Congress MLA Rajendra Bharti disqualified from Madhya Pradesh assembly after conviction in cheating case

BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh Congress MLA Rajendra Bharti has been disqualified from the state legislative assembly following his conviction in a cheating case, officials said on Friday.After deliberations late Thursday night, the Vidhan Sabha authorities issued a notification annulling Bharti’s membership from the Datia assembly seat, they said.Bharti had defeated former Madhya Pradesh home minister and BJP leader Narottam Mishra in the 2023 assembly elections.The notification, citing a Delhi court order sentencing Bharti to three years’ imprisonment and declaring the Datia seat vacant, was issued by Assembly Principal Secretary Arvind Sharma on the night of April 2 and released to the media on Friday morning.A Delhi court on Thursday sentenced Bharti and a former bank employee to three years in jail in a cheating case involving the forgery of bank records to obtain illegal interest payments between 1998 and 2011.Special Judge Dig Vinay Singh also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh each on Bharti and former cashier Raghuvir Sharan Prajapati.The two were convicted on Wednesday on charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery of valuable security, forgery for the purpose of cheating, and using forged documents as genuine.(With agency inputs)