Kannur: Barely three weeks after a CPM councillor-candidate was sentenced to 20 years in prison, raising the prospect of disqualification, a BJP councillor-elect now faces the same fate after being handed 36 years of rigorous imprisonment in another long-pending political violence case. The two cases are from Kannur.

The first case was of V K Nishad (35), the CPM’s candidate from Mattammal division of Payyannur municipality. On November 25, he was found guilty of throwing a bomb at a police party 12 years ago. He won the election.

The latest conviction involves U Prashanth, BJP councillor-elect from the Kommal Vayal ward of Thalassery municipality. The Thalassery Additional Sessions Court sentenced him and nine other BJP-RSS workers for an attack on the then CPM councillor P Rajesh and his family nearly 18 years ago.

According to the prosecution, at midnight on December 15, 2007, the gang of BJP-RSS workers barged into Rajesh’s house, hurled bombs to create panic, and hacked him with deadly weapons. When Rajesh’s brother, P Ranjith and paternal aunt Chandramathi intervened, they too were attacked.

Rajesh, who was then the CPM councillor from Kommal Vayal, spent months in hospital before recovering.

BJP’s Prashanth has now won from the same ward, but may face disqualification because of the conviction.

Prashanth and the others were convicted under seven sections of the Indian Penal Code and two provisions of the Explosive Substances Act, including attempt to murder (Section 307 IPC). Though the cumulative sentence runs to 36 years, the sentences will run concurrently, meaning Prashanth will have to serve 10 years in prison for the attempt to murder. The court also imposed fines totalling Rs 1.08 lakh on each accused.

Prashanth is expected to approach the Kerala High Court in appeal. However, he can take oath as a councillor only if the conviction itself is suspended, not merely the sentence, said lawyers representing BJP workers. They pointed out that while higher courts often stay sentences, especially those under seven years, suspension of conviction is rare, and granted only in cases of grave procedural lapses or evident miscarriage of justice.

The BJP case mirrors the predicament of V K Nishad, a CPM councillor-elect from Mattammal ward in Payyannur municipality, who was sentenced earlier this month to 20 years’ rigorous imprisonment for hurling a bomb at a police team during a 2012 protest.

The Taliparamba Additional Sessions Court found Nishad guilty under the provisions of the IPC and the Explosive Substances Act. As the sentences will run concurrently, he too will effectively serve only 10 years in prison.

The verdict on November 25 came after he filed his nomination papers but before the last date of withdrawal from the election. The CPM had a dummy candidate in the fray, an area committee member, but despite the judgment, chose to go ahead with Nishad as the official candidate.

DYFI state secretary V K Sanoj defended Nishad, saying they would appeal the lower court judgment and there was no need to see it as a big case. “There are many candidates who fought and won Lok Sabha elections and Assembly elections from prison,” he said.

Despite Nishad and his party’s right to appeal, Section 8(3) of the Representation of the People Act mandates automatic disqualification from elected office for anyone sentenced to more than two years’ imprisonment, effective from the date of conviction and extending for six years after release, unless the conviction itself is stayed.

Further, such convicts may even lose their voting rights. Section 87 of the Kerala Municipality Act disqualifies those convicted for two years or more from voting, contesting, or holding the office of a councillor for six years from the date of conviction.

Nishad has moved the High Court seeking suspension of his conviction — a legal hurdle similar to that faced by Prashanth. Nishad’s case is likely to come up on January 9. Both are likely to miss the oath-taking ceremony on December 21.

Legal experts point out that the bar for staying a conviction is high. In the Periya double murder case, the then Kanhangad Block Panchayat president and CPM’s Kasaragod district committee member K Manikandan had his sentence suspended by the High Court, but not the conviction. The State Election Commission later relied on both the Representation of the People Act and the Kerala Panchayat Raj Act to disqualify him and repeal his voting rights as well.

The convictions have placed BJP’s U Prashanth and CPM’s V K Nishad in an identical legal predicament, casting a shadow not only over their electoral victories but also over the political parties’ judgment in fielding candidates facing serious criminal charges.