Sanjay Dutt, who is all set to make his political debut from Lucknow as the Samajwadi Party candidate for Lok Sabha elections, has moved Supreme Court seeking a stay on his conviction under the Arms Act. The SC stay is required to clear his path for contesting the elections. One near parallel is cricketer-turned-politician Navjyot Singh Siddhu's case. He had to give up his Lok Sabha membership after the Punjab and Haryana High Court set aside his acquittal on charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder. Navjyot Singh Siddhu then appealed in the Supreme Court against his conviction and made a specific plea for staying his conviction to enable him to contest in the bypolls. The SC, just a day before the deadline for filing his nomination in 2006, stayed Siddhu's conviction in the road rage case and ensured that he could contest the Amritsar Lok Sabha by-election.
Law on this issue:
Under Section 8 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 anyone sentenced to more than two years' imprisonment is barred from contesting elections from the date of such conviction and shall continue to be disqualified for a further period of six years since his release till a court of law stays the conviction and sentence.
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