The Allahabad High Court has stayed the conviction in a murder case and life sentence of a person who wants to contest the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections as an independent candidate or “if possible” on the Bharatiya Janata Party ticket.
In its October 5 order, the court said that the right to livelihood of a common citizen was no “less important” than a politician’s right to contest elections.
The conviction and sentence of the appellant “deserves to be stayed so that he may be able to survive for hearing the final verdict” in his appeal, the court said while granting bail to Nandan Lal Rai alias Babloo Rai.
The court was hearing a bail application moved by Rai in his pending appeal against the murder conviction.
He was convicted by a Varanasi court in April 2025 for the 2017 murder of Pramod Kumar Nigam, a member of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, Live Law reported. The movement, led by Hindutva groups, sought to build a temple dedicated to Hindu deity Ram at the site where Babri Masjid stood in Ayodhya. The temple was inaugurated in January 2024, more than 30 years after the mosque was demolished by Hindutva extremists.
Rai was associated with gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari, the legal news outlet reported.
A bench of Justices Siddharth...