CRIMINAL- TURNED- POLITICIANS FACE DEFEAT

Are the curtains down for criminals in UP politics? So it seems. Majority of the criminal-turned- politicians in the state ghave faced defeat and those that have won, have made it on the Modi wave sweeping the country. Jailed mafia don Mukhtar Ansari ranked at the third position in Ghosi where he contested as a Qaumi Ekta Dal candidate. Though he was granted parole to campaign on his seat, the state government apparently delayed his release and he could reach his constituency barely a few hours before campaigning ended. Mukhtar’s elder brother Afzal Ansari also ranked third in Ballia where he was superseded by the BJP which won the seat and Neeraj Shekhar of SP. Another mafia don, D. P. Yadav, contested the Sambhal and Ghazipur seats. He was placed at third position in Ghazipur and at the fourth position in Sambhal. Former BSP MP and mafia don, Dhananjay Singh, was granted interim bail by the Delhi court to contest the Jaunpur seat.