Elected From Jail, Baramulla MP Seeks Interim Bail To Join Oath Ceremony

Jailed politician Abdul Rashid Sheikh, who won the Lok Sabha Election from Jammu and Kashmir’s Baramulla, has applied for interim bail so he can attend the oath ceremony in Parliament. This is the first time in decades that a politician, elected to Lok Sabha from jail, has asked for bail to take oath. The last such instance was in 1977, when George Fernandes, jailed during Emergency and then elected, had to ask for interim bail.

Mr Sheikh, jailed in connection with a terror funding case, has been in Delhi’s Tihar jail since 2019. He contested from Baramullah this time as an Independent and received an emotional mandate that helped him beat former Chief Minister and National Conference chief Omar Abdullah by a margin of over 2 lakh votes.

Hearing the petition of Mr Sheikh, Additional Sessions Judge Chander Jeet Singh of Patiala House Courts has sought response from the National Investigation Agency. The case will be heard again tomorrow.

Mr Sheikh is one of the two jailed politicians who contested and won the election this year. The other, pro-Khalistani separatist Amritpal Singh, who has won with a similar vote margin against his Congress opponent Kulbir Singh Zira from Punjab’s Khadoor Sabhib.

Both will have to go back to jail after the oath ceremony. If they are convicted and get a jail term of two years or more, they will automatically lose their seats in the Lok Sabha. Under a Supreme Court judgment delivered in 2013, MPs and MLAs get disqualified in such cases.

During Emergency — imposed by the Indira Gandhi-led Congress government in 1975 — George Fernandes was arrested for what was dubbed the “Baroda Dynamite Conspiracy” to blow up government establishments and railway tracks.

He contested the 1977 general election from jail and won a sweeping victory from the Muzaffarpur constituency.

In March this year, Aam Aadmi Party leader Sanjay Singh was granted permission to join the oath ceremony for Rajya Sabha.