Ahmedabad | Patidar leader Hardik Patel will not be able to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, to be held next month, following Gujarat High Court’s order.
The Gujarat high court on Friday rejected Congress leader Hardik Patel’s plea seeking suspension of his conviction in a rioting case of 2015 in Mehsana.
The incident of rioting had taken place in 2015 during the Patidar protest for reservation in Mehsana district, which was the epicentre of agitation.
As per Representation of the People Act, 2015 Patel is prohibited to contest elections due to his conviction.
Public prosecutor Mitesh Amin presented that Hardik Patil had 17 FIRs registered against him, and several criminal cases. He claimed that Patel himself had accepted that he was present in Visnaar at the time of riots, and was leading the Patidar agitation.
Patel’s lawyer said it will cause “irreplaceable damage” as Patel intended to contest elections.
In July 2018, the sessions court at Visnagar had sentenced Patel to two years’ imprisonment for rioting and arson in Visnagar town during the 2015 Patidar quota stir. The high court granted him bail and suspended his sentence in August 2018, but his conviction was not stayed.
According to the Representation of the People Act, a convicted cannot contest elections unless the conviction has stayed.
Hardik Patel is one of the star campaigners of Congress.
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