Supreme Court upholds Allahabad HC order in Azam Khan's son case

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday issued a notice on a plea moved by Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan's son Abdullah Azam whose election from Suar Assembly constituency in Uttar Pradesh was annulled for allegedly being less than the mandatory 25 years of age when he filed the nomination.

Although, a bench headed by Chief Justice S.A. Bobde and comprising Justices B.R. Gavai and Surya Kant issued a notice, but refused to stay the Allahabad High Court order or any other order to protect Abdullah from any coercive steps. "We understand that the High Court would have gone into details on the matter and then issued the order," the apex court passed an observation on the High Court order.

Earlier, in a major jolt to Samajwadi Party MP Mohd. Azam Khan, the Allahabad High Court had set aside the election of his son, Abdullah, to the Uttar Pradesh Assembly. The High Court ruled that Abdullah had produced fake documents about his age during the 2017 Assembly elections and was underage at the time of the elections. The petition against Abdullah was filed by Nawab Kazim Ali, who was with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) earlier but joined Congress later.

"Abdullah Azam was below the age of 25 when elections were held in 2017 but he forged documents to contest the polls," Ali had said in his petition. Abdullah moved the Supreme Court challenging this High Court order.