Patidar leader Hardik Patel who recently joined the Congress party has been barred from contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha polls after the Gujarat High Court has refused to put a stay on his conviction in 2015 Mehsana rioting case, Indian Express has reported.
The former Patidar Ananmat Aandolan Samiti (PAAS) leader was sentenced to two years in prison for rioting and arson in Visnagar during the Patidar quota stir in 2015.
His sentence was suspended in 2018 by the High Court but no stay was put on his conviction.
This conviction renders him ineligible for contesting the Lok Sabha polls under the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
The Gujarat High Court judge, Justice A G Uraizi observed that Hardik Patel has various criminal cases,17 FIRs and pending cases against him in various courts. In order to still be elegible to contest the polls, Hardik Patel would have to knock on the Supreme Court’s doors.
As reported earlier, Hardik Patel had joined the Congress party as he was staring at complete political irrelevance given that Modi led NDA government has already began implementing 10 per cent reservation in government jobs and higher education for economically weaker sections.
He was also pitted to be the party’s Jamnagar Lok Sabha candidate.
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