Liberation MLA Manoj Manzil was on Friday disqualified from the Bihar assembly, three days after he was awarded life sentence by a court in a murder case.
According to a notification issued by the Vidhan Sabha secretariat, Manzil's disqualification shall be in effect from February 13, the date of his "conviction and sentence", in accordance with Section 8 of the Representation of the People Act.
The Left leader, who represented Tarari assembly constituency of Bhojpur district, was convicted in an eight-year-old murder case by the MP/MLA court at Arrah, the district headquarters.
His party, which is now left with 11 MLAs in the 243-strong assembly, had alleged that Manzil was "a victim of a conspiracy by the BJP".
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CPI(ML) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya had also pointed out that while Manzil was convicted "for the killing of one person", none of the accused in massacres carried out by private militias of landlords, has ever received punishment.
His disqualification also comes as a setback for the ‘Mahagathbandhan’, close on the heels of three RJD MLAs siding with the ruling NDA ahead of the trust vote won by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
