BJP names Ashutosh Tiwari for July 30 Datiya assembly bypoll in MP

New Delhi, Jul 10 (PTI) The BJP on Friday announced its candidate for bypoll to Datia assembly constituency in Madhya Pradesh, fielding Ashutosh Tiwari from the seat. According to the BJP, Tiwari's name as the party candidate from the seat was announced with the approval of the party's Central Election Committee. The by-election to the Datia assembly seat will be held on July 30 and the results will be declared on August 3. The vacancy arose following the disqualification of Madhya Pradesh Congress legislator Rajendra Bharti after his conviction in a fraud case. The Delhi High Court on Friday refused to stay the conviction of Bharti in the cheating case involving the forging of bank records to obtain illegal interest payments between 1998 and 2011. "We are dismissing it," said Justice Manoj Jain while pronouncing the verdict on Bharti's plea seeking to suspend the conviction. The high court had stayed the three-year sentence awarded to the former MLA in the case on April 28 after he filed an appeal against the trial court's decision. On April 2, a trial court had sentenced Bharti, former chairperson of the Zila Sahkari Krishi Aur Grahmin Vikas Bank, to three years' imprisonment in the case. The trial court convicted Bharti on April 1 under Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of a valuable security), 468 (forgery for cheating) and 471 (using a forged document as genuine) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Bharti's counsel had earlier argued that once the conviction is stayed, there would be no basis for his disqualification, and consequently, his assembly seat would not be declared vacant. The case, which originated in Madhya Pradesh's Datiya, was transferred to Delhi by the Supreme Court in October last year in light of the claim that efforts were made to intimidate defence witnesses. PTI PK PK KSS KSS