NEW DELHI, June 11: The opposition INDIA bloc which won 234 seats against NDA’s 293 in the 543-member Lok Sabha, is facing the danger of losing six more members through court verdicts.
At least six newly elected MPs of the INDIA bloc and one more, are facing criminal charges which could attract a jail term of more than two years which would result in their automatic disqualification.
Afzal Ansari, who has won the Ghazipur seat, has already been convicted to a four-year sentence in a Gangster Act case. His conviction was stayed by the Allahabad High Court last month and this allowed him to contest the polls. Hearing in the matter is scheduled for July when the court reopens after summer vacations. If the court finally upholds the conviction, Ansari will lose his Lok Sabha membership.
Dharmendra Yadav, who won the Azamgarh seat, also has four cases pending against his name and if he gets convicted for more than two years, he may also lose his membership. Babu Singh Kushwaha, who won the Jaunpur seat ending his 10-year-exile in politics, is facing several cases related to the NRHM scam that took place in the Mayawati regime where he was a minister. Charges have been framed in eight of the 25 cases filed against him.
Rambhual Nishad, who won the Sultanpur seat by defeating BJP’s Maneka Gandhi, has eight cases registered against him, including one under the Gangsters Act. He is also among the ‘vulnerable’ winners of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Virendra Singh who defeated former minister Mahendra Nath Pandey from Chandauli Lok Sabha seat, is another SP candidate facing criminal cases. His conviction could also bring bad news for him.
Eight cases are registered against Imran Masood of Congress who won the Saharanpur seat. The cases include one related to money laundering by the ED. Charges have been framed against him in two cases. The seventh candidate Chandra Shekhar Azad of Azad Samaj Party, who won the Nagina reserved seat, has over 30 cases registered against him. If he gets a conviction of more than two years in any one of the cases, his political career would be adversely impacted.
Meanwhile, the just concluded Lok Sabha elections has created 10 vacancies in the Rajya Sabha after its sitting members got elected to the Lok Sabha. The Rajya Sabha secretariat on Tuesday notified the vacancies, which includes two each in Assam, Bihar and Maharashtra, and one each in Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Tripura.
In its notification giving details of the vacation of seats, the Rajya Sabha secretariat said, “In pursuance of the provision of sub-section (2) of Section 69 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 read with Section 67A and sub-section (4) of Section 68 of that Act, the following have ceased to be Members of Rajya Sabha from the date of their being chosen as members of the 18th Lok Sabha, i.e., the 4th of June, 2024.”
“Kamakhya Prasad Tasa — Assam, Sarbananda Sonowal — Assam, Misha Bharti — Bihar, Vivek Thakur — Bihar, Deepender Singh Hooda — Haryana, Jyotiraditya M. Scindia — Madhya Pradesh, Udayanraje Bhonsle — Maharashtra, Piyush Goyal — Maharashtra, K. C. Venugopal — Rajasthan and Biplab Kumar Deb — Tripura.”
After this notification, the Election Commission will now announce the fresh dates for election to fill these vacancies in the council of States.
(Manas Dasgupta)
