Mohammad Azam Khan (born 14 August 1948) is an Indian politician who has served as the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

from Rampur. He is one of the founding members of the

Samajwadi Party The Samajwadi Party ( SP; translation: ''Socialist Party'', founded 4 October 1992) is a socialist political party in India, headquartered in New Delhi but mainly based in Uttar Pradesh, with significant presence in other states as well. With a ...

and was a member of the

Seventeenth Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh The Seventeenth Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh (Seventeenth Vidhan Sabha of Uttar Pradesh) was constituted on 19 March 2017 as a result of Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly election, 2017 held between 11 February to 8 March 2017. The L ...

. He was also the senior most Cabinet Minister in the

Government of Uttar Pradesh The Government of Uttar Pradesh (ISO: Uttar Pradesh Sarkār; often abbreviated as GoUP) is the subnational government of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh with the governor as its appointed constitutional head of the state by the President ...

and has been a

member of the legislative assembly A member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to a legislative assembly. Most often, the term refers to a subnational assembly such as that of a state, province, or territory of a country. S ...

for ten terms from Rampur assembly constituency.

Life and education

Azam Khan was born in Rampur,

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 195 ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

to Mumtaz Khan. He attended

Aligarh Muslim University Aligarh Muslim University (abbreviated as AMU) is a Public University, public Central University (India), central university in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India, which was originally established by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan as the Muhammadan Anglo-Orie ...

and attained

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Ch ...

degree in 1974. Khan married Tazeen Fatma in 1981 and has two sons. Prior to entering politics, he worked as a lawyer. His son

Abdullah Azam Khan Mohammad Abdullah Azam Khan is an Indian politician and was a member of the 17th Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh. He represented the Suar constituency of Uttar Pradesh's Rampur district and is a member of the Samajwadi Party. He is son of ...

was an MLA from Suar from 2017 to 2019.

Political career

Azam Khan has been an MLA for ten terms; all from Rampur assembly constituency. He was also a cabinet minister in the

government of Uttar Pradesh The Government of Uttar Pradesh (ISO: Uttar Pradesh Sarkār; often abbreviated as GoUP) is the subnational government of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh with the governor as its appointed constitutional head of the state by the President ...

. Khan is currently a member of the

but has been a member of four other political parties between 1980 and 1992. During his first term (

8th Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh The Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly (Hindi: ''Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha'') is the lower house of the bicameral legislature of Uttar Pradesh. There are 403 seats in the house filled by direct election using a single-member first-past-the- ...

), he was a member of

Janata Party (Secular) The Janata Party (Secular) was an Indian political party founded by Raj Narain in July, 1979. On 16 July 1979, Charan Singh assumed its leadership and became the Prime Minister of India on 28 July 1979 with the support of the Indian National Con ...

. During his second term (

9th Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh The Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly (Hindi: ''Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha'') is the lower house of the bicameral legislature of Uttar Pradesh. There are 403 seats in the house filled by direct election using a single-member first-past-the- ...

), he was a member of the

Lok Dal Lokdal or Lok Dal is an Indian political party based on agriculture policies, founded by former prime minister of India Charan Singh. See also * Girraj Kishore Mahaur, former MLA of Lok Dal * Lok Dal (Charan) * Rashtriya Lok Dal Rashtr ...

. Khan was a member of

Janata Dal Janata Dal (“People’s Party”) was an Indian political party which was formed through the merger of Janata Party factions, the Lok Dal, Indian National Congress (Jagjivan), and the Jan Morcha united on 11 October 1988 on the birth annivers ...

during his third term (

10th Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh The Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly ( Hindi: ''Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha'') is the lower house of the bicameral legislature of Uttar Pradesh. There are 403 seats in the house filled by direct election using a single-member first-past- ...

). In his fourth term ( 11th Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh), Azam Khan was a member of

Samajwadi Janata Party Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya) (SJP(R)), also called as Janata Dal (Socialist) is an Indian political party founded by Chandra Shekhar, 8th Prime Minister of India in 1990–91, and led by him until his death on 8 July 2007. Chandra Shekhar ...

. Since 1993 (his fifth term and

12th Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

), he has been a member of the

. Azam Khan also was a post holder in Samajwadi Party however on 17 May 2009 he resigned from the general secretary post of the party. However, during the 15th Loksabha elections, his opposition to the Samajwadi Party candidate,

Jaya Prada Jaya Prada Nahata (born Lalitha Rani; 3 April 1962) is an Indian actress and politician. She is hailed as one of the most iconic and influential actresses in both Telugu and Hindi film industries in late '70s, '80s and early '90s. Jayaprada ...

, and the surrounding controversies resulted in a crisis in the party, and on 24 May 2009, he claimed to have been expelled for six years although the party chief claimed he himself resigned. The Samajwadi Party later revoked his expulsion and he rejoined on 4 December 2010. After his successful win in 2014, Khan has been given ticket from Rampur constituency by the

for the Lok Sabha elections of 2019.

Legal cases

Khan has 80 legal cases against him related to land encroachment and criminal intimidation registered against him. Rampur SP Ajay Pal Singh has been investigating one of the cases of land acquisition. There are several cases of land grab registered against the NGO ‘Jauhar Trust’ founded by Khan. In January 2019, a case of forgery was lodged against Khan, his wife Tazeen Fatma and son with respect to the birth certificate of his son Abdullah at a local police station in Uttar Pradesh. However in March 2019, the

Allahabad High Court Allahabad High Court, also known as High Court of Judicature at Allahabad is the high court based in Prayagraj that has jurisdiction over the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It was established on 17 March 1866, making it one of the oldest high ...

stayed their arrest until the probe was completed by the police. Khan was supported by party leader Akhilesh Yadav who claimed the cases were politically motivated, however in January 2020, the court declared the three, Abdullah and his parents, to be absconders for failing to appear in the court during case hearings. Following this, the

Enforcement Directorate The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) is a law enforcement agency and economic intelligence agency responsible for enforcing economic laws and fighting economic crime in India. It is part of the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, Gov ...

will be attaching the properties of Khan from the first week of February onward. On 26 February 2020, Khan was sentenced to imprisonment along with his wife and son for forging a fake birth certificate for his son. The Supreme Court granted interim bail on 19 May 2022 in an alleged cheating case. The interim bail will continue till his regular bail plea is decided, clearing the way for his release.

Positions held

NOT PRESENT MLA OF RAMPUR

References