The Delhi High Court on Friday dismissed the criminal appeal filed by Congress MLA Rajendra Bharti challenging his conviction in a decades-old cooperative bank fraud case, refusing to interfere with the findings and sentence recorded by the trial court.
The single-judge Bench of Justice Manoj Jain passed the order in Rajendra Bharti vs State (NCT of Delhi) & Another, thereby affirming the conviction recorded by the Rouse Avenue Court in April 2026 in connection with financial irregularities involving a cooperative agricultural development bank.
Bharti, who is the sitting Congress MLA from Datia in Madhya Pradesh, had been convicted by the trial court and sentenced to three years’ imprisonment for offences arising out of the cooperative bank fraud case.
Following his conviction and sentence, he incurred disqualification from the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly under the provisions of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, which provides for disqualification of legislators upon conviction for specified criminal offences carrying a sentence of two years or more.
By dismissing the appeal, the High Court upheld the trial court’s judgment, leaving the conviction and sentence intact. The development assumes significance as the Election Commission of India (ECI) has already notified the by-election for the Datia Assembly constituency, which fell vacant after Bharti’s disqualification from the Legislative Assembly.
Bharti was elected from the Datia constituency in the 2023 Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections after defeating senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former State Home Minister Narottam Mishra by a margin of 7,742 votes, bringing an end to Mishra’s long-standing electoral hold over the constituency.
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