Ansari decided to get rid of the Samajwadi Party and established a new political party called Quami Ekta Dal. He came to the position of Secretary-General in this newly formed party before eventually merging it with the Samajwadi Party. Ansari’s association with the Samajwadi Party was reinstated in 2019, and he contested the general election from Ghazipur once again. This time, he emerged victorious, securing the seat and becoming the 17th Lok Sabha member from Ghazipur.

However, on 1 May 2023, Ansari faced disqualification as a Member of Parliament due to a 4-year jail sentence imposed on him. Nevertheless, his suspension was later revoked on 15 December 2023 by the Supreme Court of India.

In the 2019 general election, Afzal won with a margin of 566,082 votes by defeating Manoj Sinha of BJP.

(This article is part of a Timeline internship project)