Sitting BJP MLA from Bhuj and Protem Speaker Nimaben Acharya and former party MLA Kantilal Amrutiya have been sentenced to one year in jail by a magisterial court in Morbi district in a case of luring voters through gratification during the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.
Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate J G Damodara also held Manoj Panara, the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) convener of Morbi, guilty in the same case. In 2009, Panara was a BJP worker.
Along with the one year jail term, the court also fined them Rs 1,000 each.
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"Kantilal Amrutiya, Nimaben Acharya and Manoj Panara were today sentenced to one year imprisonment for breaching the Election Code of Conduct in the 2009 general elections," government pleader Rehanaben Gori told PTI.
"The JMFC court judge J G Damodara in Morbi also slapped a fine of Rs 1000 each on the three, all of whom were convicted under section 171(B) of the IPC," she said.
The same court had stayed the execution of the order for 30 days so that the accused could appeal in a higher court, Gori said.
As per the complaint lodged by then election officer in Morbi A J Patel, the trio had tried to lure voters of Morbi during the campaigning of 2009 Lok Sabha polls by offering money and gifts, she said.
When the FIR was lodged against them in 2009, Amrutiya was the sitting MLA of Morbi while Acharya was the sitting MLA from Anjar seat in the state's Kutch region. Amrutiya lost from Morbi in the recently held Assembly polls.
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