In view of the Gujarat Assembly elections scheduled to be held in December, Congress leader Hardik Patel has approached the High Court seeking an urgent hearing on his plea against conviction in the 2015 Visnagar riot case.
Patel's lawyer on Monday sought from the court of Justice B.N. Karia an urgent hearing in the case, citing that as on date, the Congress leader is barred from contesting elections and he will be in a position to fight the polls only if the appeal is decided.
The court has set February 28 as the next date for hearing.
In July 2018, a sessions court at Visnagar in Mehsana district had sentenced Patel to two years of imprisonment for rioting and arson at Visnagar town during the Patidar quota stir led by him in 2015.
The high court had in August 2018 suspended the sentence, but not his conviction.
As per the Representation of the People Act and a related Supreme Court ruling, a convict facing a jail term of two years or more cannot contest an election unless his conviction is stayed.
Patel had moved the Gujarat High Court in 2018 challenging the conviction and sought a stay, which was rejected by the court ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha election.
He had later joined the Congress and was made the working president of the party’s state unit.
