Noida: The Azad Samaj Party (Kanshiram) on Monday announced 14 candidates for the second phase of the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls. The candidates are for the seats in the districts of Bijnor, Moradabad, Amroha, Rampur and Sambhal, according to a list shared by the Chandra Shekhar Azad-led party.
In Bijnor, the ASP (K) has fielded Aadil Siddiqui from Bijnor, Vikek Sen from Dhampur, Mohammad Baakar from Noorpur, Vikas Kumar Suryavanshi from Nagina, Mohammad Izhar Ahmed from Badhapur, Danish Sheikh from Najibabad and Krishna Kumar Saini from Chandpur.
In Moradabad, the party has fielded Akram Chaudhary from Morabad Rural and Umar Farooq from Bilari while in Amroha, Shiva Kumar will be the face of ASP (K) and Tarun Kumar from Dhanaura (SC) seat.
The party has fielded Kapil Kori from Milak (SC) and Rakesh Gangwar from Bilaspur, both in Rampur, and Anil Kumar from Gungor seat in Sambhal district.
The ASP (K), which was formed in March 2020, had earlier announced candidates for UP assembly polls from 33 seats in western UP, where the pro-Dalit party claims to hold influence
According to an IANS report, the first list of 33 candidates released by Azad Samaj Party (ASP) leader Chandra Shekhar includes the name of western Uttar Pradesh's dreaded gangster, Bhupendra Bafar.who will contest from Siwalkhas seat in Meerut district.
Bafar, 60, is facing 18 cases of murder, loot, extortion, in several districts of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand who is currently out on bail.
The Uttar Pradesh police had, at one point of time, announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh on his head.
Known to be close to convicted absconder Badan Singh Baddo and another notorious criminal Sushil Mooch, Bafar had fallen out with the two and are now his arch-rivals.
The Uttar Pradesh police came down heavily on Bafar after he helped another Muzaffarnagar-based dreaded gangster Rohit Sandu escape from police custody on July 2, 2019, in which a sub-inspector was killed.
On July 16 that year, Sandu was killed in a police encounter. During investigation, Bafar's involvement was established and he was arrested on July 13, 2019, for his involvement in the attack, and sent to jail.