New Delhi, April 2
Patidar leader Hardik Patel’s debut in electoral politics came a cropper on Tuesday, with the Supreme Court declining an urgent hearing on his petition challenging an order of the Gujarat High Court that refused to stay his conviction in the 2015 Vispur rioting case.
The denial dashed his hope of contesting the Lok Sabha poll as a Congress candidate from Gujarat’s Jamnagar constituency as the last date for filing nominations for all the 26 parliamentary seats in the state is April 4. The polling is scheduled for April 23.
A convict facing a jail term of two years or more cannot contest. But if the conviction is stayed or suspended, the ineligibility gets removed.
With barely two days left for filing papers, Patel’s petition was mentioned for urgent listing before a three-judge Bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra that turned down his request. “The order was passed in August 2018. What is the urgency now?” the Bench said.
Patel, 25, who joined the Congress on March 12, had already started preparations to contest from Jamnagar. But the March 29 order of the Gujarat High Court virtually ruled out his debut in electoral politics.
A Sessions Court at Visnagar in Mehsana had sentenced Hardik Patel to two-year imprisonment on July 25, 2018, for rioting and arson in Visnagar town in 2015 during the Patidar agitation for reservation in education and jobs. The Gujarat HC had in August last year suspended the sentence, but not the conviction.
Courts generally don’t pass such orders for suspension of sentence. However, the SC had in January 2007 stayed the conviction of cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu in a road rage death case, paving the way for his contesting the Amritsar LS byelection.
In November last, the SC stayed the conviction of Rajasthan Congress leader Shivkant Nandwana, who intended to contest Assembly poll.
Patel’s counsel had submitted that if his conviction was not stayed, it would cause “irreparable damage” as he would not be able to contest Lok Sabha poll.
Contesting his claim, the Gujarat Government had told the HC that there were 17 FIRs, including two sedition complaints, against Patel, who habitually made inflammatory speeches. — TNS
Replacement named
Ahmedabad: With almost zero possibility of Hardik Patel contesting, the Congress has given the Jamnagar ticket to a local businessman and educationist, Mulubhai Kandoriya. While the BJP has re-nominated MP Poonam Madam, the Congress picked Kandoriya, who has done pioneering work to spread education in rural areas. TNS
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