Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Lok Sabha member from Shahjahanpur, Arun Kumar Sagar, has been declared absconding by a special MP/MLA court in the district for not appearing before it in a matter registered during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls in relation to a violation of the Model Code of Conduct and confiscation of election campaign material. The court has also ordered that a copy of the order be pasted at Mr. Sagar’s residence as well as at public places in Shahjahanpur.
The matter dates back to March 12, 2019, when Shahjahanpur Sadar Sub-Divisional Magistrate seized campaign material related to Mr. Sagar during the parliamentary polls from the Bareilly-Jalalabad road. A case was registered under Kant Police Station in the district.
The Special Public Prosecutor told local media persons that the MP did not appear in the MP/MLA court despite being issued several summons, after which the court issued a non-bailable warrant against him. The court of Judge Asma Sultan declared him an absconder on November 21 when he did not appear even after warrant was issued. “It is a politically motivated issue. I don’t know much about it. I have high respect for the judiciary and will take legal remedy in the matter as per law,” Mr. Sagar told The Hindu.
Mr. Sagar, a former Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader, was given a ticket by the saffron party in the 2019 general elections, after it denied a ticket to the then Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and sitting parliamentarian, Krishna Raj.
