Bombay HC refuses to stay NCP member's conviction to let him contest PCMC corporation election

The Bombay High Court on Saturday refused to suspend the conviction of a Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) member, convicted to five years on attempt to murder charges, to allow him to file nomination for the upcoming Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) elections.

While rejecting the plea filed by Navnath Taras, Justice AM Badar said, “Conviction of an accused in a criminal case cannot be stayed mechanically to fulfill his wishes.”

In 2012, Taras and three others were sentenced by a Pune Sessions Court to five years of rigorous imprisonment for attempting to kill a rival Congress activist during the PCMC elections held in 2007.

His advocates Murtuza Najmi and SD Shukla had argued that “while sub-section (3) of Section 8 of the Representation of People (RP) Act, 1951, bars a convict sentenced for more than two years, from contesting elections, such bar was not absolute and upon stay of conviction, the convict can contest elections.”

The prosecution opposed the plea on the grounds that the Taras' offence of attempt to murder had been proven in court and the trial court had sentenced him, so relaxation in the same should not be allowed.

After going through the relevant sections of the Act and the facts on record, Justice Badar noted, "Powers to suspend conviction are to be exercised with due care and caution and that too in exceptional circumstances. In the case in hand, though it is alleged that the impugned judgement and order of conviction is suffering from error of law because of inconsistencies in evidence of prosecution, at this stage, this aspect cannot be gone into.”