Abu Salem's hopes to contest UP assembly polls under cloud

Azamgarh, Nov 25: Hopes of jailed mafia don Abu Salem to contest the 2007 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls have come under cloud after the sub divisional magistrate (SDM) here rejected a request to include his name in the electoral rolls.

SDM of Nizamabad Vidhya Shankar rejected Salem's request to include his name in the electoral rolls.

On November 12, District Magistrate Subhash Chandra Sharma had sent all the documents of the case to Nizamabad tehsil as Salem was a native resident of Pathankot locality in Saraimeer area.

Meanwhile, the don's family said they would take the case to the apex court.

On October 28, Salem's lawyer Ashok Saraogi had also met the DM in this regard.

Salem has expressed his desire to contest from Mubarakpur and approached all the national political parties for a ticket.

Although Salem does not hail from Mubarakpur, his elder sister resides there. His brother-in-law Mohd Takiuddin is spearheading the campaign on the don's behalf.

Salem was extradited from Portugal on November 11, 2005, and has been lodged in the Arther Road Jail, Mumbai. About eight cases are pending against him in Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Lucknow.

The don has been charged with supplying arms and explosives to carry out the 1993 Mumbai blasts, which had killed over 200 people.

Salem, awaiting verdict in the Mumbai serial blasts, had -- 50,000 posters printed that wished happy Diwali and Eid to the people of the Mubarakpur constituency this year.

However, the posters did not mention the name of the publishers, which is mandatory under law. An investigation is still on in this regard.

UNI