The Allahabad High Court stayed the conviction of former BJP leader Nandlal Rai, allowing him to contest the 2027 assembly polls. Rai got bail after spending over a year in jail for a murder case. The court said, "conviction and sentence of appellant deserves to be stayed" for his livelihood.
The convicted leader had prayed for relief as he wishes to contest the upcoming assembly poll as a 'BJP candidate or independent'. The Allahabad High Court has granted him bail
The Allahabad High Court has stayed the conviction and life sentence of a former BJP leader, after he moved a plea saying he wishes to contest the 2027 assembly election as BJP candidate or an independent.
The appeal seeking bail and stay against the conviction and sentencing was filed by former BJP leader Nandlal Rai alias Babloo Rai. He and co-accused Sheshnath Sharma were convicted and sentenced by a local Varanasi court on April 15 last year in the murder case of a BJP leader, who was also a Ram Janmabhoomi movement activist.
Granting bail and a stay against the Varanasi court judgment, a division bench of Justices Siddharth and Vinai Kumar Dwivedi, in its October 5 order, said: "Keeping in view the right to livelihood of a common man which is not less important than the right to contest election by a politician, conviction and sentence of appellant deserves to be stayed so that he may be able to survive for hearing the final verdict in his above-noted appeal."
The bench further stated in its order, "... the apex court has stayed conviction of a number of public representatives, holding that politicians bear special duty towards their constituents and failure to secure stay of conviction may lead to loss of opportunity to contest election..."
The court then cited a Supreme Court order in the petition of Samajwadi Party MP from Ghazipur, Afjal Ansari, in 2024, which stated: "... There is no gainsaying that in order to suspend the conviction of an individual, the primary factors that are to be looked into would be the peculiar facts and circumstances of that specific case, where the failure to stay such a conviction would lead to injustice or irreversible consequences."
The petitioner's counsel, Devendra Deo Gupta, told The Indian Express that Rai has been in jail for over one-and-a-half years after being named in the murder case. He will be contesting the Assembly poll from his Ghazipur district.
The HC ordered the applicant's release on bail. "... we are of the view that the conviction and sentence awarded to the appellant deserves to be stayed during the pendency of this appeal. The sentence awarded to the applicant-appellant shall also remain suspended during the pendency of this appeal," it said.