Mumbai: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur on Tuesday filed a reply in connection with the application seeking cancellation of her bail and requesting the court to debar her from contesting the Lok Sabha election. In her reply, she has said that the application is frivolous and politically motivated and should be dismissed along with exemplary cost imposed on the applicant.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) in its reply stated that it already mentioned that they didn’t find any evidence against Sadhvi and the application is between the Election Commission (EC) and the accused. Thus, its not related to the case and hence it has no jurisdiction to say, the NIA stated in its reply.
Ms Thakur in her written reply has stated that there is no provision in the Representation of Peoples’ Act 1951, which disqualifies the candidate from contesting the election if any criminal case is pending against him or her. She further stated, “The criminal jurisprudence clearly says that unless a person is convicted, he shall be deemed to be innocent.”
According to Ms Thakur, the application has been filed for publicity and for extraneous reasons with political agenda. She further added that all the candidates need to submit affidavit along with details of pending cases against him or her, which makes it crystal clear that pending of any criminal case is no bar for contesting election.
The intervener requested the court to cancel her bail on the ground that she made false representation before the court saying she was suffering from cancer and unable to even walk. “If that was the case how was she contesting the elections now?” the applicant asked.
Replying on this, Ms Thakur said that after her release from jail she underwent an operation in Ram Manohar Lohia Medical Institute, Lucknow and till date she is undergoing ayurvedic medical treatment at Bangalore and Lucknow. “Hence, it cannot be said that I mislead the court,” she added.
Ms Thakur further contended that the high court had granted her bail on both merits and health grounds, Hence, the prayer to cancel her bail on health ground is not maintainable, she added.
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