Ateeq Ahmad, UP's first gangster, is Samajwadi Party's LS candidate from Sultanpur

"It is more evident now that the SP has realized that it will fare badly in the 2014 polls and wants to piggy back on criminals to shore up its sagging fortunes," Vijay Bahadur Pathak, state spokesman of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said.

The Samajwadi Party also denied that Ateeq Ahmad was a criminal.

Party spokesman and Prison Minister Rajendra Chowdhary said that so far no charge had been proved against Ahmad.

"No charge has been proved in the court of law against Ateeq (Ahmad). His entry will strengthen the party," he said. Police records, however, show Ahmad in different light.

The Gangster Act was slapped on him in 1986, but the first case against him was filed by police when he was barely 19.