UP Panchayat Elections: BJP Gives Ticket To Unnao Rape Convict Kuldeep Sengar's Wife

Nearly one and a half years after removing Kuldeep Singh Sengar from the party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has given the ticket to the wife of the former MLA for the upcoming 2021 Uttar Pradesh Panchayat Elections.

On December 20, 2019, a Delhi court had awarded life imprisonment to Sengar in the rape case of a minor girl, reported Hindustan Times.

After expelling Sengar, the BJP has made his wife, Sangeeta, a candidate from Fatehpur Chaurasi in Unnao Zila Panchayat Elections. Sangeeta had won the Zila Panchayat Chairperson Election in 2016.

Defending the party's decision, BJP MP Shiv Pratap Shukla said "I think Kuldeep Sengar's wife has been given a ticket by UP BJP after a discussion. I believe that Kuldeep Sengar's wife has been the chairperson of the Zilla Panchayat Unnao. If she has popularity, she should not be overlooked because she is the wife of a convict."

"Kuldeep Sengar is in jail today for what he has done but why his wife should be punished for his crimes?" Shukla added.

The Uttar Pradesh Panchayat Elections will take place on April 15, 19, 26 and 29 and the counting of votes will be held on May 2.

In 2017, Kuldeep Singh Sengar and his aides allegedly gang-raped a minor girl from Makhi village in Uttar Pradesh's Unnao district.

The case made it to the headlines after the victim tried to immolate herself in front of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's residence in Lucknow in April 2018.

In April 2018, the victim's father died in police custody, after he was allegedly thrashed by the BJP MLA's brother Atul Sengar in the lock-up.

The court had on March 4, 2020, convicted Sengar and six others in the case of the murder of the Unnao rape survivor's father.

On March 13, 2020, the seven convicts were sentenced to 10 years imprisonment.

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