Madhya Pradesh Cong MLA Rajendra Bharti loses Assembly seat following conviction

Bhopal, April 3 The membership of Congress MLA from Datia, Rajendra Bharti, has been cancelled from the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly following his conviction in a cooperative bank fraud case by a Delhi court.

“As a consequence of his (Congress MLA Rajendra Bharti) conviction -- resulting in a three-year term of imprisonment and a monetary fine of Rs 100,000 on April 2, 2026 -- and in compliance with the order of the Supreme Court dated July 10, 2013, Rajendra Bhartiya stands disqualified from the membership of the Legislative Assembly with effect from the said date, i.e., April 2, 2026, pursuant to Section 8 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, read with Article 191(1)(e) of the Constitution; consequently, a seat in the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly has become vacant,” a notification issued by the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly, dated April 2, read.

The development came late on Thursday, hours after the Rouse Avenue Court in Delhi pronounced the quantum of punishment against Bharti and a co-accused in the case.

Madhya Pradesh Congress president Jitu Patwari and senior party leader P.C. Sharma visited the office of the Assembly secretary late Thursday night. They raised objections to the secretariat's late-night functioning.

Patwari alleged that the Assembly Secretariat was opened specifically to facilitate the cancellation of Bharti’s membership.

Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court found Bharti guilty under Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for cheating), and 471 (use of forged documents) of the Indian Penal Code.

The case pertains to charges of forgery, cheating, criminal breach of trust, and criminal conspiracy under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471, 409, and 120B of the IPC. It relates to alleged irregularities in a bank fixed deposit held in the name of Bharti’s mother, Savitri Devi Shyam, dating back to 1998.

While holding Bharti and co-accused Raghuvir Sharan Prajapati guilty, the court observed that they, along with Savitri Devi and possibly other unknown persons, entered into a criminal conspiracy to cheat the complainant bank -- the Zila Sahkari Krishi Aur Gramin Vikas Bank, Datia -- by continuing to draw interest at a higher rate beyond 2011, despite the original fixed deposit tenure being only three years.

It was Bharti himself who had approached the Supreme Court seeking to transfer his trial from the MP/MLA Court in Gwalior to Delhi.

Notably, Bharti had won the Datia seat in the 2023 Assembly elections by defeating three-time BJP MLA and the state’s high-profile Home Minister Narottam Mishra. Earlier, he had finished runner-up to Mishra in the 2008, 2013, and 2018 elections.

The development came two months before the Rajya Sabha elections for three seats are scheduled to take place as the tenure of three Rajya Sabha MPs from the state -- Digvijaya Singh (Congress), Union Minister George Kurian (BJP) and Sumer Singh Solanki (BJP) -- is expiring on June 21, 2026.

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