SP leader and brother of late gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari won from UP's Ghazipur seat with 5,39,912 votes, defeating BJP's Paras Nath Rai with a margin of over 1,20,000 votes. In 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Afzal won from the seat on BSP's ticket, while in 2014 the current J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha had won from the seat.