Lakshadweep bypoll withheld after Kerala High Court suspends MP’s conviction

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 30

The Election Commission today said it had decided to withhold the Lakshadweep Lok Sabha bypoll following the Kerala High Court suspending the conviction and sentence of sitting NCP MP Mohammed Faizal in an attempt-to-murder case.

The poll panel had recently announced the bypoll and scheduled it for February 27.

Murder bid case

The Kavaratti sessions court in Lakshadweep had sentenced four persons, including sitting MP Mohammed Faizal, to 10 years in jail after they were found guilty in an attempt-to-murder case.

The Election Commission had decided to hold the byelection following the disqualification of Faizal on the grounds of his conviction by a sessions court in Kavaratti, Lakshadweep. The MP had then approached the Kerala High Court against the order, which suspended his conviction and sentence.

“After considering the matter and having due regard to the order passed by the High Court of Kerala at Ernakulam…the Election Commission of India has decided to withhold the byelection and to defer the issuance of a notification for holding the byelection,” the EC said in a statement.

The Kavaratti sessions court in Lakshadweep had sentenced four persons, including the MP, to 10 years in jail after they were found guilty in an attempt-to-murder case. The court had also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh each on the convicts for attempting to kill Mohammed Salih, son-in-law of a former Congress leader and former Union Minister, the late PM Sayeed, during the 2009 Lok Sabha poll.

The Lok Sabha Secretariat had issued a notification disqualifying Faizal from January 11, the date of his conviction. The decision was taken under the provisions of Article 102 (l) (e) of the Constitution read with Section 8 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

Meanwhile, NCP chief Sharad Pawar met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla today to press for the revocation of Faizal’s disqualification.

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