A local court in Mahabubabad, Telangana, convicted TRS MP Kavitha Maloth to six months in prison on charges of buying votes during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. According to sources, she was also charged Rs 10,000 fine by the court.
Maloth was elected from the Warangal district's Mahbubabad seat. According to The Times of India, this is the first time a sitting MP has been convicted of bribing voters during an election.
In the bribing case, the judge at the special court for the trial of MPs and MLAs also found Maloth's supporter Shaukat Ali guilty. The Election Commission's flying squad had caught him giving money to voters.
As Shaukat Ali was caught red-handed, he was charged as the first accused, while Kavitha Maloth was charged as the second.
Following a complaint from election officials, Burgampahad police in Bhadradri-Kothagudem district had filed the case, which involves a party worker offering money in exchange for votes in her favour.
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According to The Hindu, the police had filed a complaint against the two under Indian Penal Code sections 171-B (bribery) and 188 (disobedience to order promulgated by public servant).
Kavitha said that she had been given bail and will take the case to the high court. She has a month to do so, as per the special court.
This isn't the first time the special sessions court has sentenced a member of Parliament. Danam Nagender, a Khairatabad TRS MLA, and his friend Raju were convicted to six months in prison and a Rs 1 lakh fine in a 2013 assault case earlier this month.
Raja Singh, a BJP MLA, was also convicted by a special sessions court earlier this year for assaulting police officers in 2015. He was given a one-year of rigorous imprisonment.