Setback for Hardik Patel, SC declines urgent hearing on his plea seeking stay on conviction

In a setback to Congress leader Hardik Patel, the Supreme Court Tuesday refused to accord urgent hearing to his plea seeking stay on his conviction in the 2015 rioting case.

The denial virtually dashed his hopes of contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha polls from Gujarat's Jamnagar constituency as the last date for filing nominations for all the 26 Parliamentary seats in the state is April 4, and the polling is scheduled for April 23.

The apex court questioned Patel's counsel for filing the plea belatedly and said there was no urgency to list the matter as the Gujarat High Court had declined to stay his conviction in August last year.

Patel joined the Congress on March 12 and failed to get relief on March 29 from the high court which dismissed his application seeking stay on the conviction in the case in which he was sentenced to two year jail term.

Under the election law -- The Representation of the People Act 1951, and a related Supreme Court judgement -- a convict facing a jail term of two years or more cannot contest polls unless the conviction is stayed.

Patel, 25, moved the apex court on Monday challenging the Gujarat High Court order.

On Tuesday, his plea was mentioned for urgent listing before a bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra.

Refusing to accord urgent hearing on the petition, the bench, also comprising Justices M M Shantanagoudar and Navin Sinha, said: "The order was passed in August 2018. What is the urgency now?"