Lakshadweep MP Mohammed Faizal moves Supreme Court seeking reinstatement to Parliament after suspension of conviction

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and Member of Parliament (MP) from Lakshadweep, PP Mohammed Faizal moved the Supreme Court stating that even though his conviction in an attempt to murder case has been suspended, he has not been reinstated to parliament. .The plea was mentioned by Senior Advocate AM Singhvi before a bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud along with Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala for urgent listing.The Court agreed to hear the case tomorrow. "Even though the Supreme Court refused to stay the High Court order which set aside the conviction, he has still not been reinstated in the house. The SLP by the Lakshadweep administration has been heard four times by Supreme Court of India. The matter is coming up tomorrow," the senior counsel said. .The top court had in February refused a plea by Lakshadweep administration seeking stay on the Kerala High Court order that suspended Faizal's conviction in the case. A bench of Justices KM Joseph and BV Nagarathna had issued notice on the appeal filed by the Union Territory of Lakshadweep against the January 25 order of the High Court and posted the matter for hearing on March 28..On January 11, the Kavaratti Sessions Court had convicted four persons, including Faizal, for attempting to murder Padanath Salih, the son-in-law of former Union Minister and Indian National Congress leader, PM Sayeed, in relation to a political controversy during the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. All four accused were sentenced to undergo 10 years of rigorous imprisonment by the trial court..The very next day, on January 12, the four convicts moved an appeal before the High Court. They also filed applications to suspend their conviction and sentence and release them on bail during the pendency of their appeal.The Kerala High Court on January 25 suspended the conviction and sentence imposed by the trial court prompting the present appeal before the apex court..After the trial court had convicted Faizal, he had been disqualified from holding the office of Member of Parliament and a notification in this regard was also issued by the Lok Sabha Secretariat..Subsequently, the Election Commission (EC) had also notified bye-elections to his constituency.However, Faizal had then moved the Supreme Court challenging the announcement by the EC to hold bye-elections.The Supreme Court had disposed of that plea on January 27 after the EC assured the top court that it will act in line with the Kerala High Court order suspending the conviction.