SC upholds setting aside of 2017 election of Abdullah Azam Khan from UP Assembly

The case relates to the existence of two birth certificates of Abdullah Azam, who allegedly gave a wrong date of birth while filing his nomination papers for the 2017 poll

Samajwadi Party MLAs Azam Khan and his son Abdullah Azam Khan. Credit: PTI Photo

The Supreme Court Monday dismissed an appeal filed by Abdullah Azam Khan, son of senior Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan against the Allahabad High Court's order cancelling his 2017 election as an MLA from the Suar constituency.

The court noted the High Court had rightly found him below the minimum 25 years of age at the time of filing his nomination. Khan, however, subsequently had got re-elected in 2022 from the same constituency.

A bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and B V Nagarathna held that there was no manifest error by the Allahabad High Court in its judgement of December 16, 2019 since it had examined all oral and documentary evidence on record.

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The court pointed out all throughout, the date of birth of the Khan in records is January 1, 1993.

However, when he became keen to enter into active politics in 2015, his mother submitted an application for the first time on January 17, 2015, claiming that the appellant was born on September 30, 1990. Within three days, the birth certificate was issued by Nagar Nigam Lucknow on January 21, 2015, which was full of "discrepancies, over­writing and factual inaccuracies".

In her separate judgement, Justice Nagarathna said no weight can be placed on the birth certificate, issued by Nagar Nigam Lucknow in 2015, on the strength of an entry made in the birth register maintained by the hospital and "is created by manipulation and interpolation in the relevant hospital records."

The court also noted Khan got a passport issued in his name with January 1, 1993 as his date of birth and travelled several countries with it.

It also rejected an ossification test which mentioned his age as 26 years, saying it cannot be accepted as conclusive proof and did not hold much water.

Khan was on March 11, 2017 elected from Suar constituency on Samajwadi Party ticket.

Congress party candidate Nawab Kazim Ali Khan challenged the election on the ground that the winning candidate was not qualified to contest as he was less than 25 years of age as his date of birth was mentioned as January 1, 1993 in Class X and all other educational certificates.