Congress MLA disqualified from Assembly hours after sentence; Congress slams ‘hasty’ move

A day after he was sentenced to three years in prison for fraud in a bank, Congress MLA from Madhya Pradesh’s Datia Rajendra Bharti had his legislative membership canceled by the State Assembly Secretariat on Friday. However, this move received a harsh reaction from the Opposition party.

In a notification issued, the Parliament Secretariat disqualified Mr. Bharti from being a member of the legislature and declared the Datia constituency vacant.

“As a result of his conviction for an offense and being sentenced to three years’ imprisonment and a fine of ₹ 1 lakh on 2 April 2026, Rajendra Bharti, elected from Constituency No. 22 (Datia) of the 16th Legislative Assembly of Madhya Pradesh, was disqualified from being a member of the Legislative Assembly with effect from the said date, i.e. April 2, 2026,” the notification said, adding that the action was taken by the Supreme Court on 10 November 2026. It was stated that the decision dated July 2013 and the Constitution were made in accordance with the Representation of the People Act of 1951.

“As a result, one seat became vacant in the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly. In accordance with the order passed by the (Special Delhi) court, an order was issued by the Speaker of the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly regarding this vacancy. Pursuant to the said order, a notification was published in the Madhya Pradesh Gazette on April 2, 2026.”

On April 2, a special MP/MLA court in Delhi sentenced Mr. Bharti and Raghuvir Sharan Sharma, a former employee of Datia Cooperative Agriculture and Rural Development Bank (ARDB), to three years in prison for defrauding the bank. They were convicted in a 2015 case for allegedly deducting illegal interest from Rs10 lakh fixed deposit (FD) for 13 years and using their influence to increase the maturity of the FD purchased in 1998.

State Congress chief Jitu Patwari, however, claimed that the Assembly Secretariat opened after midnight to issue the disqualification notice even though the court gave Mr. Bharti 60 days to appeal in the Supreme Court.

Mr. Patwari said the Congress would approach the court against the Secretariat’s move.

“There is an ongoing case against him” [former Datia MLA and State Home Minister] “Narottam Mishra was given paid notice in the same system and completed two Assembly terms and lost for the third time but no decision has been taken in this regard,” he said, adding that Speaker Narendra Singh Tomar had not taken a decision in the case of MLA Nirmala Sapre.

Mr. Patwari accused Mr. Tomar of bias, saying he was “unfair to his oath to benefit” the BJP MPs.

“He continues to conspire to further delay Nirmala Sapre’s matter,” he said.

Ms. Sapre, a first-time Congress MLA from the Bina Assembly constituency, had defected to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in May 2024 ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. He had joined the ruling party in the presence of Chief Minister Mohan Yadav.

However, no decision has been made regarding parliamentary membership yet. Although Ms. Sapre has been seen visiting the BJP office and attending events, the party says she is yet to be granted official membership.

The matter is currently pending before the Madhya Pradesh High Court on a petition by Leader of Opposition Umang Singhar.

In response, Mr Tomar said the decision to disqualify Mr Bharti was taken in accordance with the law.

“Section 8(3) of the Representation of People Act, 1951 stipulates that if a person is convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for two years or more, he will be disqualified from the date of such conviction. In case Shri Rajendra Bharti is sentenced to three years’ sentence, this provision will have full force and result in automatic vacancy of the seat of MLA. Consequently, the action taken is fully lawful,” he said. to the media.

Mr. Tomar said he “carried out his duties consistently.” [as the Speaker] by rising above partisan politics.”

“Principal Secretary of the Legislative Assembly, Arvind Sharma, returned from Delhi on the night of April 2. He had visited the Secretariat at night along with his staff to attend urgent official functions,” he said, adding that the House would continue to comply with the court’s orders in future as well.

It was published – 04 April 2026 04:45 IST