Hardik Patel receives a jolt as HC refuses to stay conviction
New Delhi/ Ahmedabad, Mar 29 (IBNS): Narrowing his chances of contesting the Lok Sabha polls, the Gujarat High Court on Friday rejected Patidar leader Hardik Patel’s plea seeking stay on sentence awarded to him in a rioting case.
Patel recently joined the Congress party.
A court had earlier awarded two years sentence to Patel for leading a mob that ransacked local MLA Rishikesh Patel’s office in 2015.
As per NDTV report, he was granted bail and his sentence was suspended in August 2018 by the high court, but his conviction was not stayed.
According to the Representation of the People Act, a convicted person cannot fight the polls unless the conviction has stayed.
Patel had approached the High Court on Mar 8 for a stay on the conviction.
The state government had opposed it on Thursday.
Patel rose to prominence in 2015 when he had led an agitation of the Patidar community. The agitation was done to demand for benefits of the quota for backward castes to be given to the community members.
In the 2017 Gujarat assembly polls, Patel had backed the Congress.
Image Credit: Image: Hardik Patel Twitter page
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