Haryana assembly unseats Kalka MLA Pradeep Chaudhary
The Congress leader was sentenced to three-year imprisonment in a case of rioting by a Himachal Pradesh court
The Haryana Vidhan Sabha on Saturday issued a notification to unseat Congress MLA from Kalka, Pradeep Chaudhary, 58, who was convicted and sentenced to three-year imprisonment in a case of rioting by a Himachal Pradesh court on Thursday.
With his disqualification, bypolls have been necessitated from Kalka assembly seat, along with Ellenabad seat in Sirsa from where INLD MLA Abhay Chautala had resigned last week.
Chaudhary stood disqualified with effect from January 14, the day he was convicted along with 14 others by the court of judicial magistrate, first class, Nalagarh. The court also imposed ₹85,000 fine on each of them.
The case dates back to May 31, 2011, when one Suchha Singh, a resident of Paploha village near Kalka, climbed up an electricity pole at Barotiwala village in Nalagarh to evade checking by traffic police. Singh came into contact with a live wire and was grievously injured. He succumbed at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh.
After Singh’s deaths, a mob from nearby Haryana villages placed his body at the Red Light Chowk and staged a protest. The protest turned violent and protestors attacked the police personnel present on site. They had also blocked traffic on the highway and set two government vehicles, including a bus and a pick-up vehicle, ablaze. Chaudhary was part of the unruly mob led by one Mahesh Kumar .
Having a house in Sector 2, Panchkula, Chaudhary in October 2019 had wrested the Kalka Assembly seat by defeating sitting BJP MLA Latika Sharma by 5,931 votes.
He has been disqualified as per Section 8 (3) of the Representation of the People Act. The disqualification provision says that a person convicted of any offence and sentenced to imprisonment for not less than two years shall be disqualified from the date of such conviction and shall continue to be disqualified for a further period of six years after release.
Additional solicitor general Satya Pal Jain said the MLA will also continue to be disqualified and barred from contesting elections for a further period of six years after his release.
“However, if the high court stays the conviction of the MLA, then his membership of the assembly will get restored from that day. But the restoration of membership will not be applicable if the high court only grants him bail,” said Jain.