E-Paper
Convicted in rape case, BJP MLA disqualified from Uttar Pradesh assembly
Ramdular Gond’s Duddhi seat declared vacant, he is eight U.P. lawmaker to lose membership of House after conviction
A week after a Sonbhadra court on December 15 sentenced him to 25 years in jail for raping a minor girl in 2014, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Ramdular Gond has been disqualified from the membership of the Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly.
Gond’s Duddhi assembly seat (in Sonbhadra district) will be considered vacated from December 15, 2023, according to a notification issued by principal secretary, UP legislative assembly, Pradeep Dubey.
On December 13, the MP-MLA court of additional district judge (I) Ahsanullah Khan held Gond guilty under Indian Penal Code Sections 376 (rape) and 506 (causing disappearance of evidence and giving false information), and some sections of the Pocso Act.
The court had also imposed a ₹10 lakh fine on Gond.
Under Section 107 (1) of the Representation of the People Act 1951, a lawmaker sentenced to imprisonment for two or more years “shall be disqualified from the date of such conviction” and shall remain disqualified for another six years after serving time.
Ramdular Gond is the eighth lawmaker in Uttar Pradesh to lose his membership after conviction by the court.
Earlier, the then Samajwadi Party MLA from Rampur Azam Khan, SP MLA from Saur seat, Abdullah Azam, BJP MLA from Hamirpur Ashok Singh Chandel, BJP MLA from Bangarmau Kuldeep Sengar, BJP MLA from Khatauli Vikram Saini, BJP MLA from Pharenda Bajrang Bahadur Singh and BJP MLA from Gosainganj Indra Pratap Tewari were disqualified from the membership of UP assembly after conviction by court.
