Court Stay on Conviction May Allow Indian Politician to Retain Assembly Seat

The court had on April 28 stayed the three-year sentence awarded to Bharti. Bharti's counsel had submitted that once his conviction was stayed, there would be no ground for his disqualification. This would not declare his assembly seat vacant. After his conviction, Bharti was disqualified from the state assembly. The assembly had issued a notification cancelling his membership from the Datia assembly seat. In his petition, Bharti had challenged the April 1 trial court order convicting him. He had also challenged the April 2 order sentencing him to three years in jail. As per the complaint filed by Datia's District Cooperative Agriculture and Rural Development Bank in 2015, Bharti, who was the chairman of the bank at the time, had influenced the bank officials. He had extended the term deposit of Rs 10 lakh from 3 years to 15 years. The advertisement also alleged that it was done with the intention of benefiting the Shri Shyam Sunder Public and Unitary Development Trust at an additional interest rate of 13.5% per annum.