Lucknow: Public Interest Litigations (PILs) have been pouring in at the Supreme court to bar Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt from contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha elections after the fate of criminal turned politicians like Babloo Srivastava, Amarmani Tripathi and Mukhtar Ansari was sealed by the judiciary.
At least three PILs have been filed in the Supreme court against permission to Munna Bhai to contest the Lok Sabha polls from Lucknow on Samajwadi Party ticket.
The Supreme Court will decide to hear issue on March 30.
On Wednesday, Magsaysay award winner and noted social worker Sandeep Pandey filed a PIL in the Supreme Court urging it to cancel Dutt's plea to contest the elections.
Similarly a petition filed by one Alok Sharan last week has been listed for hearing on Friday.
On March 20, an Aurangabad-based lawyer had also filed a PIL in the SC on the same issue.
All the PILs take the same view that Mr Dutt has been convicted by the court, hence he should not be allow to contest the elections.
They have also pleaded that their counsel should be heard while taking up the case on March 30 or earlier.
Mr Sandeep Pandey, who had filed a PIL, told UNI here on Thursday that
it will set a wrong precedence if he was allowed to contest the elections.
''When the court had denied permission to Babloo, Amarmani and Mukhtar and even Sahabuddin then why should they allow Sanjay Dutt'', he asked.
Mr Pandey said to cleanese the political system in the country, support from all is required.
Meanwhile, Senior counsel Harjout Singh, who filed the PILs of Mr Pandey and Mr Alok Sharan, told this reporter on telephone from New Delhi that the PIL challenges the permission sought by Sanjay Dutt to contest elections on the grounds of similar permission given to BJP MP and cricketer Navjot Singh Siddhu.
''Everyone should not be given advantage as in the case of Mr Siddhu. He had resigned on moral grounds and then again got elected after he was convicted,'' he said.
Quoting the verdict of the constitutional benches of the Apex Court in the B R Kapoor case of 2001 and K Prabhakaran case in 2005, the counsel said in both cases the five judge bench had given ruling that no convicted person can contest elections.
''We are now looking up to the verdict of the SC on the Sanjay Dutt issue,'' he said.
The Supreme Court's decision on Sanjay Dutt issue will hold a significance on the fate of the politician convicted by the court or serving jail terms.
Sanjay Dutt was arrested by the CBI in 1993 in the Mumbai serial bomb blast case and was charged of illegal possession of arms and ammunition. Dutt was convicted under provisions of Arms Act, and sentenced to six years of RI and slapped a fine of Rs 25,000.
However, he was released on bail but his sentence was not suspended by the Supreme Court.
The findings of guilt against Sanjay is intact and has not yet been interfered by the Appellate court.
As such the disqualification contemplated under Section 8 of the RPA is applicable to him, the counsel said.
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