Senior Congress leader from Maharashtra and former Minister, Sunil Kedar, who was recently sentenced to a five-year jail term in connection with the Nagpur District Central Cooperative Bank (NDCCB) scam, has now been disqualified from his post as legislator of Saoner Assembly constituency in Nagpur.
A gazette order of the Maharashtra Legislature secretariat stated that Mr. Kedar stood disqualified as MLA from the date of his conviction on December 22 under provisions of Article 19(1)(e) of the Constitution and Section 8 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
Sources said that legislators awarded jail terms of more than two years could be disqualified under this article.
The order further said that Mr. Kedar’s constituency Saoner had now become vacant from the date of the Congress leader’s conviction.
Big blow to Congress
Mr. Kedar’s disqualification is a major blow for the Maharashtra Congress in the Vidarbha region given the leader’s strong pull in Nagpur, particularly in the rural region of the district.
On December 22, a local court in Nagpur had awarded a five-year jail term to Mr. Kedar, a five-term MLA from Saoner, who was charged under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 409 (criminal breach of trust by a public servant), 120B (criminal conspiracy), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and other sections in the two-decade old NDCCB scam case.
Massive irregularities within the NDCCB first came to light in 2002. After a protracted investigation over the next 12 years, Mr. Kedar, who was the bank’s Chairman in 2000, was slapped with a Bombay High Court notice (issued by the Nagpur bench) in 2014 which directed him, Ashok Choudhary and nine others to pay defaulted dues amounting to hundreds of crores of rupees.
Soon after the court’s ruling, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its ‘Mahayuti’ alliance (including the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and the Ajit Pawar-led NCP faction) began clamouring for Mr. Kedar’s ouster from his MLA post.
MVA reaction
The Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), including the Congress, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Sharad Pawar-led NCP faction, called for no action to be taken against Mr. Kedar until he had moved the Bombay High Court or any other higher appellate body.
The Maharashtra unit of Congress lashed out against the BJP, censuring the unseemly hurry in removing Mr. Kedar from his post.
“When it comes to disqualifying any BJP MLA or MP, they are saved by legal loopholes and abuse of power. While no one is above the law, it seems that the ruling BJP MLAs and MPs are treated in a preferential manner while the opposition leaders are given a separate justice,” said Congress spokesperson Atul Londhe.
Mr. Kedar, considered a tall Congress leader in Vidarbha where the party has the maximum number of its MLAs in Maharashtra (15 of a total 45) – has been instrumental in ensuring the Congress’ dominance in the Nagpur Zilla Parishad.
His ouster comes ahead of a grand rally by the Congress in Nagpur to celebrate the party’s foundation day on December 28. The rally is to see the participation of top Congress leaders including Congress parliamentary party president Sonia Gandhi, MP Rahul Gandhi, general secretary Priyanka Gandhi and national president Mallikarjun Kharge among all leaders of the State Congress unit.
