Rampur: In a major setback for Azam Khan, a sessions court on Thursday dismissed his appeal against the conviction in a hate speech case that led to his disqualification as MLA.
This comes after the Supreme Court directed a sessions court in UP’s Rampur to take up Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan’s appeal against conviction in the 2019 hate speech case.
The dismissal has paved the way for a bypoll in his assembly constituency.
The Supreme Court had also asked the Election Commission to issue a notification for a bypoll based on the order of the sessions court.
Azam Khan was convicted in a hate speech case by a UP court last month and sentenced to three years in jail. Following his conviction, the SP leader was disqualified from the membership of the UP Assembly and the Rampur Sadar Assembly seat was declared vacant.
Following his conviction, Azam Khan moved the Supreme Court, which on November 9 issued an interim stay on the sentence and directed the sessions court to take up Khan’s appeal and decide the same day.