We Respect Rule Of Law, Atiq Ahmed's Wife Will Not Get Ticket For Local Body Polls: Mayawati

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Monday (10 April) announced that the party will not grant a ticket to mafia-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed’s wife Shaista Parveen in the upcoming Prayagraj municipal elections.

While Atiq’s wife had not been declared the party’s official candidate from the seat yet, party insiders had confirmed her candidature at the time of her joining the party in January this year.

However, speculations of BSP denying her a ticket were being made after the murder of Umesh Pal on 24 February. Shaista Parveen is among the accused in the case along with her husband, his brother, and other aides and has been absconding ever since.

Addressing a press conference on Monday (10 April), Mayawati said that since Atiq’s wife is one of the accused in the case and is on the run, the situation had changed and the BSP won’t be giving a ticket to either Atiq’s wife or any members of their family.

She also said that as far as the question of her continuing as a party member goes, the party will decide after the police investigation is done and the facts of the case emerge.

“Our party is not above the law and has the utmost respect for it,” she concluded. Mayawati had previously said in a tweet that if Parveen is found guilty in the Umesh Pal murder case, she would be expelled from the party.

The announcement comes a day after the Uttar Pradesh State Election Commission announced urban local body polls in the state — to be held in two phases, on 4 and 11 May. The counting of votes will take place on 13 May.

Meanwhile, the police has doubled the reward for information about Shasita Parveen to Rs 50,000. 

Her anticipatory bail application has also been rejected by the Allahabad District Court, as per an ANI report.

She had submitted the application claiming she had been falsely accused in the case and that it was “political conspiracy”.

Atiq, on the other hand, Atiq was recently convicted by an MP/MLA court in Allahabad in the Umesh Pal kidnapping case of 2006, nearly a month after Pal’s murder. 

The five-time MLA and MP from Samajwadi Party (SP) is currently lodged in the Sabarmati jail in Gujarat.

Umesh Pal was the prime witness in the Raju Pal murder case of 2004, in which Atiq was a prime accused.