Three of them are wives of jailed legislators (MLAs) and, according to sources, a fifth is likely to get a ticket soon.
Political parties at times field a family member of a popular leader who is unable to contest in a bid to retain the votes from the latter’s stronghold areas.
The Samajwadi Party has given a ticket to Maharaji Prajapati, wife of former minister Gayatri Prajapati who was sentenced to life imprisonment last year after being convicted for rape.
Prajapati was a minister in the Akhilesh Yadav council of ministers holding the portfolio of transport and mining. He has been in jail since March, 2017. Maharaji has been given ticket from Amethi Assembly constituency from which her husband has fought in the past. In the 2017 Assembly election, Gayatri, then accused of rape, had fought from Amethi but lost to the BJP’s Garima Singh by a margin of more than 5,000 votes.
The BJP has given tickets to Mukta Raja and Arti Tiwari–the wives of jailed MLAs Sanjeev Raja (MLA from Aligarh) and Indra Pratap Tiwari (MLA from Goshainganj).
Both Raja and Tiwari were convicted last year for crimes they committed more than 20 years ago. Raja was sentenced last year by a special MP-MLA court for two years’ imprisonment for assaulting a policeman in 1999. He was, however, granted bail. Tiwari, on the other hand, is in jail serving a five year term awarded to him last year, for a 28-year-old case of using a fake mark sheet to get college admission.
“The acceptance of the family by the public and its background plays a big role in giving tickets to wives of such candidates,” Sanjiv Singh, BJP district president of Ayodhya, told ET.
Congress has also given a ticket to the wife of jailed BJP MLA Ashok Chandel, who was convicted for murder by the Allahabad High Court in 2019. His wife has been fielded by Congress from his seat in Hamirpur.
Sources said Shaista Parveen, wife of don-politician Ateeq Ahmed, will most likely be fielded from his stronghold of Allahabad west seat by AIMIM, even though her candidature has not been announced yet.
Ahmed has won a record five times from the seat. He is now lodged in the Sabarmati Central jail in Ahmedabad.
Interestingly, Puja Pal, wife of Raju Pal, a former BSP MLA who was allegedly killed by Ahmed’s brother Mohammad Ashraf with Ahmed also accused of being complicit–has been fielded by the SP from another constituency of Allahabad- Phulpur.
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