Mitrasen Yadav

Mitrasen Yadav (11 July 1934 – 7 September 2015) was an Indian politician. He started his political career with communist party of India being a popular figure with the masses/locals but later joined Samajwadi Party. In 1966, he was sentenced to life for the double murder of two men. In 1972, under the chief ministership of Indian National Congress leader Kamalapati Tripathi, he was granted Governor's pardon for his murder conviction. In the 1989 Lok Sabha polls Mitrasen defeated BJP during an ongoing movement of building Rama Temple at Babri Masjid from Faizabad constituency. He was elected five times to the Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha and twice to the national parliament. In 1998 he joined the Samajwadi Party and was elected to the national legislature (12th Lok Sabha) from Faizabad constituency. In 1996 he was charged in the murder of Bhavanipher Yadav and also for attacking witnesses to the crime. In 2007, he was involved in the human-trafficking case, where four MPs were taking people abroad on diplomatic passports as their relatives.In 2007, his son, Anand Sen Yadav, became a cabinet minister from jail in the 2004 Mayawati cabinet; but he had to resign after being convicted for said charge however his son was acquitted by the High Court. In 2009, after Mitrasen was implicated in human trafficking he was dropped by Mayawati as a "liability". He then re-joined the Samajwadi Party, but lost the parliamentary election. Mitrasen in 2012 won MLA seat from Bikapur with a margin of 1868 votes.
At his death he represented Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party in the Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha from the Bikapur.
He died on the morning of September 7, 2015. after prolonged illness. He took his last breath in RML Institute Lucknow. SP Supremo and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav expressing condolences said in their message "we lost an active dedicated member of the party who worked for uplifting the poor."

Mitrasen Yadav emerged as a popular leader from Faizabad in the 1960s who struggled for socially and economically backward people. He joined politics as a member of the Communist Party of India. In 1966, he and seven others were sentenced to life imprisonment by the Faizabad session court for the murder of two men, Jata Shankar Tiwari and Surendra Tiwari, in 1964. Later, he appealed to the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court, but the appeal was rejected. Eventually, the Governor of Uttar Pradesh ordered his release on mercy on 7 October 1972, on condition that he would not indulge in crime for seven years.

In 1974, Mitrasen (Yadav) was elected to the Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha from Milkipur constituency as a Communist Party of India candidate. He was re-elected to the Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha in 1977, 1980 and 1985.

In 1989, he was elected to the 9th Lok Sabha from Faizbad constituency as a CPI candidate. In 1991, he contested the same constituency as an independent but lost. On 4 March 1995, he joined Samajwadi Party (SP). In 1998, he was elected to the 12th Lok Sabha as a Samajwadi Party candidate from the same constituency. Mitrasen joined the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in 1999. In 2001, he left the BSP and re-joined the SP for the second time. In 2004, Mitrasen again joined the BSP, and was elected to the 14th Lok Sabha. In 2009, he again joined the SP for the third time.

In 2009, he was convicted for embezzlement and sentenced to seven years rigorous imprisonment. Subsequently, he was released on bail.

In the 2009 parliamentary elections, Mitrasen had the highest number of criminal charges against him amongst all criminal candidates across country.

Against all odds Mitrasen remained popular amongst the masses in the constituency. He set up number of institutions and as MLA helped local youth to pursue education strongly.