Congress candidates in jail for 3 years, out on bail

Kolkata, April 30 A Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court comprising Justices Amit Talukdar and P S Banerjee granted bail to the two Congress candidates for the upcoming panchayat polls on Wednesday. The Court also imposed a condition that they surrender in the criminal court by May 19 before the election results are declared.

Pijush Kanti Kundu and Arun Biswas had filed their nominations on April 16 from the Bagula Madhyapara gram panchayat of Nandia district. Both of these were in jail since May 2005.

Counsel of the two candidates moved the plea that it was not possible for them to campaign unless they were released on bail. He argued that the law does not restrain any undertrial criminal to contest elections. The police had arrested them in May 2005 for allegedly masterminding the murder of a businessman Swapan Biswas at the Bhaina railway station.

S N Roychowdhury, secretary of the State Election Commission, said that while there are restrictions on a convict, the law allows an undertrial to contest the elections. The undertrials might be released after the completion of the trial, Roychowdhury added. Pijus is a former panchayat pradhan and Arun, an upa-pradhan.