Agra/ Jaipur/ Lucknow: Shambhu Lal Regar , the man who hacked a Muslim labourer to death in Rajsamand, Rajasthan and streamed the murder on social media, is likely to contest Lok Sabha elections from Agra. Regar, who is currently in jail in Jodhpur and on trial for the December 2017 murder, has been offered a ticket from Agra (reserved constituency) by Uttar Pradesh Navnirman Sena, an organisation whose founder Amit Jani has been involved in controversial statements and acts in the past.After murdering Mohd Afrazul , the labourer from Bengal, Regar had claimed he had committed the crime to save a Hindu girl from love jihad “After Yogi Adityanath became chief minister, there was no vocal Hindutva leader in Parliament. Regar will fill this void. He is not being supported by other parties because he is accused of murdering a Muslim. His method might have been wrong, but his intentions behind that act were pure. Many MPs are facing serious charges. If Shahabuddin can contest elections, Regar is innocent till proven guilty,” said Jani, talking to TOI on Tuesday.Jani himself was arrested in 2017 by a team of Tajganj police and STF for posting a picture of Taj Mahal with seven saffron flags at its pinnacle and minarets. In the post, Jani had appealed to all right-wing activists to gather at the monument on November 3, 2017, a call which had triggered panic and rumours in the city. He had also announced plans to confront stone-pelters in Kashmir, and called for ousting Kashmiris from western UP. In 2016, he had been arrested for making death threats on social media to former JNU Students’ Union president Kanhaiya Kumar. In 2012, Jani had been arrested for vandalising statues of Mayawati in Lucknow.Stating that Regar has agreed to contest the elections, Jani said, “Regar, a Dalit, is an alternative to Bhim Army founder Chandrashekhar Azad, and can raise issues related to Dalits. If BJP is truly supportive of Dalits, they should support Regar. So should Mayawati.” The Agra (reserved) constituency has a substantial number of Dalit voters. It is currently held by BJP’s Ramshankar Katheria, chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC).UP Navnirman Sena, which has not contested any elections since it was founded in 2009, will be applying for an election symbol, Jani said. He had fought a byelection in Muzaffarnagar in 2016 as an independent candidate and lost.

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