Muzaffarnagar, Oct 21 (PTI) A BJP MLA was charged here by a special court with the offence of resorting to some corrupt and illegal electoral practices during the 2012 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.

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Special Judge Gopal Upadhyay, trying cases against lawmakers, also charged Budhana MLA Umesh Malik in a second case involving the violation of duly promulgated government official orders under section 188 of the Indian Penal Code during the 2017 assembly elections.

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In the first case involving the use of electoral corrupt practices, the court framed charges against the BJP MLA for allegedly offering gratification to voters under section 123 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 and section 171 of the IPC.

In this case, Malik was also charged with the offence of disrupting the public meeting under section 127 of the RP Act of a rival candidate of the BJP.

According to the prosecution counsel, the first case involving the use of electoral corrupt practices under sections 123 and 127 of the RP Act and 171 of the IPC was lodged against Malik in Shahpur police station in February 2012 when he was a merely a BJP worker and was not fighting the elections.

The second case involving the violation of government official orders was registered against him at the Civil Lines police station in January 2017 when he was fighting the assembly elections.

After framing charges against Malik, the court slated November 9 for the recording of the prosecution evidence in two cases.

The conviction under sections 123 of the RP Act and 171 of the IPC results in the disqualification of a sitting MLA who has won in that election.

But as Malik had not fought the 2012 elections, he does not run the risk of losing his seat, explained the prosecution counsel.

But the conviction under section 127 entails a jail term of up to six months or a fine of Rs 2,000 or both.

The conviction under section 188 of the IPC too entails a jail term of up to six months but a lesser fine of Rs 1,000.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)