Haryana Vidhan Sabha Speaker Gian Chand Gupta on Saturday said that Congress MLA from Kalka Pradeep Chaudhary, who was convicted and sentenced for three years of imprisonment in a 2011 case of rioting by a local court, Himachal Pradesh recently, has been disqualified as a member of the Haryana legislative assembly. This information has also been sent to the Election Commission of India, he added.
Gupta said Pradeep Chaudhary representing the Kalka Assembly Constituency stands disqualified from membership of Haryana Vidhan Sabha from the date of his conviction on January 14 in terms of the provision of Article 191 (1) (e) of the Constitution of India with section 8(3) of the representation of the People Act, 1951. Accordingly Kalka Assembly Constituency has fallen vacant with effect from January 14 , he added.
A Panchkula based advocate said that 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 since his release. However, if the Supreme Court stays the conviction of the MLA, 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, he added.
A Himachal court on Thursday convicted and sentenced to three years in prison a sitting Congress MLA from Kalka constituency in an almost 10-year-old case of assault and rioting. Fourteen others too were convicted and sentenced for three years in the case along with the MLA. The court of JMIC, Jetinder Kumar, Nalagarh, in district Solan, also slapped a fine of Rs 85,500 on the convicts. The court, meanwhile, also accepted the bail of all convicts. Chaudhary along with all others was present in the courtroom when the verdict was announced.
The FIR registered at Nalagarh police station dates back to 2011. On June 13, 2011, all accused led an agitated mob and put the dead body in the middle of road blocking the traffic demanding a murder case against the police personnel. The mob turned violent, attacked police personnel and set at least two government vehicles on fire. An FIR was registered at PS Baddi. At that time, Chaudhary was an INLD MLA from Kalka. In October, 2019, he was elected on a Congress ticket.
