Lucknow, October 28: The Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly secretariat on Friday announced the disqualification of Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan from the House, a day after a court sentenced him to three years in jail in a hate speech case. Principal Secretary of the UP Legislative Assembly Pradeep Dubey told PTI that the Assembly Secretariat declared the Rampur Sadar Assembly seat as vacant. Azam Khan Convicted in Hate Speech Case: SP Leader Gets 3-Year Jail Term Over Provocative Remarks on Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath, Granted Bail.

"A vacancy has been declared by the UP Vidhan Sabha Secretariat consequent upon the disqualification due to the judgment passed by the court," he said. The Rampur MP-MLA court had on Thursday convicted Khan in a 2019 hate speech case and had sentenced him to three years of imprisonment. Azam Khan Convicted in Hate Speech Case: SP Leader Found Guilty of Making Provocative Remarks Against Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath, IAS Aunjaneya Kumar Singh.

The Representation of the People Act says that anyone sentenced to imprisonment of two years or more shall be disqualified "from the date of such conviction" and remain disqualified for another six years after serving time in jail.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)