The controversial appointment of Sadhvi Pragya as BJP’s candidate from Bhopal has paved way for political debate.
The New Leam Staff
Sadhvi Pragya has been fielded as the BJP candidate in Bhopal for the upcoming Lok Sabha election 2019. The national party announced her candidature on Wednesday; she will be contesting the polls opposite Digvijya Singh who is a congress party candidate.
Polling in Madhya Pradesh will be held in four stages staring from 29th April in the first phase polling will take place at Idhi, Shahdol, Jabalpur, Mandla, Balaghat, Chhindwara. On the May 6th polling will take be held at Tikamgarh, Damoh, Khajuraho, Satna, Rewa, Hoshangabad, Betul. At Morena, Bhind, Gwalior, Guna, Sagar, Vidisha, Bhopal, Rajgarh constituencies voting will be held on May 12th and on May 19th the constituencies of Dewas, Ujjain, Mandsour, Ratlam, Dhar, Indore, Khargone, Khandwa will go for polls.
Sadhvi Pragya Singh’s candidature has come out to be a huge shock for the citizen’s as well as opposition party workers. As Ms. Singh was the prime accused in the 2009 Malegaon Terror attack case. In relation with the case Ms. Singh was charged under the MCOCA (Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime) Act, 1999 but was later on granted bail by the special investigation team of the case. Currently is facing charges under the Unlawful Activities act, 1963 which are yet to be proved.
Apart from the terror attack at Malegoan, Ms. Singh has also been named in the Sunil Joshi murder case 2006 and the Ajmer Dargah Blast 2007. All the charges against her are yet to be proven but records and evidence have revealed her involvement.
According to statistics and records nearly one third of the elected representatives in our country (India) face criminal charges. In this context a huge debate also did some rounds country so as to ban politicians who face criminal charges or are convicted in a crime to be banned from politics.
In 2018 although the Supreme Court of India declined to ban politicians who were facing criminal charges from contesting elections. The court said “Our Indian democracy has seen a steady increase in the level of criminalization creeping into Indian polity. This tends to disrupt constitutional ethos, strikes at the root of democratic form of government and makes citizens suffer”.
Although under the current system people who are convicted of crimes are banned for six years from contesting election.
In Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur’s case she cannot be banned as the criminal charges against her are yet to be proven. But there is a huge uproar in the political world, who is opposing her candidature on the basis of being in opposition to the spirit of India democracy.
Sadhvi Pragya Singh is a History graduate and has been attached with the RSS wing she has been the female leader of Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s women’s wing Durga Vahini.
