New Delhi, Mar 25 : The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday dismissed the petition by jailed Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) candidate Mukhtar Ansari for contesting in the coming Lok Sabha elections.

A division bench comprising justices Ashok Bhusan and Arun Tandon held that Ansari cannot contest elections as he does not have voting rights.

Ansari won in Uttar Pradesh''s Mau constituency in the 2007 assembly elections as an Independent MLA and is now a BSP candidate from Varanasi.

He is currently lodged in the Ghazipur jail in connection with the murder of BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai who was killed in November 2006.

Ansari was also charged with arson and inciting to riot during the riots in Mau on October 14, 15 and 16, 2005. (ANI)