The Allahabad High Court has stayed the conviction and sentence of a man in a 2017 murder case after noting that he wished to contest the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly election, either as an independent candidate or, if possible, on a BJP ticket, news agency Press Trust of India reported.
The court also granted bail to Nandlal Rai alias Babloo Rai, observing that he was a political figure and an active Bharatiya Janata Party worker before his conviction.
A bench of Justices Siddharth and Vinai Kumar Dwivedi passed the order while hearing Rai’s criminal appeal. A Varanasi sessions court had convicted him in 2025 in connection with the murder case registered at Sigra police station.
Rai had sought bail and a stay on his conviction, arguing that he had not been named in the first information report and that his alleged involvement emerged only around 17 days after the case was registered.
The case relates to the murder of Pramod Kumar Nigam, an active member of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement. According to PTI, Rai was associated with gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari and was accused of murdering Nigam over a minor dispute.
During the hearing, Rai’s counsel argued that Nigam was politically active and that Rai had been implicated merely on suspicion and conjecture.
In its October 5 order, the high court referred to the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Afjal Ansari vs State of Uttar Pradesh. It noted that the top court had stayed the convictions of several public representatives while holding that politicians had a special duty towards their constituents and that failure to secure a stay could cost them the opportunity to contest elections.
“Keeping in view the right to livelihood of a common man which is not less important than the right to contest election by a politician, conviction and sentence of appellant deserves to be stayed so that he may be able to survive for hearing the final verdict in his above noted appeal,” the court said, according to PTI.
After considering the arguments and the circumstances of the case, the high court stayed Rai’s conviction and sentence while his appeal remains pending, allowing him to seek election and await the final verdict in the case.
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