The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda’s appeal, in which he had challenged the Delhi High Court order denying him permission to contest the upcoming Assembly elections.
A bench of Supreme Court judges Justice Sanjeev Khanna, Justice Sanjay Kumar and Justice R Mahadevan heard Madhu Koda's petition and gave the verdict.
Koda had referred to the SC judgement in Afjal Ansari vs. State of Uttar Pradesh case, in which the conviction of MLA Afjal Ansari was suspended. The bench, however, said that the Ansari case was of a sitting MLA.
The Supreme Court also said that there were no irreversible consequences that would arise if the conviction was not stayed.
Koda was convicted by a Special PMLA court in 2017 under various sections of IPC and PMLA and was sentenced for a period of three years.
Earlier, a single bench of Delhi High Court on October 18, had rejected Madhu Koda's petition seeking a stay on the PMLA court’s conviction order. The court had observed that the petitioner is only trying to stay the decision on the ground that he can contest the elections, which is not fair.
The PMLA court had convicted former CM Koda, former Coal Secretary, former Chief Secretary of the state A.K. Basu and Madhu Koda's associates in the coal scam. After this, the court sentenced everyone to 3 years imprisonment and a fine was also imposed on the accused persons.
After the SC verdict it has become clear that Madhu Koda, who has recently joined the BJP, will not be able to contest the 2024 Jharkhand Assembly elections.
The former CM’s wife Geeta Koda is contesting the Assembly polls on BJP ticket from Jagannathpur constituency. She has also contested the Lok Sabha polls from Chaibasa, but was defeated by JMM’s Joba Manjhi.
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