The Election Commission of India (ECI) is likely to give its verdict for disqualification of Minister of State for Child Development and Nutrition, Primary Education, Kailash Chaurasia from the state assembly after his conviction in a criminal case last month. State Chief Electoral Officer Umesh Sinha, told reporters that by coming week the ECI would send its report to the UP assembly on the Chaurasia matter. Sinha, who is also the deputy Election Commissioner, hinted that the minister would have to lose his membership. However, Chaurasia could continue as a minister for six months even if his membership is gone.
'ECI would enforce the Supreme Court guidelines in the Chaurasia case which says that the membership would automatically cease to exist if any member was convict for two or more than two years in a criminal case,' he stated. Earlier this week, the state government had forwarded its report to the EC on the three years jail term of Kailash Chaurasia, who was found guilty in the case of man-handling and extending criminal threat to a postman in 1995.
Chaurasia was sentenced by the Chief Judicial Magistrate's court in Mirzapur on February 27 to three years of rigorous imprisonment in one of the offences, and two years each for two other offences. After passing the order, the court took him into judicial custody and later granted him bail in the evening after furnishing of two personal bonds of Rs 20,000, each. Chaurasia, had contested the previous lok Sabha polls from
Varanasi Parliament constituency against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and had lost. He is the MlA from Mirzapur assembly segement. He would be the fourth MlA of the 16th Assembly in the state to lose his membership. Earlier, Samajwadi Party MlA Kaptan Singh Rajput had lost his membership after being convicted in a murder case. Two other legislators---Uma Shanker Singh of BSP and Bajrang Bahadur of BJP ---- too, were disqualified from their membership after being held guilty in the lokayukta probe on charges of continuing as contractors even after becoming MlAs.