The tainted candidates who made it in UP

At a time when several ministers and prominent leaders bit the dust in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, some dons and others accused of murder have managed to win their respective seats.

The main accused in the poetess Madhumita Shukla murder case and former minister Amarmani Tripathi, the main accused in the BJP legislator Krishnanand Rai murder case Mukhtar Ansari, and controversial independent MLA from Kunda Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya were among them.

Besides these three, Dhananjay Singh, Madan bhaiya, Angad Yadav and Akhilesh Pratap Singh have also made it to the new Assembly.

In western Uttar Pradesh, alleged mafia don D P Yadav and his wife Umlesh won their respective seats and would be perhaps the only couple in the new Vidhan Sabha. While Yadav won from Sahaswan, his wife got the Bisauli seat in Badaun.

Both had contested as Rashtriya Parivartan Dal candidates.

Sushil Singh of Varanasi, Badshah Singh, Brijesh Misra Saurabh, Dawood Ahmed and Daddan Misra are the other winners who have criminal cases against them.

Mukhtar Ansari, Amarmani Tripathi and Sushil Singh contested the elections from jail.