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

A day after he was sentenced to three years in prison for cheating a bank, the legislative membership of Congress MLA from Madhya Pradesh’s Datia Rajendra Bharti was on Friday cancelled by the State Assembly Secretariat. The move, however, drew sharp reactions from the Opposition party. 

In a notification issued, the Assembly Secretariat disqualified Mr. Bharti’s legislative membership and declared Datia constituency as vacant. 

“Consequent to his conviction for an offence and having been sentenced on April 2, 2026, to three years of imprisonment and a fine of ₹1 lakh, Rajendra Bharti—the elected member from Constituency No. 22 (Datia) of the 16th Legislative Assembly of Madhya Pradesh—stands disqualified from the membership of the Legislative Assembly with effect from the said date, i.e., April 2, 2026,” the notification said, adding that the action was taken in compliance with the order of the Supreme Court on July 10, 2013, and pursuant to the Representation of the People Act, 1951 of the Constitution. 

“Consequently, a seat in the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly has fallen vacant. In consonance with the judgment passed by the (special Delhi) court, an order regarding this vacancy was issued by the Speaker of the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly. In compliance with the said order, a notification was published in the Madhya Pradesh Gazette on April 2, 2026,” it added. 

On April 2, A special MP/MLA court in Delhi sentenced Mr. Bharti and Raghuvir Sharan Sharma, a former employee of the Co-operative Agriculture and Rural Development Bank (ARDB), Datia, to three years in prison for defrauding the bank. They were convicted in a case from 2015 for allegedly making illegal withdrawals of interest amount on a Rs10 lakh fixed deposit (FD) for 13 years as well as using his influence to increase the term of the FD, purchased in 1998.

State Congress president Jitu Patwari, however, alleged that the Assembly Secretariat was opened after midnight to issue the disqualification notification despite the court granting Mr. Bharti 60 days to appeal in the High Court.

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

“There is a pending case against [former Datia MLA and State Home Minister] Narottam Mishra for paid news in the same system and he finished two Assembly terms and lost the third time but there has been no judgement on that,” he said, adding that Assembly Speaker Narendra Singh Tomar has not taken a decision in MLA Nirmala Sapre’s case. 

Mr. Patwari accused Mr. Tomar of bias saying that he was “doing injustice to his oath to benefit” BJP lawmakers.  

“He keeps conspiring to further delay Nirmala Sapre’s matter,” he said.

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

However, a decision on the her legislative membership is yet to be taken. Even though Ms. Sapre has been spotted visiting BJP office and attending events, the party says that she has not yet been provided with a formal 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 that the decision to disqualify Mr. Bharti was taken in accordance with the law. 

“Section 8(3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, stipulates that if a person is convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for two years or more, they stand disqualified from the very date of such conviction. In the case of Shri Rajendra Bharti, given his sentence of three years, this provision applies in full force, resulting in the automatic vacancy of the MLA’s seat. Consequently, the action taken is entirely in accordance with the law,” he said, speaking to the media. 

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

“Arvind Sharma, the Principal Secretary of the Legislative Assembly, returned from Delhi on April 2 night. He had visited the Secretariat at night to attend to urgent official duties, accompanied by his staff,” he said, adding that the House will continue to abide by the court’s decisions in the future.

Published – April 04, 2026 04:45 am IST