Disqualified to pave way for BJP win in RS polls, will move HC, says Bharti

Bhopal: Disqualified Congress' Datia MLA Rajendra Bharti on Saturday questioned the probity of MP assembly Narendra Singh Tomar's action of terminating him within hours of his conviction. The Rouse Avenue Court, Delhi, had awarded Bharti three years in jail in a 28-year-old cooperative bank fraud case on Thursday. But the Delhi court kept its verdict in abeyance for 60 days, granting Bharti time to appeal in a higher court. Calling his termination as "politically motivated", Bharti said, "The move to strip him of his assembly membership has been done keeping in mind the upcoming elections for Rajya Sabha." Talking to TOI on Saturday, Bharti said, "In 2017, the Election Commission of India (ECI) had disqualified former MP home minister Narottam Mishra finding him guilty in a paid news case. Despite his disqualification, Mishra remained a member of the house for almost 35 days after the ECI's decision to disqualify him, until he obtained a stay from Delhi high court." During the November 2008 assembly elections, some vernacular newspapers published articles on Narottam Mishra in the run-up to the polls. Bharti lodged a complaint with the ECI against Mishra for violating the code of conduct by publishing paid news articles. The ECI upheld the complaint and disqualified Mishra from the assembly membership of the House and banned him from contesting any election for three years. However, Mishra moved Delhi HC against ECI order and obtained a stay. The ECI went into appeal against the high court order in the Supreme Court, where the case is still sub-judice. Rajendra Bharti, who defeated Narottam Mishra in the previous 2023 state assembly election from Congress, has been his long-time rival in the Datia assembly seat. Bharti lost all the three consecutive state assembly elections -- 2008, 2013 and 2018 -- to Mishra, who was a cabinet minister in Shivraj Singh Chouhan cabinet. However, his drought for victory ended in 2023 when he defeated his archrival. When asked about why shifting his fraud case from a Gwalior court to Delhi court, Bharti said that there could have been attempts to influence the case in Madhya Pradesh, so he chose to move the case to Delhi.