A sister makes her brother win election from Shamli

Story by ATV | Posted by Aasha Khosa | Date 11-03-2022

Iqra Hassan campaigning for her brother

New Delhi

Samajwadi Party candidate Naheed Hassan, who defeated BJP's Mriganka Singh from the Kirana Assembly constituency while being in jail where he was lodged after being arrested under the UP Goonda Act, with a margin of 26,800 votes.

His victory has put the spotlight on Nahid Hassan's sister Iqra Hassan, who ran the campaign for her brother in his absence. The Australia-educated Naheed Hassan was arrested by the UP police just before the elections.

His sister Iqra Hassan took charge of his election campaign, she ran a door-to-door campaign for her brother’s campaign and it translated to victory on Mach 10.

After the death of their father, Naheed Hassan was nominated by BSP in Saharanpur's Gangoh seat at a young age in the 2012 Assembly elections. However, right before the elections, the BSP withdrew his nomination and gave the ticket to Shagufta Khan.

Naheed Hassan had contested as an independent candidate and lost.

Iqra Hassan during the election campaign

Naheed Hassan became MLA for the first time after winning by-election from Kirana in 2014 and 2019 has scored a hattrick. Naheed's father Chaudhry Munawar Hassan was an experienced leader.

He was a member of the Legislative Council, Lok Sabha, and Rajya Sabha. He died in a road accident and his wife Tabassum Hassan contested and won in his place. In the 2018 Lok Sabha by-election, Tabassum Hassan won once again but lost the elections in 2019.

Naheed Hassan's family has a rich political background. His grandfather, parents, uncles, aunts, and cousins, all have been elected from local body elections to MPs and MLAs. From UP to Haryana, there are many members of the family holding elected positions.

Naheed’s son Chaudhry Munawar Hassan was married in 1986 to Begum Tabassum of Saharanpur. One of her younger sisters, Chaudhry Iqra Hassan, graduated from London in 2021 with a degree in International Law.

Naheed Hassan's grandfather Chaudhry Akhtar Hassan became a Member of Parliament on a Congress ticket from Kirana Lok Sabha seat in 1984. He was also the chairman of the municipality.

Chaudhry Munawar Hassan had won the Kirana seat in the 1991 and 1993 Assembly elections. He defeated Hukam Singh, who was contesting on Janata Dal ticket in both the elections. Hukam Singh was in the Congress party in those days.

In the midst of all this, the situation in UP changed and Mulayam Singh Yadav split from the Janata Dal and formed the Samajwadi Party. After being elected MLA from Kirana Vidhan Sabha twice in a row, Munawar Hassan joined SP and in 1995 Kirana contested and won the election from Lok Sabha seat.

However, he lost twice in the 1998 and 1999 Lok Sabha elections. Meanwhile, he was a member of the Rajya Sabha from 1998-to 2003 and then MLC.

When the Lok Sabha elections were held in 2004, Munawar Hassan had to change seats. Anuradha Chaudhary contested from Kirana seat on RLD ticket and won. While Munawar Hassan won from Muzaffarnagar seat on SP ticket.