For Irfan Solanki, former MLA of Sisamau assembly of Kanpur, Thursday was a day of happiness and sadness. Allahabad High Court granted bail to Irfan Solanki but refused to stay the sentence. In such a situation, there is no problem in holding Sisamau elections now.
Irfan Solanki was accused of arson, after which the AP-MLA Court of Kanpur sentenced Irfan Solanki to 7 years imprisonment. As per the rules, Irfan Solanki had lost his MLA due to his imprisonment being more than 2 years. After this, along with other seats, by-election is also being held on Sisamau seat of Kanpur. Irfan’s wife Naseem Solanki is the candidate from SP.
Irfan had reached the Supreme Court
Irfan had filed an appeal in the High Court against the 7-year sentence. In that, a petition was made to stay the sentence and grant bail. In this case, the hearing was repeatedly postponed in the High Court, against which Irfan had filed a petition in the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court had ordered the High Court to complete the hearing in 10 days. Since then the High Court was continuously hearing every day.
While on one hand Irfan was appealing for a stay on the sentence, on the other hand there was a demand from the government to change the sentence to life imprisonment. While giving its order on Thursday, the High Court ordered to grant bail to Irfan Solanki. Irfan got relief from bail but at present the High Court has refused to stay the sentence.
No crisis on by-election
Despite getting relief in bail, it is not possible for Irfan Solanki to come out of jail right now. Apart from arson, Irfan is yet to get bail in the gangster and Aadhaar card cases. After this decision, at least it has been confirmed that there is no longer any crisis in Sisamau by-election.
(Report: Anurag Aggarwal)