No parole for candidates to campaign: Delhi High Court

“A right to contest the election cannot imply that the candidate gets a right to be released from jail for canvassing as a candidate for being elected. If the candidate is in custody for an alleged offence, it would be the discretion of the court to release him or not, depending on the facts and circumstances of the case,” Justice Mukta Gupta observed. 

Setting aside the trial court’s decision to grant custody parole to Ansari, the judge, in a 23-page order, said “when a person in custody fills up nomination as a candidate, he does not get a vested right to be released for canvassing. He runs the risk of not released on bail to contest election from custody.” 

Ansari, an MLA who recently joined the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) to contest from Mau Assembly seat in UP, was given custody parole by a trial court on February 16 till March 4, enabling him to campaign in the election. The order was stayed the next day by the HC after EC moved a plea seeking cancellation of his parole on the ground that he may influence witnesses in the 2005 murder case of BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai.

An estimated 57.36 per cent of 1.81 crore electorate on Monday cast their votes amidst tight security during the fifth phase of polling in Uttar Pradesh with Amethi and Faizabad Assembly seats remaining the centre of atten-tion.

The day-long poll process remained largely peaceful in 51 Assembly constituen-cies spread over 11 districts of the state. “57.36 per cent polling was recorded till 5 PM and the figure is likely to go up as several voters waited in queues to exercise their franchise,” UP Chief Electoral Officer T Venkatesh said. The first four phases of UP polls this time saw voter turnouts of 64 per cent, 65 per cent, 61.16 per cent and 61 per cent respectively. Though the exercise remained slow during the the first two hours in morning, it picked up pace gradually with the first-time voters seen exercising their franchise quite enthusiastically. 

Prominent contestants in the phase included controversial minister Gayatri Prasad Prajapati from the ruling Samajwadi Party, who is facing Amita Singh from Congress and BJP’s Garima Singh in Amethi, the Lok Sabha constituency of Rahul Gandhi. Faizabad is another hot seat with BJP’s Ram Temple issue once again figuring in its election manifesto this time. 

The issue of division of Uttar Pradesh has once again bounced back to the centre stage of state politics with BSP supremo Mayawati raking up the issue that had been lying dormant in the polls till now. “If BSP forms government, it will not sit idle...it will divide UP into four smaller states, including Purvanchal, as proposed by the previous BSP government,” Mayawati had said at an election meeting in Gorakhpur.