Lucknow: The ruling Samajwadi party has declared Ateeq Ahmad as its Lok Sabha candidate from Sulatanpur constituency after his re-inducting him into the party fold.
Ateeq Ahmad, was the first person to be booked under the 'Gangster Act' in Uttar Pradesh and has several cases of dacoity, murder, extortion and fraud against him, police records showed.
Ahmad was expelled from the party five years back. He had unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha polls in 2009 on Apna Dal ticket from Pratapgarh in the state.
His selection replaces Shakeel Ahmad, who was previously announced as the party's candidate.
The re-entry of Ateeq Ahmad is being seen in political circles "as the end of the honest and clean politics credo" propagated by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav in the run up to the 2012 state assembly polls when the party denied ticket to mafia don turned politician D.P. Yadav.
